PhD Studentship : Research Studentship in Youth Sports Medicine and Technology

4-year D.Phil. studentship

Studentship within the Podium Institute for Sports Medicine and Technology

Potential Supervisors: Prof. David Clifton, Prof. Constantin Coussios, Prof. Robin Cleveland, Prof. Tim Denison, Prof Liang He, Prof. Antoine Jerusalem, Prof João Henriques,Dr Christian Rupprecht, Prof. Mark Thompson, Prof. Mauricio Villarroel, Prof. Amy Zavatsky

Launched in 2021 and based within the University’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Department of Engineering Science), the Podium Institute for Youth Sports Medicine and Technology shifts the traditional emphasis of research into sports injury - which is predominantly adult-centric and based upon treatment – by concentrating on younger athletes, 11-18 years old, and focuses on prevention rather than cure. The institute develops new technologies to monitor and analyse the individual factors that lead to youth sports injuries and offers practical solutions for safer sports practices, focusing on safety rather than performance. A hallmark of the Institute is the development and validation of new technologies for sport injury detection and prevention. Where appropriate, projects can be co-supervised by academics in the Medical Sciences Division with relevant expertise.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to both UK and Overseas students (full award – fees plus stipend).

Award Value

University course fees are covered at the level set for UK students (£9,500 in 2024-25 academic year) and Overseas students (£31,480 in 2024-25 academic year). The stipend (tax-free maintenance grant) will be c. £20,622 (£18,622 EPSRC stipend level plus £2,000 top up) for the first year, and at least this amount for a further three years.

Candidate Requirements

Prospective candidates will be judged according to how well they meet the following criteria:

• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honoursin an engineering, physical sciences or medical sciences discipline relevant to the proposed area of research;
• Excellent English written and spoken communication skills; 
• Strong interest and enthusiasm for the field of sport medicine and technology.

The following skills are desirable but not essential:

• Experience of experimental or computational research in the field of sports medicine and technology, as demonstrated by a publication at an international conference, journal or first-class final year project report;

• Ability to program in MATLAB or Python.

Application Procedure

Informal enquiries should be addressed to Katherine Baysan ([email protected] ).

Candidates must submit a graduate application and meet the graduate admissions criteria.  Details are available on the course page of the University website . Candidates are expected to submit a research proposal which should relate to one or more of the following priority areas within the Podium Institute for Sports Medicine and Technology:

• Multiscale, Multiphysics constitutive modelling of traumatic brain injury and its long-term impact on health
• Physics-informed image registration approaches to infer injury mechanisms from longitudinal subject data
• Experimental characterization of the mechanical properties and damage behaviour in soft biological materials
• Modelling, monitoring and prevention of injury in sport, including concussion, cardiac and other catastrophic injuries
• The development of novel computer-vision-based techniques for contactless detection, quantification, and prevention of sport injury
• Development of testing methods for sport monitoring and protective equipment
• Use of Big Data to understand and predict youth sport injury

Proposals in additional research areas are welcome but should clearly fall within the overall scope of the Podium Institute. 

Please quote 24ENGBI_CC in your application.

Application deadline:  Friday 1 March 2024.

Start date: October 2024