Research Assistant for human movement monitoring with applications in health and wellbeing

The research assistant will join the group in instrumentation and applied acoustics (I2A2), in the R&D line on sensorisation of human movement with applications in health and well-being, and specifically in an R&D project on the effects of physical exercise on the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease by monitoring activity in free-living contexts, using wearable technology and artificial intelligence techniques.

The general objective of the research line in which the research assistant will be involved is to advance in the development of methodologies for monitoring motor activity in free living environments and its application in the study of the effects of physical exercise on the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). The activities to be carried out by the research assistant within the group will be linked to support tasks for the development of the project: Digital biomarkers for the evaluation of the motor status of patients with Parkinson's disease for clinical and therapeutic application (PID2021-123708OB-I00).

In the period 2024-2026 it is planned to work on the development and validation of an application that collects signals using smart watches and, using classification algorithms based on AI techniques developed by the proposing group, to obtain a set of digital indicators leading to the definition of a digital biomarker useful for the continuous monitoring of the motor status of patients with movement disorders, especially patients with Parkinson's disease. These biomarkers will be useful for: Studying the evolution of the disease and also to evaluate the effects of different interventions, whether neurorehabilitative (e.g. physical activity) or pharmacological. The biomarkers will be obtained through indicators, built from models created by applying AI techniques to a series of data sets acquired with wearables.

The research assistant will provide support and assistance in the execution of the following activities:

Act01. Calibration testing of human movement data collection instruments (wearables).

Act02. Set-up of instruments, protocols and sampling procedures.

Act03. Downloading and management of records and generation of datasets.

Act04. Data curation and formatting of records.

Act05. Signal feature extraction.

Act06. Feature extraction for model training.

Act07. Obtaining indicators.

Act08. Analysis of results.

Act09. Communication and presentation of results (preparation of reports, abstracts, communications, papers and articles).

Act10. Technology transfer.