Enabling continuous, personalised stress quantification and management with a wearable system [SELF FUNDED STUDENTS ONLY]

Work-related stress and burnout cost the UK economy more than £28 billion, 23 million sick days, and 165,000 bed days for the National Health Service (NHS) per year [1]. Long-term unhealthy stress could also develop chronic negative effects on our body such as increased anxiety and depression, degraded cardiovascular functions, reduced brain grey matter and a weakened immune system [2]. This significantly burdens our workforce’s productivity, quality of life, and the NHS system. Thus, there is an imminent need for a system that could continuously monitor stress levels throughout the day and provide personalised feedback/relief to prevent chronic stress development and build up resiliency. Additionally, the developed solution needs to be unobtrusive, socially acceptable, and able to invisibly weave into user’s daily activities. Unfortunately, existing solutions are yet to meet these requirements.

Aims: The project aims to investigate and develop a wearable system that could continuously monitor human stress levels and provide a non-invasive, closed-loop, personalised biofeedback to relieve or manage stress. In particular, the project will focus on the following objectives.

(1)   Explore the method to accurately and continuously track stress levels by using various biosignals such as brainwaves, cortisol concentration, heart rate variability, breathing rate, bioimpedance responses, muscle tension, etc.

(2)   Investigate and devise a non-invasive, personalised biofeedback technique and algorithms to manage or relieve stress based on the captured biosignals. Potential directions include vagus nerve stimulation, vestibular stimulation, somatosensory, phototherapy, or guided meditation.

(3)   Develop a wearable hardware and form factor design that can facilitate both sensing and biofeedback functionalities. The form factor needs to be unobtrusive to daily activities and has the potential to integrate into everyday wearables such as earphones, clothes, hats, eyeglasses, etc.

(4)   Evaluate the developed system on human subjects to study the efficiency and usability of the proposed system.

[1] AXA, “The true cost of running on empty”, 2023, https://tinyurl.com/2a3pfbre

[2] Mariotti, Agnese. "The effects of chronic stress on health: new insights into the molecular mechanisms of brain–body communication." Future science OA 1.3 (2015).

Contact for information on the project: Dr Nhat (Nick) Pham ([Email Address Removed])

Academic criteria: A 2:1 Honours undergraduate degree or a master's degree, in computing or a related subject. Applicants with appropriate professional experience are also considered. Degree-level mathematics (or equivalent) is required for research in some project areas. 

Applicants for whom English is not their first language must demonstrate proficiency by obtaining an IELTS score of at least 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 6.0 in each skills component. 

This project is accepting applications all year round, for self-funded candidates  

Please contact the supervisors of the project prior to submitting your application to discuss and develop an individual research proposal that builds on the information provided in this advert. Once you have developed the proposal with support from the supervisors, please submit your application following the instructions provided below 

Please submit your application via Computer Science and Informatics - Study - Cardiff University 

In order to be considered candidates must submit the following information:  

• Supporting statement  
• CV  
• In the ‘Research Proposal’ section of the application enter the name of the project you are applying to and upload your Individual research proposal, as mentioned above in BOLD 
• In the funding field of your application, please provide details of your funding source.  
• Qualification certificates and Transcripts 
• References x 2  
• Proof of English language (if applicable) 

If you have any additional questions or need more information, please contact: [Email Address Removed]