Wearable multimodal sensors at loaded body interfaces to assist remote healthcare

Supervisory Team:   Professor Liudi Jiang

Project description

Millions of people globally suffer from various physiological disorders and thus require long term sometimes lifelong rehabilitation and care. These chronical conditions could have resulted from different health conditions including stroke, amputation, neurological or spinal cord injuries or musculoskeletal disorders in the elderly. All greatly impact quality of life. Internet of medical things (IOMT) technologies, facilitated by smart wearable sensors and user interfaces, are playing a key role in advancing new digital health approaches. Digital Health care solutions are rapidly developing facilitating future remote healthcare so that patients’ critical health conditions could be effectively monitored in their daily living environment. This ensures that critical data can be communicated with clinicians or careers at the exact time when physical intervention is required. self-managed solutions could also be introduced to facilitate personalised care. However, this currently requires advanced research in wearable sensors and associated platform for data analysis communication and processing.

This project aims to design and develop novel wearable multimodal sensors arrays and systems with a view to aiding healthcare monitoring at home or out of hospital settings. Biomechanical interactions at loaded body interfaces will be analysed to identify critical features for real time assessment of e.g., physical activities/mobility, tissue viability, Musculoskeletal or neurologic disorders and/or rehabilitation outcomes. Wireless communication and interface platforms will be developed to demonstrate potential compatibility with future IoMT.

The student should have skills or strong interest in one or multiple engineering fields of programming languages (C/C++, Python etc), embedded systems, Bluetooth, RFID or other wireless communications, signal processing, machine learning, RTOS, or computer communications, and is keen to apply these skills towards medical devices applications, ultimately aimed for patients benefit. The student will have the unique opportunity to join a dynamic and interdisciplinary research team and benefit from strong collaborations with stakeholders.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Prof. Liudi Jiang, Email: [Email Address Removed] , Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 8748.

Entry Requirements

A very good undergraduate degree (at least a UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent).

Closing date: applications will be considered on a rolling basis, up till 24 June 2024

How To Apply

Apply online: Search for a Postgraduate Programme of Study (soton.ac.uk). Select programme type (Research), 2024/25, Faculty of Physical Sciences and Engineering, next page select “PhD Engineering & Environment (Full time)”. In Section 2 of the application form you should insert the name of the supervisor Liudi Jiang

Applications should include:

Research Proposal

Curriculum Vitae

Two reference letters

Degree Transcripts/Certificates to date

For further information please contact: [Email Address Removed]

The School of Engineering is committed to promoting equality, diversity inclusivity as demonstrated by our Athena SWAN award. We welcome all applicants regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or age, and will give full consideration to applicants seeking flexible working patterns and those who have taken a career break. The University has a generous maternity policy, onsite childcare facilities, and offers a range of benefits to help ensure employees’ well-being and work-life balance. The University of Southampton is committed to sustainability and has been awarded the Platinum EcoAward.