Research Fellow in Soft Systems for Healthcare

Are you an enthusiastic and motivated researcher with an interest applying engineering approaches to medical engineering challenges?

Would you like to use mechanical design, soft robotic techniques and experimental methods to develop new systems for healthcare?

Are you interested in the opportunity to gain experience working in a cross-disciplinary project with academics, clinicians and industry?

This post will involve the development and application of soft tactile sensors into devices for next generation healthcare. The post will focus on a new multidisciplinary collaborative project spanning three leading universities, funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust, to develop a ‘smart' instrumented hand splint for osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint condition that commonly causes pain and disability in the elderly. Splints are a mainstay of non-surgical treatment for base of thumb osteoarthritis. However, their underlying biomechanical and biological effects are poorly understood. There is a paucity of evidence for splint use owing to being unable to quantify patient compliance and usage. The aim of the HAILO splint (“HAILO” Hand Arthritis Imperial Leeds Oxford) is to instrument a base of thumb splint with a sensor array that provides data regarding patient adherence to splinting and the biomechanical effects of the splint.In this project you will build on our proof-of-concept work to design and test a prototype instrumented splint for base of thumb osteoarthritis. The technology will greatly improve both individual patient care and the broader evidence base for those with hand osteoarthritis. The aim is to produce a pre-commercial prototype for clinical evaluation and commercial translation. The intellectual property generated will have applications beyond the focus of this research project. Holding a PhD (or be close to completion) or equivalent experience in an engineering or science discipline that involves device design and experimental methods, you will have expertise in the design, fabrication, testing and optimisation (in particular using software such as COMSOL and MATLAB) of soft tactile sensors for medical application, and proven ability in developing calibration and measurement instrumentation and taking experimental measurements.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: Dr Ali Alazmani, School of Mechanical Engineering Tel: +44 (0) 113 343 2178 or email: a.alazmani@leeds.ac.uk.