FLOYD MUELLER

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2009 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship in Technology and Communications sponsored by Telstra

Media Profile

“Networked games allow players to connect and engage physically, at a distance, with friends and family. By creating interactive networked exertion games the social aspect offers motivational support to also encourage people to exercise.”

Florian “Floyd” Mueller, a PhD candidate at The University of Melbourne, has won the 2009 Fulbright Postgraduate Scholarship in Technology and Communications sponsored by Telstra, the major provider of communications services in Australia. The Scholarship, announced by Telstra in May 2004, aims to nurture the next generation of technology and communication professionals ‘… whose ideas and leadership will shape the future of our world’.

Through the Scholarship Floyd will spend eight months at Stanford University researching the use of interaction design to create innovative interactive systems to facilitate physical health and address obesity issues amongst children and teenagers.

Floyd’s research lies at the intersection of several industries: computer gaming, interaction design, information technologies and telecommunication. His aim is to design computer games for fitness, where the gameplay attracts users, the design engages them to come back, and telecommunication technologies that will enable them to profit from the social motivation of friends and family far away.

“Victoria is home of Australia’s largest games industry as well as a large cluster of research in information and communication technology, however, none use a multi-disciplinary approach to deliver innovative games that can make an ethically responsible contribution to the lives of young gamers,” Floyd said. “I believe I can make a significant contribution to change this and undertaking the research at Stanford will better equip me to do so.”

“Professor Winograd at Stanford University is a world leader in physically engaging computing applications. He co-established Stanford’s design school to create the only think tank worldwide where such research on physical engagement is design-driven by innovation. I look forward to using this experience to build links between Stanford and the University of Melbourne and contribute to the growth and success of the gaming and telecommunications industries here in Australia”.

Floyd has a Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA; a degree in Digital Media from Furtwangen, Germany; and a Bachelor of Science in Multimedia from Griffith University. He has been the leader of his own research group “Connecting People” at CSIRO with 12 staff as well as held positions at FX (Fuji-Xerox) Palo Alto Laboratories (US), MIT Media Lab (US), Media Lab Europe (Ireland) and Distance Lab (UK).