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  Design of virtual immersive environments for advanced anatomy training


   Design

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  Dr Federico Colecchia  Applications accepted all year round  Self-Funded PhD Students Only

About the Project

Virtual immersive environments, including those that are anticipated to become available in the context of the Metaverse – a future immersive virtual world envisaged as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet – hold significant potential for future healthcare education.

Whereas some commercial organisations are pioneering the development of dedicated immersive solutions in this area, structured research programmes based on state-of-the-art user-centred design processes are required for investigating issues of interactivity, usability, and inclusivity. Such research efforts will be critical for these prospective educational mediums to achieve positive impact.

The project will focus on design of an innovative immersive educational medium for training of future healthcare professionals, relying on a world-class university online anatomy learning resource.

The successful candidate will take responsibility for design, planning, execution, and evaluation of a range of activities with end users and relevant stakeholders. The selected candidate will play a key role in understanding opportunities and barriers towards inclusive access to immersive virtual training environments for healthcare education, and will develop a proof-of-concept demonstration for access to high-quality anatomical data within the virtual environment.

The ideal candidate’s profile combines proficiency in state-of-the-art user-centred design processes with technical competency in relation to a broad range of computer science techniques, including data integration across resources and interfacing with image databases and metadata repositories. A Masters’ degree is desired but not essential.

Doctoral Research (PhD) programmes are a key component of the Brunel strategy to deliver world-class research and achieve positive impact, and Doctoral Researchers are valued by their supervisors as an essential part of their team. A PhD programme is expected to take 3 years full-time (6 years part-time), with yearly intakes in January, April, and October.

The successful candidate will work in the Brunel Design School and will be supervised by Dr Federico Colecchia, who specialises in emerging technologies and innovation at the intersection between technical development and user-centred design. They will have access to a broad network of relevant stakeholders and will benefit from a range of support services that Brunel University London offers to their Doctoral Researchers, including professional skills and career development support.

For informal enquiries about the research project, please email [Email Address Removed].

The University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second-Class Honours degree (1st or 2:1), or international equivalent. A Master’s degree is a welcome, but not required, qualification for entry.

Research journey

Doctoral research programmes (PhDs) take a proud place in the world-class research environment and community at Brunel. PhD students are recognised and valued by their supervisors as an essential part of their departments and a key component of the university's overall strategy to develop and deliver world-class research.

A PhD programme is expected to take 3 years full-time or 6 years part-time, with intakes starting in January, April or October.

The general University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (1st or 2:1) or an international equivalent. A Masters degree is a welcome, but not required, qualification for entry.

Find out how to apply for a PhD at Brunel

Research support

Excellent research support and training

The Graduate School provides a range of personal, professional and career development opportunities. This includes workshops, online training, coaching and events, to enable you to enhance your professional profile, refine your skills, and plan your next career steps as part of the Researcher Development Programme. The researcher development programme (RDP) offers workshops and seminars in a range of areas including progression, research management, research dissemination, and careers and personal development. You will also be offered a number of online, self-study courses on BBL, including Research Integrity, Research Skills Toolkit, Research Methods in Literature Review and Principles of Research Methods.

Library services

Brunel's Library is open 24 hours a day, has 400,000 books and 250,000 ebooks, and an annual budget of almost £2m. Subject information Specialists train students in the latest technology, digital literacy, and digital dissemination of scholarly outputs. As well as the physical resources available in the Library, we also provide access to a wealth of electronic resources. These include databases, journals and e-books. Access to these resources has been bought by the Library through subscription and is limited to current staff and students. 

Dedicated research support staff provide guidance and training on open access, research data management, copyright and other research integrity issues.

Find out more: Brunel Library

Careers support

You will receive tailored careers support during your PhD and for up to three years after you complete your research at Brunel. We encourage you to actively engage in career planning and managing your personal development right from the start of your research, even (or perhaps especially) if you don't yet have a career path in mind. Our careers provision includes online information and advice, one-to-one consultations and a range of events and workshops. The Professional Development Centre runs a varied programme of careers events throughout the academic year. These include industry insight sessions, recruitment fairs, employer pop-ups and skills workshops.


Computer Science (8) Creative Arts & Design (9) Medicine (26)

Funding Notes

Brunel offers a number of funding options to research students that help cover the cost of their tuition fees, contribute to living expenses or both. See more information here: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/Research-degrees/Research-degree-funding. The UK Government is also offering Doctoral Student Loans for eligible students, and there is some funding available through the Research Councils. Many of our international students benefit from funding provided by their governments or employers. Brunel alumni enjoy tuition fee discounts of 15%.
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