Description of Hosting Institution (UJA – Spain)

Jaén University (UJA) was created in 1993 and is in the Top 50 of the world’s best young universities according to THE (Times Higher Education). This ranking analyzes aspects such as teaching, research work, the university’s international outreach, or integration into industry. Besides, the UJA has received the distinction of Campus of International Excellence in the fields of Agrifood (CEIA3) and Climate Change (CamBio), plus it also leads the Andalusian CEI project on historical heritage PatrimoniUN10.

Jaén University has five faculties (Social and Legal Sciences; Humanities and Education Sciences; Health Sciences; Experimental Sciences and Social Work) and two higher polytechnic schools for engineering (Linares and Jaén). In turn, these centers are organized into 35 departments. It also has three Postgraduate educational centers (Doctorate School, Advanced Study Center in Modern Languages and Postgraduate Study Center).

In regards to its research, there are several specialized centers at Jaén University (https://www.ujaen.es/servicios/ofipi/uja-ri-expertise). Besides, the full picture of the over 100 UJA groups covers the following research fields of expertise: Agrifood (AGR); Biology (BIO); Health (CTS); Social Sciences, Business, Law (SEJ); Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics (FQM); Humanities (HUM); Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (RNM); Information and Communications Technology (TIC); and Engineering Production Technology (TEP).

As far this hosting offer is concerned, Prof. SERGIO IGLESIAS PARRO would be willing to host post-doctoral researchers that are eventually funded through the MSCA-IF 2021 call for applications to be part of the following UJA research team: https://www.ujaen.es/servicios/ofipi/uja-ri-expertise/bio-302-complex-systems-and-organisms

Project description

Data modeling and analysis of brain activity is an area of great interest in the field of neuroscience, with important theoretical and clinical implications. Traditionally, the EEG analysis methodology has used linear signal decomposition procedures. However, recently it has been proposed that linear methodology may not be adequate given the non-periodic and irregular nature of these signals (Ibáñez-Molina et al., 2014). As an alternative, non-linear analysis of the EEG is proposed. Their purpose is to quantify the complexity of the system as a whole (Stam, 2005). In this sense, the complexity of the EEG has been considered an estimator of the relative number of independent sources that contribute to the EEG signal and different indices have been proposed such as D2, Lempel-Ziv (LZC), multiscale entropy (MSE), and the Higuchi Fractal Dimension (HFD), among others. A characteristic common to all these metrics is that they analyze the EEG signal for each of the available channels. However, being able to jointly analyze the existing interactions between the different functional sources, encompassing the entire scalp level over time, will allow us to obtain a much richer and more complete spatio-temporal vision of this activity. However, the optimization of these algorithms for their use on datasets of increasing resolution, as well as providing them with the interactivity necessary for their use in clinical applications, remains a challenge. In this project, we intend to explore the potential of these bio-signals in patients with severe mental illness and in patients with severe brain damage.

Pre-application procedure

Interested applicants (PhD holders) should send their CV, Motivation letter and Summary of project proposal (250 words) to the UJA potential proposal supervisor (siglesia@ujaen.es) by the hosting offer deadline. Please, take into account that only candidates that meet the MSCA-IF 2021 application requirements according to the Funding & Tenders Portal (such as the so-called ‘mobility rule’) will be considered for proposal supervision.