La Caixa INPhINIT INCOMING Doctoral Fellowship Programme: User-centric patterns to describe medical alerts

IMIBIC HOSTING OFFER:

La Caixa INPhINIT INCOMING Doctoral Fellowship Programme

GROUP LEADER

Prof.Sebastián Ventura Soto (sventura@uco.es)

RESEARCH PROJECT/RESEARCH GROUP

KDIS research group: http://www.uco.es/kdis

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Knowledge discovery has become a highly relevant task in areas where huge volumes of data daily gathered by information systems make impossible the applicability of traditional analysis to extract valuable insights. The key element in the process of eliciting useful knowledge is the pattern, denoting any type of homogeneity and regularity in data, and describing intrinsic and important properties of data, and they are required to be novel, significant, unexpected, nontrivial and actionable.

Thanks to the Big Data revolution, actions to be taken from the discovered insights are often of extreme relevance, especially in precision medicine. Here, the expert requirements are highly complex, so expectations are hardly fulfilled with the insights discovered by conventional approaches since gathered information is not adapted to the special needs of each very patient. It should be highlighted that the individual variability in disease prevention, care and treatment is required to be understood.

The main objective of this PhD project is to provide mechanisms to soften the original rigid data representations to give rise to user-centric patterns. These patterns describe more valuable knowledge since they are tailored for each specific situation, which is the basis for precision medicine. Additionally, they are much more actionable since they are based on the user’s requirements. The final aim is to provide specific and accurate medical alerts on different branches of medical practice. In the development of this project, the candidate will design and implement methods in which data should be handled to produce more actionable and valuable insights. These methods can be grouped into three categories: mechanisms to deal with concepts on different levels of abstraction; approaches to handle ambiguity on the space of records; and mechanisms to extract knowledge on multiple data sources.

Job position description:

The PhD position will be developed in the research laboratory “Knowledge Discovery and Intelligent Systems in Biomedicine”, belonging to the Maimonides Institute of Biomedical Research (IMIBIC). This Institute, located in the city of Cordoba, southern Spain, is a partnership between the University of Cordoba and the Reina Sofia University Hospital. IMIBIC offers a multidisciplinary environment focused on results-oriented research and based on precision medicine and excellence in science. IMIBIC is accredited with the Excellence distinction from the Carlos III Spanish National Institute of Health and the Excellence in Human Resources for Researchers - HRS4R, from the European Commission.

The Institute is structured in research groups that cooperate in the implementation of its various scientific programmes. Its major goal is to promote biomedical innovation as a powerful engine for economic and social development. To this end, the Institute offers an active environment in which to conduct high-level scientific research. Regular seminars and research events offer the opportunity to meet with national and international speakers covering a diverse range of topics in biomedicine, including the use of artificial intelligence techniques and medicine of precision. Advanced training of the PhD students belonging to our research laboratory is further provided through the Doctoral Program in Advanced Computing of the University of Cordoba. This program gives access to the Dual PhD program with the Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, USA). This represents a big advantage as our PhD students can graduate in both Universities.

The IMIBIC building is located within the University Health Sciences Campus, near the Reina Sofia University Hospital. It hosts a wide variety of core facilities for researchers, including the Biomedical Research Support Units that hosts brand new equipment and laboratories to support the technical needs of the IMIBIC community, as well as a Clinical Research Unit to support clinical trial research.

Eligibility Criteria

1) At the call deadline (4^th Feb 2020), applicants must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

2) At the time of recruitment, candidates must comply with one of the following options:

• To have completed the studies that lead to an official university degree adapted to the European Higher Education Area awarding 300 ECTS credits, of which at least 60 ECTS credits must correspond to master level.
• To have completed a degree in university not adapted to the European Higher Education Area that gives access to doctoral studies. The verification of an equivalent level of studies to the ones mentioned above will be made by the university when the admission procedure starts.

3) Candidates must not have resided or have carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline (4^th Feb 2020). Short stays, such as holidays, done in a country other than their country of usual residence (where they carried out their main activity), will be considered as time spent in their country of usual residence.

4) Candidates must have a demonstrable level of English (B2 or higher).

5) Only candidates whose applications meet all the requirements of the call may be accepted.

You can find this offer via the Offer Finder, available at https://hosts.lacaixafellowships.org/finder

Select “IMIBIC – Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba” from the dropdown list under “RESEARCH CENTRE”

You can also search the position by its title "User-centric patterns to describe medical alerts" under "SEARCH BY PROJECT TITLE / JOB POSITION TITLE".

How to Apply:

If you want to apply for an INPhINIT fellowship, click on the link below to create your personal account and fill in the on-line application form: https://www.lacaixafellowships.org/index.aspx

Schedule:

4 February 2020: Deadline for submitting applications.

18 February 2020: Deadline for submitting the language certificate.

16 April 2020: Notification of the shortlist results.

27 and 28 May 2020: Face-to-face interviews in Barcelona.

2 June 2020: Publication of the final list of selected candidates.

From 2 to 30 June 2020: Matching research centre – fellow.

More Information:

2020 Call for applications:

https://obrasociallacaixa.org/documents/10280/590054/inphinit_incoming_2020_en.pdf/3cfabdbb-9986-df86-f58f-d5289f19672a?t=1572967982849

Web:

https://obrasociallacaixa.org/en/investigacion-y-becas/becas-de-la-caixa/doctorado-inphinit/incoming

Email:

international@imibic.org

ABOUT IMIBIC

IMIBIC, located in Cordoba, southern Spain, is a partnership between the University of Cordoba (UCO) and the Reina Sofia University Hospital. IMIBIC offers a multidisciplinary environment focused on results-oriented research and based on precision medicine and excellence in science. IMIBIC is accredited with the Excellence distinction from the National Institute of Health Carlos III and the “HR Excellence in Research” by the EC.

The Institute is structured in 44 research groups that cooperate in the implementation of five scientific programmes. IMIBIC offers an active environment in which to conduct high-level scientific research. Regular seminars and research events offer the opportunity to meet with national and international experts covering a diverse range of topics in biomedicine. Advanced training of our PhD students is provided primarily through the Doctoral Program in Biomedicine (UCO), hosted at the IMIBIC and integrated by leading scientists from the University and the Hospital. Results from research activities are exposed yearly in the IMIBIC Young Investigator Meetings, providing an ideal environment to strengthen the skills and knowledge of young scientists and to foster translational research by bringing together experimental basic and medical sciences.

IMIBIC is a young and fast-growing research center. It operates in a brand new building located within the UCO Health Sciences Campus and next to the University Hospital. It hosts over 600 researchers and offers the latest technology, equipment, and laboratories to support the technical needs of the research community.

Cordoba is a medium-sized city located in the heart of Andalusia, with excellent transport connections to the main cities of Spain and both to the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Rich in history and culture, Cordoba is a friendly and welcoming city, with a high standard of living, making it an ideal location for international students wishing to carry out their doctoral studies in Spain.