PhD Position on robotic aided therapy and assessment of post-stroke patients
University of Twente Biomechanical Engineering group


The PhD position at the BME group will be mainly focused on the assessment of impairments of the upper extremities following stroke using previous developed robotic exoskeletons, and electrophysiological measures. At the end of the project (s)he will have developed and evaluated a battery of tests that gives a complete picture of sensory motor disorders due to stroke and relate different impairments to functional disabilities. This will give us a better insight into the consequences and progress of stroke and will make it possible to monitor the effect of different treatments on multiple levels. The PhD position at the BME will work closely with the PhD. students at RRD and the Sint Maartens kliniek . The PhD students will work with stroke patients and have to collaborate with (para)medici. The supervision of both the PhD positions at RRD and the BME will be a joint effort of both groups.

Requirements
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Required education/skills:University Graduate
You are a recently graduated (MSc) biomedical engineer or physics / mechanical/ electrical engineer with biomedical specialization or a human movement scientist with a strong mathematical background . You have demonstrated an interest in human motor control and rehabilitation technology. Expertise in neurophysiology and experience in experimentation are highly recommended. You have experience in mathematical modeling and sufficient skills in numerical mathematics, programming C and/or Matlab. Finally, you work accurately and independently, are creative, a team player and have excellent communication skills, particularly in written and spoken English.


Organization
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University of Twente
Biomechanical Engineering group

Sharing knowledge, working together, research, innovation. It is all part of the only campus university in the netherlands: the University of Twente (UT). A university with an international character. We have for example many foreign doctoral students, and master programmes are provided in english. Divided over 5 faculties, we provide more than 50 bachelor and master programmes, varying from applied physics and public administration to applied communication science and biomedical technology. In beautiful green surroundings, more than 8000 students and 2700 staff live, work and recreate at the UT. It is also a place where talented people get every opportunity to perform cutting edge research. But as an entrepreneurial university this is not all we do. In ‘Kennispark’, for example, we work together with the business community, we support our students in setting up their own businesses and participate in many projects in the area of knowledge development. In brief, a dynamic climate in which to work and study.

The faculty of Engineering Technology has about 270 employees and 1500 students and consists of four departments: Civil Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Sustainable Energy Technology. The new group Multi Scale Mechanics is part of the Mechanical Engineering department, with research in the areas of multi-scale fluid- and solid-mechanics, micro-macro approaches, particle and contact mechanics, micro-fluidics, and self-healing materials.

Research of the UT is organized in 6 spearhead institutes, including the Institute for Biomedical Technology (BMTi). This interdepartmental institute hosts more than 250 researchers from the field of physics, electrical engineering, construction technology and (bio)-chemical technology. It is recognised world-wide as a leading institute in this multi-disciplinary field of science, where engineering concepts and methods are employed to solve and understand medical and biological problems. The main areas of interest are human function technology and tissue engineering.

The research program of The Biomechanical Engineering (BME) group is focussed on the human locomotor apparatus, from diagnosis training to the construction of supportive devices. The medical application areas are rehabilitation, orthopaedics and neurology.

In the BME group one PhD position and is available, which is part of the VIRTUROB project that is a ‘pieken in de delta’ proposal, which aims to exploit robotic devices and virtual reality in the assessment and training of neurological disorders. The project is a follow up project of the active rehabilitation project (http://www.actieverevalidatie.nl/) and is a collaboration between the University of Twente, Roessingh Researrch and Development, the Sint Maartens Kliniek, Baat Medical Engineering, and ReLion.


Dr.ir. H. van der Kooij
Telephone number: 31 53 489 4779
E-mail address: h.vanderkooij@utwente.nl
Or additional information can be obtained through one of the following links:
About the organization (http://www.ctw.utwente.nl/en/)
About the department (http://www.bw.ctw.utwente.nl)
University of Twente
CTW-Personnel Department
Postbus 217
7500 AE Enschede

E-mail: personeelszaken@ctw.utwente.nl