4 year : Fully funded Medical Research Council Industry CASE PhD Studentship - iTALKbetter: an interactive tablet-based application to help aphasic patients speak again

Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)

Project Description

We are seeking a full-time PhD student with a strong interest in psychology and computer science.

Closing Date: 12^th September 2016

Interview date: Sept 29th 2016, start academic year: 2016/17.

PROJECT DETAILS:

iTALKbetter: an interactive tablet-based application to help aphasic patients speak again.

The aim of this PhD project is for a student to develop our UCL developed interactive, speech rehabilitation application iTALKbetter jointly with our industry partner SoftV from current proof-of-concept to a deployable treatment software/ gaming App for these patients to improve their spoken language function.

This is an excellent opportunity for the right candidate to gain valuable experience in an exciting project that intersects gaming, voice signal processing, computer science, clinical neuroscience and medical entrepreneurship.

SUPERVISORY TEAM:

The UCL academic supervisors (Dr Jennifer Crinion, Professor Alexander Leff) are from Psychology and Language Sciences and Institute of Neurology, see: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/icn/people/neurotherapeutics

The SOFTV industry supervisors ( Ian Shaw and Professor William Latham see : http://www.gold.ac.uk/computing/staff/w-latham/) offer extensive, successful experience in product gamification, interactive software development and design.

SKILLS to be used / developed during PhD project:

• Phonetics – the project is centered on collecting and analyzing phonetic data (speech), and correlating with patient conditions

• Utilizing Games / Gamification / Crowd Sourcing methods to engage players/aphasic patients and collect data at scale

• Software development – programming in C#/Unity

• Organise, collect and analyse Big Data –using large scale capture and scientific analysis

• Establish Cloud Architecture – developing Client Phone/Tablet + Server side processing

• Machine Learning methodology for automated analysis to discover patterns in data

• Analyzing patients’ behavioural data and drawing correlations between experimental data and theoretical psychology models of learning and stroke recovery.

• Assist with Audio Signal Processing – frequency based analysis of speech, using available maths libraries

PERSONAL SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL:

BSc/ MSc in Engineering, Computer Science, Maths or related discipline

• Proven ability to develop software (one of Java or C++ or C#),

• Experience of computer-delivered learning tools (e.g.: Apps)

• Confidence in basic techniques in the analysis of quantitative data ana

DESIRABLE or skills to acquire on job:

• Programming skills in Unity, C#,

• Experience in game-development,

• Experience in frequency/maths signal processing,

• Experience in machine-learning,

• Experience in big-data analysis,

• Experience in cloud, mobile tools

Informal enquiries to: Prof William Latham: william.latham@softv.co.uk or brigitta.zics@softv.co.uk

Application process enquiries to: Rosalyn Lawrence (rosalyn.lawrence@ucl.ac.uk)

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: 

1. Applications must be made through UCL Admissions via the link below. Applicants should select the programme RRDPLSSICN01 PhD full time; Division of Psychology and Language Sciences and complete the application as per the guidelines. 

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/apply 

2. Two academic references must be submitted (by the referee) to Rosalyn Lawrence (rosalyn.lawrence@ucl.ac.uk). Please note that automated reference requests are also sent to the referees named in the online application once it has been submitted.

Funding Notes

ELIGIBILITY:

This award funds home/EU UCL fee level and London minimum stipend of £16K (tax free) for 4 years. To apply, you need to hold an undergraduate or Masters degree (at least 2:1 or equivalent) and meet the MRC residency criteria. UK residents are eligible for a full award (fees plus maintenance stipend).

EU residents may be eligible for a fees-only award (see below) but must provide proof of sponsorship or the ability to self-support maintenance costs for the duration of the award. 

View Website 

Applicants who do not fulfill these criteria are not eligible.

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