Funded biomedical engineering PhD for personal health data sharing project

The Digital Health Innovation Lab (DHIL) at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR), a University of British Columbia (UBC) affiliated institute, is seeking a PhD student to contribute to the development of TrustSPHERE (a Trusted, Secure & Privacy-respecting Healthcare Environment Realized for Everyone). The project is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. PhD students will receive an annual stipend as a Graduate Research Assistant of $30,000 for four years.

Project Description

Patient-generated health data (e.g., activity, heart rate, body weight, food intake, sleep time) from wearable and other monitoring devices provide new opportunities to improve clinical care and enable new fields of research. In the past, a hesitancy to trust that data are shared safely prevented patients from making their health, wellbeing, and related data available for research. To overcome this challenge, we are developing a secure clinical data warehousing environment, where patients and the public can share anonymized health data, to realize potential benefits to users, researchers, as well as the health technology and smart device sectors. Additionally, to further incentivize data donation and provide benefits to donors, we will need to develop mechanisms to allow researchers and research data systems to return personalized and aggregate findings to the patients who donated their data.

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to contribute to this program by

Eligibility

Eligible candidates will have a Master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or data science with technical expertise in health informatics, software development, and co-design or human factors engineering, strong communication and time-management skills, the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams, and evidence of knowledge translation through peer-reviewed journal and/or peer-reviewed conference publications.

Training environment

The DHIL offers outstanding opportunities for students and highly-qualified personnel from engineering, computing science, informatics, and human factors research to train in a real-world environment, where their research and innovations will be applied. At the BCCHR, we have built a supportive environment, where engineers and expert users, such as clinicians, work side-by-side on joint projects, pooling their expertise in engineering and clinical informatics with nursing and pediatric medicine. The aim is for these specialists to learn from each other and to use ideas and techniques beyond the conventions of their field. In this way, trainees experience the challenges and benefits of interdisciplinary projects and the real-world constraints on engineering concepts.

How to apply 

Interested candidates should initially apply to Dr Matthias Görges by email at mgorges {at} bcchr.ubc.ca by 30th November 2021, including

• (a) a curriculum vitae with all relevant academic and employment experiences;
• (b) copies of unofficial transcripts;
• (c) names of two referees; and
• (d) a cover letter, noting relevant experience and interest in the position.

The successful applicant(s) will receive an informal offer by 31st December 2021, but will also be required to complete the graduate application for the UBC Biomedical Engineering PhD program, which has a later deadline of 15th January 2022. Thus, interested trainees should also review the UBC Biomedical Engineering PhD program application timeline and requirements .

This posting is for the UBC Vancouver campus in British Columbia, Canada.

Please refer to reference number EU-55440 during correspondence about this position.

To express interest and initiate contact to the principal investigator applicants are encouraged to follow the instructions as provided in the position description or to submit an enquiry form on the position posting . Please note that applicants will have to complete an online application to the University of British Columbia and gain admission as a graduate student to the university. Applicants should review the graduate program profile to learn about admission requirements, application deadlines, program duration, tuition, or to read student and alumni stories. Please visit the researcher profile of the supervisor for this position to learn more about their research.

About UBC
The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world. Since 1915, UBC's entrepreneurial spirit has embraced innovation and challenged the status quo. UBC encourages its students, staff and faculty to challenge convention, lead discovery and explore new ways of learning. At UBC, bold thinking is given a place to develop into ideas that can change the world.

Doctoral studies at UBC Vancouver
UBC is a public university with a comprehensive program offering - covering all major academic disciplines and degree levels, with both research- and course-based program options. More than 50,000 students attend UBC Vancouver. As a PhD student at UBC Vancouver you'll be part of a diverse community of over 3,600 doctoral scholars at an institution that recognises and rewards the significant contributions of doctoral research. UBC is at the forefront of responding to and building on the extraordinary changes happening in our societies and our world, through reimagining approaches to research graduate education and exploring flexible methodologies for learners to develop needed expertise. UBC's Public Scholars Initiative for example is a pioneering program designed to encourage and support doctoral students to reimagine the PhD, contribute to the public good, and with their doctoral work rise to the challenges that increasingly define our times.

At UBC, you will be supported with a range of professional development workshops and services, and we'll partner with you to ensure you have a graduate game plan for academic and professional success.

You are encouraged to review the awards and scholarship database to determine funding opportunities for your doctoral degree. UBC Vancouver guarantees a minimum of CAD $22,000 of funding to eligible students for your first four years of PhD study with many programs offering higher funding packages. Funding highly varies by program and will be commensurate with qualifications, experience and awards secured. Most international students benefit from the International Tuition Award and PhD students usually qualify for the President's Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award .

About UBC's Faculty of Applied Science
The Faculty of Applied Science comprises a unique constellation of disciplines – including the Schools of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Community and Regional Planning and Nursing, as well as all engineering activities at both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses. Our work and the professional disciplines we represent span the entire human-centred built environment and innovation at all scales – from nanoscale electronic devices that power communications to the design of entire cities.

There has never been a more urgent time for our professions – as planners, architects, nurses and engineers – to come together to build upon our existing strengths and ambitions to ensure a thriving society, to make real impact locally and globally.

With a community of over 300 full-time faculty members and more than 8,600 students across our undergraduate and graduate programs, we shape the leaders and professions that shape the world.

About Vancouver
Vancouver is a dynamic, cosmopolitan and progressive city, consistently ranked as one of the top cities to live in the world. Canada's third largest city has it all: sea, parks, mountains, beaches, and four seasons per year, including beautiful summers and mild, wet winters with snow in the mountains. It's the perfect backdrop to your academic research.