Tweet
University of Reading -School of Systems Engineering
Start date: As soon as possible
Closing date: 18 May 2014
Interview date: To be confirmed
Reference number: RS14025
Post type: Full-time, fixed term for 1 year Grade: 6
Payscale: £28,132 to £36,661 per annum
We seek to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Assistant to join a three year EPSRC project which aims to develop an effective Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) mechanism to induced weight bearing exercises so as to improve and maintain bone health in the lower extremities of spinal cord injury patients.
According to statistics from charities such as Every Eight Hours and Spinal Research, there are an estimated 40,000 spinal cord injured people in the UK and a new person is injured every eight hours. Many primary causes of death are now no longer direct results of spinal cord injury but are conditions linked to age and inactivity. This means that there are long-term demands on medical support; in particular, treatment of osteoporotic bone fractures often results in lengthy spells in hospital for individuals with spinal cord injury. It is therefore important to minimize the effect of osteoporosis after spinal cord injury; this highlights the need for exercise programmes to target bone health.
The appointed Postdoctoral Research Assistant will work on biomechanical modelling, all aspects of the experiments including design, ethical application and results analysis:
– To use methods from biomechanics to develop dynamic models of the transfer of weight between feet under FES control while the subject is standing supported by the frame.
– To coordinate with health care professionals and the investigators in organizing clinical trials
– To contribute to the design of human studies and ethics applications.
– To setup, organise, recruit, schedule and run the clinical tests involving SCI subjects.
– To participate in the motion analysis data acquisition and analysis.
– To collaborate in the development of a novel smart standing frame linked to the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES), as well as coordinating data acquisition with a stimulating virtual environment (or possibly a video game), that enables safe and reliable maintenance of bone health via exercise programmes
This work will be conducted in collaboration with academic partners at Oxford, Coventry, Oxford Brookes, UCL and the Open University, as well as a number of industrial partners.
The Research Assistant will be required to:
– Publish accounts of this research in international peer-reviewed outlets.
– Provide leadership and assist in the supervision of any students working on the same project.
To apply and for further information (jobs.ac.uk):
Start date: As soon as possible
Closing date: 18 May 2014
Interview date: To be confirmed
Reference number: RS14025
Post type: Full-time, fixed term for 1 year Grade: 6
Payscale: £28,132 to £36,661 per annum
We seek to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Assistant to join a three year EPSRC project which aims to develop an effective Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) mechanism to induced weight bearing exercises so as to improve and maintain bone health in the lower extremities of spinal cord injury patients.
According to statistics from charities such as Every Eight Hours and Spinal Research, there are an estimated 40,000 spinal cord injured people in the UK and a new person is injured every eight hours. Many primary causes of death are now no longer direct results of spinal cord injury but are conditions linked to age and inactivity. This means that there are long-term demands on medical support; in particular, treatment of osteoporotic bone fractures often results in lengthy spells in hospital for individuals with spinal cord injury. It is therefore important to minimize the effect of osteoporosis after spinal cord injury; this highlights the need for exercise programmes to target bone health.
The appointed Postdoctoral Research Assistant will work on biomechanical modelling, all aspects of the experiments including design, ethical application and results analysis:
– To use methods from biomechanics to develop dynamic models of the transfer of weight between feet under FES control while the subject is standing supported by the frame.
– To coordinate with health care professionals and the investigators in organizing clinical trials
– To contribute to the design of human studies and ethics applications.
– To setup, organise, recruit, schedule and run the clinical tests involving SCI subjects.
– To participate in the motion analysis data acquisition and analysis.
– To collaborate in the development of a novel smart standing frame linked to the Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES), as well as coordinating data acquisition with a stimulating virtual environment (or possibly a video game), that enables safe and reliable maintenance of bone health via exercise programmes
This work will be conducted in collaboration with academic partners at Oxford, Coventry, Oxford Brookes, UCL and the Open University, as well as a number of industrial partners.
The Research Assistant will be required to:
– Publish accounts of this research in international peer-reviewed outlets.
– Provide leadership and assist in the supervision of any students working on the same project.
To apply and for further information (jobs.ac.uk):