David MARUSCAK

 David MARUSCSAK - VAPP 2023

A ce jour, Doctorant inscrit à l'Ecole Doctorale Sciences et Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication au Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique (LISN) du CNRS-PARIS SACLAY (équipe VENISE). 

The validation of professional and personal skills a real professional springboard, the journey of David Maruscsak.

Currently, I am a PhD student funded by the PEPR eNSEMBLE programme. I work under the supervision of Dr. Christian Sandor as part of the VENISE team in the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique (LISN), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).

The VAPP procedure greatly helped me in achieving this position, for which I am grateful because I have wanted to become a doctoral student since 2020. Let me describe my journey.

I studied Media Design at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest. While doing my bachelor’s degree I found an opportunity to spend one semester in Hong Kong as an exchange student. I was studying at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. This was the first time I ever saw an Augmented Reality (AR) Head-Mounted Display (HMD). AR technology instantly sparked my interest and curiosity. Seeing my enthusiasm Dr. Christian Sandor invited me to join his laboratory (AR-Lab:https://ar-lab.org/). After acquiring my certificate I joined the lab. Here I gained profound experience in augmented reality and immersive systems. I have applied to the School of Creative Media’s doctoral programme successfully, but for personal reasons I had to decline the offer.

After the end of my appointment in Hong Kong I returned back to Hungary and I worked as a freelance media designer. Meanwhile I was preparing to apply to the doctoral programme of Université Paris-Saclay, however without having a Master’s degree certificate I couldn’t. Therefore, I started my M1 Human-Computer Interaction studies at UPS. While studying I worked as a contractual research engineer in the same laboratory where I work now as a doctoral student. During the first year I got to know about the VAPP procedure and the possibility of skipping the second year of my master’s studies and applying for PhD right away. The procedure required me to showcase my performance in the master’s studies along with other professional achievements and work-experience. It was a demanding task, but it also made me reflect on my past which helped in shaping my future. Fortunately, the jury evaluated my application positively, so I could start the application procedure for doctoral studies.