Location: Streatham Campus, University of Exeter, EX4 4QJ
Secondary supervisors: Dr Mark Wilson (University of Exeter), Dr Victoria Goodwin (University of Exeter)
Based within the EPSRC Centre for Predictive Modelling in Healthcare, a £2M initiative bringing together mathematicians, statisticians and clinicians, you will work on a project aiming to develop a data-driven mathematical modeling framework in order to study
gait impairments in patients with Parkinson’s.
Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition that mainly affects people of 50 and over. One person in every 500 has Parkinson's, which equates to about 127,000 people in the UK. There's currently no cure, and the range of symptoms and how quickly they
progress are different for everyone. The main symptoms of Parkinson's are tremor, rigidity and slowness of movement. Despite optimal medication therapy, many people with Parkinson’s still experience gait impairments. Gait impairments (e.g., freezing of gait)
are associated with falls and fear of falling, and reduced quality of life.
This studentship aims to further our understanding of the degenerative nature of the disease by taking a dynamical systems approach to modelling the coordination of locomotion (gait) from an individual perspective. While many studies have examined discrete
gait measures (e.g. step length) it is likely that several gait malfunctions will interact and incur a simultaneous deterioration of stepping. A dynamical systems approach is particularly useful in predicting when and if this deterioration may cross a critical
threshold; for example, triggering a freeze or a stumble.
The first stage of this project will be to develop a model based on gait data we have already collected from 18 people with Parkinson’s. The second stage would be to collect additional data to test model’s predictions and refine and improve the model.
This project is one of a number which are funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Doctoral Training Partnership to commence in September 2016. The studentships will provide funding for a stipend (currently £14,057 per annum
for 2015/16), research costs of £3,000 and UK/EU tuition fees at Research Council rates for 3.5 years.
Application Criteria
Applicants should have or expect to achieve at least a 2:1 Honours degree, or equivalent, in Maths, Physics, Medicine, Natural Sciences or other numerate discipline.
The closing date for applications is midnight on Monday 4 January 2016. Interview will be held at the University of Exeter is mid-late January 2016.