2026 STEM Summer Internship
MSc in Innovative Multimedia Entertainment
Job Summary
MSc in Innovative Multimedia & Entertainment (MScIME) of School of Design is a taught postgraduate programme working closely with PolyU Research Centre for Cultural and Art Technology and PolyU-NVIDIA Joint Research Centre. As an eligible employer under STEM Internship Scheme set up by the Innovation and Technology Commission (“ITC”), HKSAR government, MScIME is seeking highly skilled undergraduate & postgraduate students in the area of cultural heritage, human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, multimodal technology and cultural and creative product design to join our team during summer of 2026. We are looking for internship positions under two research tracks.
Track 1
Project 1: AI-Supported Museum Experience and Post-Visit Reflection
Project Description
This project focuses on AI-driven interactive systems dedicated to optimizing museum visiting experiences. It aims to strengthen visitors’ post-visit reflection, deepen cultural interpretation, and build meaningful interactive engagement with cultural heritage digital content. The project contains two internship directions to explore innovative integration of UX design and artificial intelligence in heritage cultural scenarios.
Two Internship Directions
(Direction 1) UI/UX Research Assistant: This direction centers on human-centered interface and interaction design for AI-supported cultural experience platforms. Interns will focus on user demand analysis, software function planning, interaction flow optimization, prototype production and user study preparation for museum digital systems.
(Direction 2) AI Application Prototype Developer: This direction requires technical capabilities in AI application development and multimodal AI technology. Interns need to complete LLM API integration and build functional intelligent systems. There is no requirement for model training from scratch, while relevant experience in RAG and knowledge-based systems is highly preferred.
Core Responsibilities
- Prepare experimental materials for user studies, including prototype task design, interview prompt compilation, usability testing process formulation and user feedback collection.
- (Direction 1)Support the design of user scenarios, interaction flows, information architecture and core software functions for cultural digital platforms.
- (Direction 2)Develop and deploy AI-enabled functional modules to complete the iterative optimization of museum-oriented digital prototypes.
- Attend regular project meetings, report research and development progress, and revise work content according to team feedback.
Qualifications & Skills
We are looking for motivated individuals with a strong interest in cultural heritage, human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence application. Ideal candidates will possess at least ONE of the following capabilities:
- (Direction 1) Proficient in using design tools such as Figma, Adobe XD and Sketch to independently complete wireframe drawing and interactive prototype production.
- Relevant practical experience in user research, usability testing or qualitative data analysis is a plus.
- (Direction 2) Solid programming skills in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript or other mainstream development languages.
- Basic understanding of LLMs, multimodal AI, AI agents and API integration technology; familiarity with retrieval-augmented generation is preferred.
- Strong logical thinking ability, teamwork awareness and problem-solving skills.
CV/Portfolio Requirements
Candidates are required to provide portfolios or relevant work proofs to demonstrate practical experience in UX design or software development. Eligible materials include design prototypes, UX research reports, coding projects, AI application development works and other related outputs.
Inquiry: 25103179r@connect.polyu.hk
Project 2: AI-Assisted Design for Cultural and Creative Products
Project Description
This interdisciplinary project deeply integrates advanced artificial intelligence technology with cultural and creative product design. The team applies multimodal vision-language models to analyze and interpret diversified visual input materials. The core objective is to build an intelligent generation system to produce standardized, innovative and aesthetically viable cultural and creative design alternatives, and realize the intelligent iteration of cultural product design.
Core Responsibilities
- Collaborate with academic researchers and professional designers to build an end-to-end experimental pipeline covering visual input, intelligent analysis and design output.
- Deploy and optimize state-of-the-art multimodal large language models and vision models to realize visual recognition and professional design reasoning for cultural and creative products.
- Participate in system performance evaluation and experimental scheme design, complete iterative optimization of design prototypes, and put forward constructive technical improvement suggestions.
Qualifications & Skills
- Solid Python programming foundation, with hands-on experience in experimental environment configuration and AI API integration.
- Familiarity with computer vision technology and multimodal models (e.g., image recognition, vision-language models) is highly preferred.
- Have a strong passion for interdisciplinary research in artificial intelligence, cultural creation and engineering technology.
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills, able to actively cooperate with team members to complete research tasks.
CV/Portfolio Requirements
Candidates shall demonstrate relevant technical practical capabilities. It is necessary to attach executable coding projects, AI experimental analysis reports or other empirical research results in the resume or portfolio.
