Research Associates – VIDEOCOMICS FRG & HealthXR MRG

Research Associates – VIDEOCOMICS FRG & HealthXR MRG
 
Position: Research Associates 
Category: An initial one-year employment contract will be offered with the possibility for renewal depending on performance and project needs.
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
Deadline: Remain open until the positions are filled
No. Of Positions: 2
 
About the 1^st position:
Position holders are expected to engage in cutting-edge research involving the use of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) for the prediction of Sepsis in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Moreover, to investigate efficient and effective AI techniques for enhanced visualization of ICU-data, leveraging state-of-the-art clinical indicators, towards providing the medical experts with informed decision capabilities in a real-time setup.
The successful candidates will have the opportunity to conduct fundamental and/or applied research in the aforementioned areas. The successful candidates are expected to contribute to the preparation of project reports and deliverables, engage in software development, and participate in communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities. Furthermore, successful candidates will be encouraged to publish/present their research results in prestigious international conferences and journals and may be required to travel abroad for the dissemination of their research activities.
The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Andreas Panayides, FRG Leader, VIDEOMICS: Adaptive Video Processing, Analytics and Communications for Real-Time Applications.
 
About the 2^nd position:
Position holders are expected to engage in cutting-edge research for the identification of the risk of Ipsilateral Stroke/ Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) from ultrasound videos of the carotid artery. The successful candidates will investigate and develop novel, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) algorithms for ultrasound image analysis and video motion analysis, that will be jointly considered with selected clinical data, towards developing effective and efficient predictive models.
The successful candidates will have the opportunity to conduct fundamental and/or applied research in the aforementioned areas. The successful candidates are expected to contribute to the preparation of project reports and deliverables, engage in software development, and participate in communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities. Furthermore, successful candidates will be encouraged to publish/present their research results in prestigious international conferences and journals and may be required to travel abroad for the dissemination of their research activities.
Project:
The successful candidate will work under the supervision of Prof. Constantinos Pattichis, MRG Leader, HealthXR: Smart, Ubiquitous and Participatory Technologies for Healthcare Innovation.
 
VIDEOMICS: Adaptive Video Processing, Analytics and Communications for Real-Time Applications
Videomics FRG research exploits unique video characteristics to harvest knowledge that is applicable across the spectrum of video technology applications with an emphasis on healthcare innovation. Research areas focus on:

• Developing codec-agnostic and wireless technology independent adaptive video streaming solutions that are universally applicable for 2D, 3D, and 360 video systems.
• Mathematically modelling video content and spatiotemporal complexity to derive video segment signatures towards region-of-interest identification and video summarization.
• Investigating the intersection and collaborative analytics of video compression methods and deep learning architectures.

 
HealthXR: Smart, Ubiquitous and Participatory Technologies for Healthcare Innovation.
HealthXR MRG focuses on smart, citizen-centred eHealth and mHealth interventions, leveraging mixed reality technologies, edge computing diagnostics, and big healthcare data analytics, underpinning P4 medicine (predictive, preventive, personalised and participatory). 
Basic and applied research efforts are directed towards: 

• Empowering patients to become co-managers of their own health facilitating smart home interventions including mHealth and gaming applications for rehabilitation, chronic disease management, and healthy ageing, building on augmented and mixed reality personalised applications, capitalising near real-time cloud-based EHR data, and encompassing gamification strategies, unobtrusive edge diagnostics using miniaturised system-on-chip IoT biosensors, and social robotics interactions. 
• Point-of-care diagnostics bringing specialised care to remote populations, emergency and disaster incidents, leveraging portable image and video acquisition and processing devices, along with physiological parameters sensors, equipped with advanced analytical capabilities, relying on big and deep learning technologies including machine and statistical learning and inference, computer vision and others. 
• Smart, context-aware (big) healthcare data visualisation strategies for different healthcare stakeholders in medical research, education, and care provision, as well as surgical activity and object detection for minimally invasive surgery and robotic-assisted guided interventions, medical training using interactive processes and evidence-based rendered intelligence, and smart 3D visualisations for informed diagnosis, treatment planning, and in-silico modelling.

