**DIFAI ERC Advanced Grant Project**

![](imgs/LOGO_ERC-FLAG_EU_.png width="25%") ![](imgs/EPSRClogo.png width="25%")  The *Designing Interaction Freedom via Active Inference (DIFAI)* project is an ERC Advanced Grant, led by [**Rod Murray-Smith**](https://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~rod/) and which started on 1st January 2024. The project was selected by the ERC (proposal 101097708) and was funded by the UK Horizon guarantee scheme as EPSRC project [EP/Y029178/1](https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FY029178%2F1). *Problem:* Reliable design of interactive systems using advanced sensors and machine learning (ML) is an unsolved problem. New sensors could expand how we interact with computers, but are still hard to design for, without overly constraining user behaviour. AI algorithms can reduce human workload, but can fail in complex contexts and can control, deskill and dis-empower people. We have no principled workflows for designing interaction to allow users to flexibly share autonomy with supporting AI. *Objectives:* Integrate Active Inference theory into the human-computer interaction loop, linking human behaviour via sensors and ML/inference embeddings with dynamic mediating mechanisms to create end-to-end mutually adaptive loops between humans and systems. Develop novel interaction mechanisms for explicit and implicit control of AI autonomy levels to empower people via shared autonomy, while maintaining their agency. Create systematic, composable software tools for computational interaction design which support prototyping and analysis of ML-infused sensors coupled with humans, which can integrate probabilistic causal models to solve inverse problems with advanced sensors, adapting to closed-loop data. *Impact:* Using ML to give users freedom to express themselves individually, we can be robust to user heterogeneity, ensure fairness for diverse users and enable creative uses of technologies. Our tools will form the foundation of future usable interfaces with novel sensors and rich data spaces, and advances can be shared and rapidly built on, transforming HCI research workflows. Applications: 1. Whole hand touch interaction via soft, programmable # News * Internship advertisements go live (31st July 2025 deadline). * A new open PhD studentship on [*Optimal mechanism design and active inference for advanced human-computer interfaces to machine learning*](https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/phd-in-computing-science-optimal-mechanism-design-and-active-inference-for-advanced-human-computer-interfaces-to-machine-learning/?p172844) (7th July 2025 deadline). * A new open [PhD studentship](./aegeanphd.html) with Aegean Airlines (30th June 2025 deadline) * First Ph.D. student, Fraser Paterson has been appointed (March 2025). * Review paper on Active inference in HCI released as arXiv preprint. https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.14741 * Two NeurIPS papers accepted and presented at NeurIPS2024, [Is One GPU Enough? Pushing Image Generation at Higher-Resolutions with Foundation Models](https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.07251) and [Generative Fractional Diffusion Models](https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.17638). * Our paper [Towards Interaction Design with Active Inference: A Case Study on Noisy Ordinal Selection](https://www.ssteinresearch.com/data/iwai2024.pdf) was accepted at the 5th International Workshop on Active Inference, 2024. * Our paper [SIM2VR: Towards Automated Biomechanical Testing in VR](https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.17695) was accepted at UIST 2024. * The University of Glasgow has generously opened the studentships' availablity to non-UK candidates. Aegean studentship application deadline has been extended to 30th August 2024. * PDRA position appointed, which started in March 2024. * 37 month [post-doctoral research assistant post](https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DBR148/research-associate) has gone live! Application deadline is 30th September 2023 (posted 1st August 2023). * Project has been successfully transferred to the UK Horizon Guarantee Scheme from EPSRC (project EP/Y029178/1.) (20th June 2023). * Project web page [difai-project.org](https://difai-project.org/) and twitter account [@ERCdifai](https://twitter.com/ERCDIFAI) launched (21st May 2023). # Publications (insert publications.html here) # Vacancies *Internships* Call for internships with the DIFAI project at the University of Glasgow. *Task:* The visit should be a chance to work together with the DIFAI team on a topic that is of mutual interest to both the Glasgow and student’s home group. This is likely to take place in the spring/summer/ autumn of 2026, but we can be flexible. *Funding:* Each internship (assuming a 3 months stay) can get up to £3500 towards extra expenses or flights associated with a visit or a stipend. *Eligibility:* Students must be current Ph.D. students at an established Computational Interaction or Active inference research group. We cannot support visa applications for foreign applicants, but if you are studying in the UK at an accredited institution like the University of Glasgow for less than six months, you can potentially do this as a visitor. Many students (including those from the European Union and other eligible countries) won’t need a visa for visits lasting less than six months. Check if you need a visa to study in the UK. *Application process:* Please send an application which includes your c.v., evidence of your current Ph.D. position and a link to your research group, and possible topics you would be interested in working on that are associated with the DIFAI project’s research topics. Send the application by 31st July to [Roderick.Murray-Smith@glasgow.ac.uk](mailto:Roderick.Murray-Smith@glasgow.ac.uk) We will review proposals within a week of the deadline, and get back to successful candidates to adapt the research plan and discuss the details of the visit. # Team | | | |---|---| |[**Rod Murray-Smith**](https://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~rod/) is a professor in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow, where he is a member of the Inference, Dynamics and Interaction group and works in the areas of human-computer interaction, machine learning, and control.| ![Rod Murray-Smith](imgs/RodonBoat.jpg width="100px")| |[**John H. Williamson**](http://johnhw.com) is a Senior Lecturer in Computing Science. His research interests are around machine learning for novel sensing devices, probabilistic modelling and filtering for interaction, and the use Bayesian methods more generally in HCI. In the past he has worked on brain-computer interfaces, mobile interaction and real-time sonification.|![John H. Williamson](imgs/jhw.png width="100px")| |[**Sebastian Stein**](http://www.ssteinresearch.com/) is a Research Fellow in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. His research interests are in intelligent interactive systems, spanning areas of HCI, ubiquitous computing, action recognition, computer vision and machine learning.| ![Sebastian Stein](imgs/sstein_2022_square.jpg width="100px")| |[**Andrew Ramsay**](https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/computing/staff/andrewramsay/) is a research associate in the Inference, Dynamics and Interaction group and his work typically fits the role of a "research software engineer", assisting other researchers with a wide range of software development tasks in a variety of research projects. | ![Andrew Ramsay](imgs/AndrewRamsayPhoto.jpg width="100px")| |[**Chaitanya Kaul**](https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/computing/staff/chaitanyakaul/#researchinterests,publications) is a post-doctoral Research Fellow in the School of Computing Science, and applies Machine Learning to interesting problems in 3D Imaging, Computational Imaging, and Healthcare Applications, as well as understanding Privacy guarantees of Machine Learning models.|![Chaitanya Kaul](imgs/ChaitanyaKaulPhoto.png width="100px")| |[**Markus Klar**](https://mkl4r.github.io/) is a post-doctoral research associate in the School of Computing Science. His research interests are in simulating human movements during the interacction with computers, using dynamic biomechanical models, model predictive control, and deep reinforcement learning.| ![Markus Klar](imgs/mklar.jpg width="100px")| |[**Fraser Carlyle Paterson**]() is a Ph.D. student in the School of Computing Science. His research interests are in scalable active inference, with applications in HCI.| ![Fraser Paterson]()| # Contact Please contact Prof. Roderick Murray-Smith at