Measuring Dynamic Spinal Balance with wearable activity trackers

3 year PhD studentship to support the delivery of the project based at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust.

This UCL PhD studentship will be based at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, which is the largest orthopaedic hospital in the UK and considered world leader in musculoskeletal discipline. One of the core aims of the RNOH’s Foundation status is clinical research & academic development, which are essential in maintaining the status of specialist centre and world leader in its field.

We are looking for a motivated student, with an interest in developing new technologies to improve collecting outcome data for patients undergoing surgery. The post holder will register for a PhD at UCL.

The post holder will lead a new project titled “Measuring Dynamic Spinal Balance with wearable activity trackers”. This study focuses on using readily available body worn sensors to correlate with formal laboratory gait analysis and routine X-Rays findings to validate a new concept of “Dynamic Spinal Balance”. This should provide more “real life” information of the functional status of the spine, and hopefully decrease the X-Ray exposures of spinal deformity patients.

The post holder will also play a key role in supporting educational activities related to the Spinal Deformity Unit. The post holder will work under the mentorship of Mr Julian Leong.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
1. Study design, data collection and analysis
2. Deliver objectives from a grant from Professor A.T. Fripp Fund for the project
3. Support pre-planning and pre-operative data collection of spinal cases
4. Record outcome of selected hip revision cases
5. Support teaching of BSc, MSc, SSc students
6. Engage with visiting surgeons
7. Attend once weekly research meetings, once weekly research clinic
8. Other duties as required by the supervisor for the delivery of the role
Person Specification
Essentials:

We are looking for a motivated student to take on a novel and exciting project, to validate a new measurement of spinal posture and balance with wearable trackers. The individual should have good IT skills, and able to learn basic programming.

Bachelor degree in biological sciences is essential, with experience in academic publication and presentation. The individual will be supporting educational activities in UCL and RNOH, and will be dealing with grant funding bodies.

The individual will be expected to respond to tight deadlines, and to analyse large quantity of information on short notice. Good analytical and verbal reasoning skills are essential.

Desirable:

Clinical background, such as a degree in Medicine (MBBS), and an interest in Orthopaedic/Spinal Surgery would be desirable.

Eligibility
To make an application, please email your CV and a covering letter to Julian Leong ([Email Address Removed] ) explaining your interests, engineering and research experience (including examples of previous project work).

Keywords: Spinal, Trackers, Measuring, Orthopaedic, Technologies, Musculoskeletal.