Postdoctoral Researcher, Pervasive Sensing for Microsurgical Training and Skill Assessment

Postdoctoral Researcher, Pervasive Sensing for Microsurgical Training and Skill Assessment

UEF - University of Eastern Finland

Joensuu or Kuopio, Finland

Role

Join our vibrant research team where microsurgery, expertise, and technology revolutionize how we train and assess surgical skills! When stakes are high, there is little margin for error. In mission-critical tasks, such as microsurgery, every little movement can make the difference in a patient’s safety and well-being. To understand how expertise develops over time, the Synergetic Mechanisms in High-Precision Expertise (SyMPeX) project (website) develops data-driven solutions that promote ubiquitous long-term and sustainable training and objective skill evaluation.

We seek a highly motivated Postdoctoral Researcher to join our SyMPeX project funded by the Research Council of Finland. Situated in microsurgical training and operating rooms, our interdisciplinary project combines cutting-edge sensors with current computational tools and machine/deep learning. As a Postdoctoral Researcher, you will be a key member of our team responsible for designing the seamless integration of biosensors into microsurgical training, developing a robust framework for data collection, and advancing performance analytics. Together, we shift how we train, observe, and understand microsurgical expertise. You will collaborate with specialists in Computer Science, Microsurgery, Plastic Surgery, and Otolaryngology spanning three university hospitals worldwide.

As our new Postdoctoral Researcher, your main responsibilities will include:

• designing and integrating biosensing architecture for pervasive data capture from the state-of-the-art wearable sensors and cameras;
• validating the framework and running systematic feasibility tests in the wild;
• collaborating closely with researchers and clinicians to prepare for autonomous data collection in the training centers and/or operating rooms;
• visiting project’s international partners at Kuopio University Hospital (Finland), Rigshospitalet (Denmark) and University of Alberta (Canada);
• publishing in high-impact journals and giving presentations at international conferences.

Our requirements and expectations

Requirements:

• a doctoral degree in Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering or another relevant field. The doctoral degree may not have been completed more than five years ago at the time of starting in the position (a net period of time, which does not include parental leaves, military service etc.);
• good skills in spoken and written English for day-to-day communication and collaboration with international partners.

Other requirements:

• proven coding expertise in biometric sensor integration and time-series signal processing;
• ability to write clean, reproducible, and well-documented code for research or production use;
• scientific research experience demonstrated through high-quality publications and code samples or publications with code.

The following will be considered an advantage:

• experience with machine/deep learning for time-series data analysis;
• prior experience with computational multi-sensor synchronization, cloud infrastructure, and secure file transfer;
• prior experience of clinical/health technology-oriented projects.