Postdoc in Neuromorphic Computing for Neuroprosthetic Devices

Are you interested in Brain computer interfaces and would like to contribute to the advancement of neuroprosthetics technologies? Looking forward to improving the lives of paralyzed patients and amputees?  Here is your chance!

The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Aarhus University invites you to apply for a 1-year postdoc position in Neuromorphic Computing for Neuroprosthetic Devices.

Expected start date and duration of employment

This is a 1–year position from 1. June 2023 or as soon possible.

Job description

The ibrAIn-ICELab group at the Department of Engineering, Aarhus University, are seeking a highly qualified and motivated applicants for a 1- year postdoctoral research position in neuromorphic computing for Neuroprosthetic devices.  ibrAIn Centre is an interdisciplinary Centre, with broad international collaborations in academia and industry, aims to develop advanced smart brain interfacing technologies for diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.

The postdoc research fellow will be working in closely with a team of electronic engineers to develop novel intelligent neuroprosthetic systems for sensorimotor restoration and rehabilitation. With the supervision and support of the department, the postdoc research fellow is expected to take leadership role and investigate the design and implementation of bionic sensory system assisted with neuromorphic computing and virtual reality for rehabilitation training systems in neuroprosthetic devices. Also, they will be encouraged to develop independent research projects/expertise, grant writing skills, high-impact paper writing skills and develop fellowship grant proposals.

There will be opportunities to collaborate with multiple researchers from clinical, engineering, and natural science departments across Aarhus university.  The position involves the following research domains: design and testing of sensors as part of somatosensory neuroprosthesis, bio-inspired encoding and stimulation mapping.

Your profile

• A recently completed PHD in electronic engineering or equivalent degree in biomedical engineering or related field.
• Extensive experience in software hardware co-design for neuroprosthetic applications.
• Deep knowledge of somatosensory systems.
• Experience with stimulation interfaces, machine learning and computer vision for training neural networks implemented on hardware.
• Evidence of scholarship, i.e., relevant peer-reviewed publications within the field.
• Expertise with Matlab and/or Python software packages.

Who we are?

ibrAIn center is an interdisciplinary center, with broad international collaborations in academia and industry, aims to develop advanced smart brain interfacing technologies for diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.  

We mainly focus on:

• Research and development of novel technologies for closedloop brain interfacing systems and ultra-low power chip design.
• Research and development of novel braininspired computing systems such as CMOS based spiking neuromorphic computing systems.
• Bringing novel AI hardware into the brain computing interface.

Brief description of the research area and project:

Neuroprostheses offer the promise of restoring limb movements for paralyzed patients and amputees. However, they are still so far from any biological limb. Adding sensory feedback (i.e., touch) to motor control improves the ability to reach the intended target grasp forces and promotes prosthetic ownership. Literature shows the feasibility of using VR for neuroprosthetic rehabilitation due to its ability to simulate different real-life scenarios. Moreover, realizing better rehabilitation rates requires highly trained intelligent systems that offer the maximum possible training sets to interact with humans efficiently. This multi-perspective framework provides the essential proof that neuroprostheses attain more human-like function with effective sensory-motor restoration.

To this aim, this project explores the possibility of using VR to improve neuroprosthetic rehabilitation technologies by implementing a closed-loop system that integrates both intuitive control and bio-plausible sensory feedback for more realistic human-machine interaction.

What we offer

The successful applicant will be joining a multidisciplinary team including scientists, engineers, and clinicians to design, develop, and test cutting-edge intelligent neuroprosthetic interfaces for sensory function restoration and rehabilitation. 

With the supervision and support of the department, the postdoc research fellow is expected to take leadership role and investigate the design and implementation of bionic sensory system assisted with neuromorphic computing and virtual reality for rehabilitation training systems in neuroprosthetic devices. Also, they will be encouraged to develop independent research projects/expertise, grant writing skills, high-impact paper writing skills and develop fellowship grant proposals.

There will be opportunities to collaborate with multiple researchers from clinical, engineering, and natural science departments across Aarhus university.

Place of work and area of employment

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aarhus University, Finlandsgade 22, 8200 Aarhus N, and the area of employment is Aarhus University with related departments. 

Contact information

For further information, please contact: Professor Farshad Moradi,

[email protected]

, +45-41893344, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Deadline

Applications must be received no later than 31. March, 2023.

Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range

Technical Sciences refers to the

Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities .

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here . Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here .

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here .

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.