Inquiry: zhan818.gao@connect.polyu.hk
Project 3: A GenAI-VR System for Investigating Avatar Identity Effects on Human-AI Co-Creation
Project Description:
We are looking for a motivated student to join an exciting research project at the intersection of Virtual Reality, generative AI, and human-computer interaction. You will be hands-on in building a fully functional VR system, developing immersive avatar experiences, integrating state-of-the-art AI generation pipelines, and designing the interaction infrastructure for a real user study. This is not a supporting role: your code ships, your system runs the experiment, and your work directly feeds into a peer-reviewed publication targeting TOP conference or journal and a patent application. This is a rare opportunity to graduate with research output, industry-relevant technical skills, and a publication record.
Required Skills:
- Unity
- VR (Meta Quest)
- Generative AI and Python
- Behavioral data analysis
What you'll walk away with:
- Project experience of shipped AI + VR system
- Research experience about HCI
- Direct collaboration with an internationally connected research team
- A portfolio piece that stands out
What do we look for in your CV/Portfolio?
The ideal candidate should be genuinely curious about the intersection of XR/VR and artificial intelligence, and excited by the idea of building systems that sit at the frontier of both. A background in Computer Science, Digital Media Technology, or a related field is expected. Prior experience with VR development or Unity is a plus, but not a requirement. What matters most is your motivation to learn, build, and contribute to research that pushes boundaries.
Inquiry: jayden.chai@connect.polyu.hk
Track 2 EARNEST design: Research Laboratory for Advanced Social Robotics
At EARNEST design, we are dedicated to the thoughtful exploration of social robotics for community mental health. Focusing on the unique challenges of urban environments like Hong Kong, our research investigates how localized AI and human-robot interaction can offer sensitive, customized support. We emphasis ethical development and community-based evaluation to responsibly assist underserved populations.
Project 1: Logics Intern
The appointee will be required to assist in the following tasks:
- Explore contextual use of various logic sets.
- Validate logic set formalisms in decision-making systems
- Explore the relationships between neural activation/transmission mechanisms and logics in decision-making systems.
- Create and test modules of fuzzy logics incorporating neural-related parametrization.
Preferred Field of Study: Computing / Neuroscience / Mathematics
Project 2: Prototyping Intern (2 positions)
The appointee will be required to assist in the following tasks:
- Help in changing numerous 3D prototypes into physical reality. Should have the ability to work with 3D printers and design tools
- Enhance and modify existing robots with various sensors and devices.
- Integrate physical prototypes with our internally developed SDK.
Preferred Field of Study: Mechanical Engineering / Industrial Design or related design background
Project 3:Integration Tester
The appointee will work on testing agentic workflows:
- Help test the capacity of various agentic platforms we have built for our virtual avatars and robotics, both in the office and in the field.
- Help execute field testing at various facilities and with community partners.
Preferred Field of Study: Computer Science / Software Engineering and/or related fields
Track 2 Inquiry: sd.earnest.lab@polyu.edu.hk
General Application Information
- Go to the following Application form for Track 1or Application form for Track 2 to submit your CV and related materials for the application.
- Application will be closed on 27 May 2026.
- Application Form for Track 1 Link: https://forms.gle/AvkWivwk5Xvcr5iQ9
- Application Form for Track 2 Link: https://s.sustainer.ai/internship
Note: This internship belongs to the 2026 STEM Internship Scheme of HKSAR government. Eligible students from all majors are welcome to apply. Shortlisted candidates will be informed for further interview arrangement via email.
Eligibility for STEM Internship
As required by ITC, the STEM Internship Scheme is open to undergraduates and postgraduates who are:
- local or non-local students enrolling on one of the full-time STEM programmes (please refer to the “List of Eligible STEM Programmes” on this page) recognised by ITC to be eligible for the Scheme from any year of studies and legally employable in Hong Kong.
- Students who have previously participated in the STEM Winter Internship cannot apply to this programme again with the same employer. You may still apply for the STEM Internship position offered by other eligible employer.
Interested candidate should note that this internship CANNOT be used to fulfil WIE requirements. For more details, please refer to Notes for Students.
STEM Internship Job Offer
The internship will be offered for 2 months within the period from late Jun 2026 to late Aug 2026, subject to Project Leader. Successful candidate will receive allowance for HK$11,490 per month (i.e. 30days).
Inquiry
Email: nvidiarc@polyu.edu.hk
Tel: 2766 4711 (Miss Zeng)
