Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Soft Robotics

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Soft Robotics, to work in the research group of Professor Liang He, within the Podium Institute for Youth Sports Medicine at the University of Oxford. The full-time post is funded by the Podium Institute and is fixed term for 6 months. The Podium Institute sits within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IBME) in the University’s Department of Engineering Science. This is a fantastic opportunity to play a crucial role in the design and creation of origami-inspired personal protection equipment (PPE).

The participation of young people in sports has important physical and psychosocial health benefits, including greater self-esteem, motor skill development, socialisation, teamwork, competition, and stress reduction. Although it is often assumed that sports injuries are the results of ‘accidents’, they are often the result of circumstances that predictably lead to injuries. Unlike injuries occurring in adult elite sports, the largest proportion of injuries in young people occur at non-professional sporting events. This might lead to decreased sport participation, lower levels of physical activity and increased levels of obesity in adulthood, with an increased associated all-cause morbidity.

You will be part of an interdisciplinary team of pioneering researchers, with the primary aim to develop cutting-edge robotics and AI technologies that, will revolutionize how we understand and respond to human behaviour in both real-time and long-term contexts. Your responsibilities will encompass developing new mechanism hardware, benchmarking testing setup, and computational models to facilitate the design of novel PPE.

By being part of Professor He’s research group, you will be expected to devote a substantial portion of your research time in the field of Youth Sports Medicine. You will help ensure a healthy and vibrant research environment within The Podium Institute for Sports Medicine at the University of Oxford. This will involve leading, devising, coordinating, and supervising research projects in this area, including the work involved in the collaborations with project partners, guidance to researchers and students, and applying for further funding to underpin the research.

You will hold a relevant PhD/DPhil (or be near completion) together with relevant experience in the field of robotics, biomedical engineering, information engineering, electrical engineering, computer science or other field relevant to the proposed area of research.  You will also possess sufficient specialist knowledge in origami design and mechanism computation, as well as proven programming experience in Python, MATLAB or C/C++.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to [email protected].

Only online applications received before midday on 19 February 2024 can be considered. You will be required to upload a covering letter/supporting statement, including a brief statement of research interests (describing how past experience and future plans fit with the advertised position), CV and the details of two referees as part of your online application.

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