PhD Studentship: Multi-Modal Data Analysis and Modelling in Dementia and the Arts

This 3-year Ph.D. position will be a joint appointment between the Dementia Research Centre (DRC) at the Institute of Neurology, University College London (UCL), and the Progression Of Neurodegenerative Diseases (POND) group, which is within UCL’s Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC) and Department of Computer Science.

• Primary supervisors: Prof. Daniel Alexander and Prof. Sebastian Crutch
• Associate supervisors: Dr Nicholas C. Firth and Dr Keir Yong
• Closing date for applications: 23.59 on Friday 5 August 2016
• Proposed start date: October 2016

Programme Structure

Created Out of Mind is an interdisciplinary group exploring dementia and the arts who have been invited to take up the 2016–2018 residency in The Hub at Wellcome Collection. Bringing together a rich network including scientists, artists, clinicians, public health experts and broadcasters, the team aims to examine and challenge perceptions of dementia through scientific and creative experimentation, and to deliver novel toolkits, methodologies and ways of thinking to enable us to better understand and use the arts in dementia. The Hub space at Wellcome Collection will provide a base for the group to perform rigorous, creative research and to stage scientific and artistic experiments, data-gathering and public events. The group will also have unique access to resources in Wellcome Collection, the Wellcome Trust and the Wellcome Library. 

Project details

Wearable technologies are capable of providing an unprecedented amount of data relating to an individual. However, as yet there is an unmet demand to analyse these data to provide meaningful insights and/or predictions. This project focuses on analysing multi-modal data, provided by, e.g. wearable technologies, eye-tracking, and gait analysis, with a view to providing quantitative measures of how various artistic, social or goal-based projects are able to affect people living with dementia and those caring for them.

 The student will receive training in:

• Machine learning
• Statistical modelling
• Neuropsychology
• Rare dementias
• Data visualisation

This project would best suit either student with a mathematical/computational background with an interest in neuropsychology or a neuropsychologist with a strong interest in data science. The successful applicant will have some scripting (Matlab, Python, R, …) or coding experience.

Funding

This is a fully-funded three year PhD project, as well as travel and consumables funding. This is available to home or EU fee status students only.

Eligibility

Students must have achieved at least an upper 2:1 in their undergraduate degree or have a Master’s degree.

How to Apply

Applications can be made via the PRISM portal.