Department for the Economy (DfE) funded PhD
Studentship in Computing and Intelligent Systems
Title: Advancing MEG based Brain-Computer Interface Supported Upper Limb
Post-Stroke Rehabilitation
Applications are invited for a DfE funded PhD studentship tenable in the Faculty of
Computing and Engineering at the Magee Campus. Please note that a faculty
reorganisation is underway at Ulster and these studentships will be based within the
new structure in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment.
This PhD is part of an international collaborative project under the UK India Education
& Research Initiative (UKIERI) phase-3 program, which is run by the British Council and
the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India. The collaborating
Indian partner Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK)) is a top ranking
internationally renowned science and technology institution. The selected PhD
student will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team consisting of researchers and
faculty members from the School of Computing and Intelligent Systems and School of
Health Sciences at Ulster University, and researchers and faculty members from the
Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering at IITK. The
project’s clinical collaborators are Occupational Therapy (OT) Department of
Altnagelvin Hospital in UK and Neurology Department of Regency Hospital, Kanpur,
India. In Ulster, the UKIERI project is based at Northern Ireland Functional Brain
Mapping (NIFBM) facility for magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies. The NIFBM
facility is located at Intelligent Systems Research Centre at the Magee Campus and it
is run by its Neural Systems and Neuro-technology research Team.
Project Summary:
Stroke is one of the leading causes of upper limb disability significantly impacting the
quality of life and employability. Performing upper limb motor task involves several
brain areas contributing to various motor stages such as planning and execution. Due
to stroke, some of these areas may get damaged. The post-stroke rehabilitation
exercises need to be done with very high focus so as to activate relevant areas
appropriately for recovery through plastic reorganization. In order to achieve this goal,
the main project objectives are to: (1) Develop an advanced brain-computer interface
(BCI) for targeting appropriate brain activations and providing neurofeedback of the
actual activations using MEG; (2) Devise a BCI based controller for controlling a robotic
exoskeleton to help perform appropriate upper limb exercises; (3) Conduct pilot trials
to evaluate the efficacy of the complete system in movement restoration of stroke
survivors.
Project Details:
Globally over 80% of the stroke survivors suffer from some form of disability, out of
which 85% are cases of serious upper-limb movement deficits. Although there
remains a good chance of recovery in the first few months after stroke, 65% of them
suffer from permanent disability of the affected limb leading to degraded quality of
life after 6 months post-stroke. Such individuals need advanced rehabilitation
treatments. An upper limb motor task involves several brain areas, and one or more
of these areas may have suffered cell damage, when a person suffers from stroke. The
post-stroke rehabilitation exercises need to be designed in such a way that all the
relevant/affected brain areas are appropriately activated to ensure recovery through
plastic reorganization. Additionally, in order to make sure that the exercises are
performed actively leading to desired cortical activation, the stroke sufferers need to
be provided with neurofeedback (NF) regarding the quality of actual brain activations
in real-time. More importantly a movement/motor task involves several stages such
as planning, execution, and proprioception. The research challenge is therefore to
design the rehabilitation protocol in such a way that all stages of a motor task are
performed with sufficient focus. Therefore, the main investigations to be undertaken
in this project are:
 Experimental Paradigm: A flexible GUI in a virtual environment will be designed to
set the trial timings and provide a gamified neuro-feedback in a computer
controlled brain-computer interface (BCI) mode.
 BCI Algorithm: Advanced BCI algorithms will be required to be developed using
magnetoencephalography (MEG) data providing highest spatio-temporal
resolution of all neuro-imaging modalities. Care will be exercised to make sure that
the brain activation features are a good representation of task-related cortical
activations in various stages of a movement task. To ensure a focused motor
exercise, BCI algorithm will also be required to control a hand exoskeleton in
assist-as-needed mode to help perform appropriate upper limb exercises. The
hand exoskeleton will be developed by the IITK research team.
 Pilot trials: After obtaining ethical approval, an appropriate group of people with
chronic stroke upper limb impairments will be recruited. Trials will be designed in
such a way that appropriate cortical activations and outcome measures related
data could be obtained to undertake analysis for devising an optimal neurorehabilitation system.
Entrance Requirements:
All applicants should hold a first or upper second class honours degree in Electrical
Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Bio-medical Engineering, Computing Science, or
a closely related discipline, or a higher degree in the same or closely related subjects.
Applications will be considered on a competitive basis with regard to the candidate’s
qualifications, skills experience and interests. Successful candidates will enrol as of 1
October 2017, on a full-time programme of research studies leading to the award of
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
The studentship will comprise fees together with an annual stipend of £14,553 and
will be awarded for a period of up to three years subject to satisfactory progress.
If you wish to discuss your proposal or receive advice on this project please contact:Prof. Girijesh Prasad,
Professor of Intelligent Systems,
Intelligent Systems Research Centre, School of Computing and Intelligent Systems,
Faculty of Computing and Engineering, Ulster University, Magee campus, Derry~ Londonderry
BT48 7JL, N. Ireland, UK.
T: +44 - (0)28 71 - 675645, 675409
E: [email protected]
Procedure
For more information on applying go to ulster.ac.uk/research
Apply online ulster.ac.uk/applyonline
The closing date for receipt of completed applications is 30 June 2017
Interviews will be held in July 2017