Enhancing the customisation of prefabricated housing projects via immersive VR

About the project 

Harness VR to advance the prefabricated housing industry 

If you are excited about a career in advanced manufacturing and keen to tackle the current housing shortage crisis, the University of South Australia – Australia’s University of Enterprise – is offering a hands-on project-based PhD with real-world impact within the Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments (IVE), in partnership with Devlink Group. 

Australia’s housing market is witnessing soaring property prices and severe rental shortages. Prefabrication provides a viable and promising approach for enhanced delivery of housing projects because it can provide faster delivery, better quality control, and greater sustainability performance.  

But prefabrication’s inherent complexity and mass production nature typically restrict the extent to which clients can customise design, production, and assembly. These restrictions are significantly limiting the industry-wide adoption of prefabrication in Australia.  

Recent developments in immersive technologies may potentially address this issue. Enhanced design visualisation, interaction and collaboration and immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environments are particularly beneficial during early client engagement. They can facilitate the customisation process for clients.  

Our project  aims to develop an effective mass customisation framework, supported by a new immersive VR prototype, to expand the extent of customisations available for prefabricated housing projects in Australia. The new VR prototype will be realised as a new plugin for a select Building Information Modelling tool. 

You will be jointly based at UniSA Creative and the IVE research centre. IVE consists of over 130 members across computer science, engineering, design, architecture, and art, providing you with an excellent intellectual environment.

You will benefit from access to all the state-of-the-art resources necessary for this project. This includes a physiological sensing laboratory, computer labs, a vast selection of advanced Human Computer Interaction devices, and an immersive CAVE system.

What you’ll do

In this project-based research degree, you will first develop a literature review and detail the research design.  

You will then develop the immersive VR environment, set up and conduct the user studies, and conduct focus group interviews. You will also collect interview data and undertake analysis, then interpret research results and develop relevant publications and the thesis.

You may need to conduct field work for the selected case studies. You will also have the opportunity to attend relevant international conferences, which will help you to build your research network and promote your research. 

Where you’ll be based

You will be based in IVE. As a world leader in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), the Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environments - IVE - is a unique alignment of computer science, engineering, neuroscience, art, architecture, and design. 

IVE is responding to the challenge of increased demand for AR and VR technologies globally. Our researchers are leaders in many areas of AR and VR research including wearable computing, interface design, empathic computing, 3D visualisation, perception, and telepresence.

IVE is one of the largest concentrations of AR and VR research in Australia. Our vast experience in advanced manufacturing, Internet of Things (IoT), interactive art, and design for healthcare and defence allows us to work in collaboration with our industry partners to transform industry and solve large-scale societal challenges. Financial Support 

This project is funded for reasonable research expenses. Additionally, a living allowance scholarship of $35,200 per annum is available to Australian and New Zealand citizens, and permanent residents of Australia, including permanent humanitarian visa holders. Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander applicants will be eligible to receive an increased stipend rate of $52,352 per annum (2025 rate). A fee-offset or waiver for the standard term of the program is also included. For full terms and benefits of the scholarship please refer to our scholarship information. International applicants are not invited to apply at this time.

Eligibility and Selection

This project is open to applications from Australian or New Zealand citizens, and Australian permanent residents or permanent humanitarian visa holders. International applicants are not invited to apply at this time.

Applicants must meet the eligibility criteria for entrance into a PhD. 

Applicants should also submit a full research proposal (approximately 2500 words) that has been developed in consultation with the proposed principal supervisor. A template to help guide this application is available here. 

All applications that meet the eligibility and selection criteria will be considered for this project. A merit selection process will be used to determine the successful candidate.

The successful applicant is expected to study full-time and to be based at our City West campus in the heart of Adelaide. 

Essential Dates 

Applicants are expected to start in a timely fashion upon receipt of an offer. Extended deferral periods are not available. Applications close on Wednesday, 4 June, 2025.