About the project
Electrogastrography (EGG) records the electrical activity of the gut and can provide useful information about the health and wellbeing of an individual. However, unlike the more mature technologies such as electrocardiography (ECG), electroencephalography (EEG) or electromyography (EMG), the potential of EGG has not been studied fully yet. Applications are invited for a fully-funded PhD studentship to explore the potential of EGG in healthcare.
The initial work will involve creating a wearable prototype with mono or multi-channel electrodes that can record EGG with a good sensitivity. Further work will investigate the feasibility of the wearable prototype by doing real user studies to understand the acceptability/usability of the device and perform data collection with a focus on healthcare and affective computing. To understand the data and its utility, machine learning models will be developed. Lastly, a user interface will be created to let individuals get feedback based on their gastric signals. Working on this research will open doors to enable many applications ranging from measuring nausea in virtual reality environments to monitoring gastrointestinal disorders and diagnosing illnesses early.
The PhD student will work closely with Dr Jagmohan Chauhan (XAI for Health) and Professor Neil White (Intelligent Sensor Systems). The research could lead to new techniques and methods for monitoring the health of individuals. The student will be a part of a dynamic environment within the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), including opportunities for commercialization of research. Future Worlds is an accelerator to help translate research into innovations and is available for students to move their research into business.
Successful candidates would have a strong background in engineering and preference would be given to those with good understanding of electronics, materials and machine learning.
You will join the School of Electronics and Computer Science, which is ranked 1st in the UK for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Guardian University Guide 2022) within the University of Southampton, which is ranked in the top 1% of universities worldwide.
You will be supervised by expert researchers in their field. We will also support the development of your future career and give you opportunities expand your experience and knowledge beyond the topic of the PhD project.
