CEREBRIS Research Associate (Biomechanical Motion Analysis & Machine Vision)

University of Bath; Bath; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave

Employer contributory pension

Cycle to work scheme

Electric vehicle salary sacrifice

Staff discounts at gym

Postgraduate tuition discounts

Relocation allowance

Visa reimbursement

Job summary

University of Bath is recruiting a researcher for the CEREBRIS project, a flagship EIC Pathfinder programme, to advance secure, federated, explainable AI for stroke care. You will work at the Bath Institute for the Augmented Human with a multidisciplinary team to translate motion data into clinically usable tools.

The role demands a PhD or equivalent in CV/biomechanics, expertise in markerless motion capture and pose estimation, and strong Python/MATLAB programming with deep learning experience.

Qualifications

• PhD or equivalent experience in CV/biomechanics or related field.
• Experience in markerless motion capture and pose estimation.

Responsibilities

• Develop and validate a markerless camera system for upper limb assessment.
• Design hand pose and movement recognition systems for wearable or on-device clinical use.
• Publish in leading venues and contribute to invention claims within a transdisciplinary European team.
• Travel intermittently to partner sites across Europe to ground development in patient needs.

Skills

Markerless mocap

Pose estimation

Python

MATLAB

Deep learning

Data processing

Communication skills

Education

PhD in Computer Vision / Biomechanics / related field

Tools

OpenSim

Edge AI / on-device inference

ML frameworks (TensorFlow/PyTorch)

Job description

Join the CEREBRIS project, a flagship European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder programme developing a secure, federated and explainable AI ecosystem to transform stroke diagnosis, prognosis and rehabilitation. Working within the Bath Institute for the Augmented Human, alongside Dr Dario Cazzola, Dr Steffi Colyer, Dr Adwait Sharma, Prof Damien Coyle and Dr Jibraan Esoof, you will sit at the interface of post-stroke motion analysis, real-time machine vision and technology translation, helping build the sensing systems that let clinicians objectively track how a patient recovers after brain injury. In this role you will:

• Develop and validate a markerless camera system for upper limb assessment, building pose estimation models for segmental and fine-grained motion in stroke patients.
• Design hand pose and movement recognition systems suitable for wearable or on-device, low-latency clinical use, and build synthetic data pipelines to augment training data.
• Publish in leading venues such as Nature Communications, ACM CHI or ACM UIST, and contribute to new invention claims within a transdisciplinary, international consortium spanning neurology, AI, robotics and clinical translation.

This role involves intermittent travel to partner sites across Europe in order to work closely with clinical teams to ground your technical development in real patient needs.

We are looking for a motivated, driven and technically strong researcher with a genuine interest in applying computer vision and biomechanics to improve outcomes for people recovering from stroke. You must be comfortable working at the intersection of engineering and clinical research, translating complex motion and vision data into tools that clinicians can use, and confident driving your own research within a transdisciplinary European team.

• A PhD in Computer Vision, Biomechanics, Biomedical Engineering, Human Movement Science, or equivalent significant relevant experience and professional qualification.
• Experience with markerless motion capture and 2D/3D human pose estimation.
• Strong programming skills in Python or MATLAB, with experience in kinematic data processing and deep-learning model development.
• A publication record in peer-reviewed venues and the ability to drive independent research within a transdisciplinary project.
• Experience in designing and planning research experiments.
• Experience in data acquisition and recording motion capture data from multiple subjects, and handling large datasets.
• Excellent oral, interpersonal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work unsupervised for long periods and deliver results at a professional level.
• Proficiency in IT skills (as appropriate to the discipline).

Desirable:

• Postdoctoral research experience.
• Software skills using OpenSim or equivalent musculoskeletal (MSK) modelling tools.
• Experience in edge AI or on-device inference.
• Experience with self-supervised or minimal-data learning approaches for computer vision.
• Experience conducting research in a neurorehabilitation cohort, including analysing, summarising and presenting findings in written reports.
• A track record of research publications related to research with human participants (conference or journal).
• Experience conducting literature reviews in neuroscience-related research.
• Experience obtaining ethical approval for research.

This is a full time (36.5 hours per week) fixed term role with an expected duration of 30 months., We're continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:

• Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• Generous employer contributory pension schemes
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Staff discount at Team Bath gym
• Staff benefits include discounted postgraduate tuition and language courses, alongside a wide range of personal and professional development opportunities such as apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning, and more
• Local discounts, including free entry to the Holburne Museum in Bath
• A family-friendly workplace
• An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• Relocation allowance
• Visa reimbursement and Interest-Free Loan to help with the cost of some immigration expenses
• Employee assistance services through Health Assured, including access to the Wisdom app

Find out more about our benefits and watch the video to hear from our staff about what makes the University of Bath a great place to work as well as following us X and LinkedIn.

Be Well at Bath We're committed to creating a health-supporting working environment where everyone can thrive and be at their best. We offer a range of resources to enable you to do that from your first day here, including:

• Staff support groups and networks
• A network of Staff Wellbeing Champions
• A suite of tools, resources and frameworks that enable you to be at your best and thrive