The projects
HOSPAITAL aims to expand an existing platform for monitoring patients in ICUs, where it will allow for core facilities to be shared and linked composing smart services for healthcare professionals, patients, information system managers, and health organization administrations. In particular, HospAItal aims to utilize newly developed methods in the IoT domain enhanced with AI capabilities, for the analysis and monitoring of sepsis in ICUs, through a common open Integration Platform in a set of use cases, in order to evaluate improvements in medical diagnosis, surgical interventions, prevention and treatment of diseases (with a particular focus on intra-ICU sepsis), and support for rehabilitation and long-term care as well as organisation and logistics, all for the benefit of Cyprus.
 
AtheroRisk project aims to develop an integrated intelligent software system for the identification of the Risk of Ipsilateral Stroke/ Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) events from carotid plaques. The system will develop novel Artificial Intelligence algorithms and will facilitate new techniques for ultrasound images and video motion analysis. The system will be applied on asymptomatic patients with moderate to severe artery stenosis.
The potential of the combined methods in stratifying the risk of ipsilateral stroke/TIA in patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis has been investigated and imply that at least 65% of patients currently undergoing Carotid Endarterectomy (CAE) do not require the procedure. CEA should be recommended in only 20% of the population at high risk.
We expect that the developed software system (used blindly) should be able to identify a subgroup (or subgroups) of patients with a high prevalence of symptomatic plaques and such a subgroup should contain the patients at high risk.
 
The successful candidates will be engaged to both VIDEOMICS and HealthXR Multidisciplinary Research Groups and HOSPITAIL and AtheroRisk projects.
 
Responsibilities of Research Associate: 

1. Engage in research activities of the HOSPAITAL/ AtheroRisk project(s) and work closely with consortium partners
2. Prepare and contribute to project reports and deliverables
3. Participate in the project’s dissemination, communication, and outreach activities

General qualifications and requirements

1. B.Sc. degree in Computer Science, Computer/ Electrical Engineering, Signal Processing, or related field, from an accredited institution   
2. M.Sc./ Ph.D. degree in a relevant field (e.g., Biomedical Engineering, Medical/ Health Informatics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Image Processing) will be considered an advantage
3. Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, C, C++, C#, R
4. Statistical/ Machine/ Deep learning expertise and corresponding frameworks knowledge (e.g., Keras, Pytorch, OpenCV, Tensorflow, etc.) will be considered an advantage
5. Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) expertise will be considered an advantage
6. Language requirements: Excellent written and oral English-language skills will be required.  

For non-EU applicants a work permit will be required
 
Profile of the ideal candidate 

1. Self-motivated with the ability to take initiative and work independently.  
2. Strong organizational, communication, presentation, and negotiation skills, having the ability to deal confidently and politely with enquiries.  
3. Very good analytical skills coupled with attention to detail.  
4. Dynamic, adaptable, hands-on and results driven.
5. A team player with an ability to work independently and under pressure. 
6. High levels of commitment, energy, and drive.
7. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Benefits
Take advantage of this opportunity for your professional and personal development by being a part of our fast- growing Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence. A very attractive remuneration package will be offered to the successful candidate according to qualifications and experience.

Application process 
For full consideration, interested applicants should submit the following items via: “Application for Research Associate- VIDEOMICS FRG”:

Process for Research Associates: 

1. A cover letter which clearly specifies 1) contact details and 2) employment availability date
2. A detailed curriculum vitae in English.
3. Copies of academic transcripts 
4. Description of their academic and research experiences as well as any relevant industrial / innovation / entrepreneurship experience, where applicable (500 words maximum).
5. Contact details of two University professors or one University professor and one industry referee who will provide the letters.
6. Two (2) representative publications (if applicable).
7. Two (2) representative innovation outcomes / products (if applicable).

Incomplete applications will not be accepted. 

In case you previously applied for a post at CYENS CoE, a new application is required.
 
For general enquiries, applicants may contact the HR Department of CYENS, Centre of Excellence at vacancies@cyens.org.cy .


About CYENS CoE 
 CYENS Centre of Excellence is focusing on Interactive media, Smart systems and Emerging technologies aiming to empower knowledge and technology transfer in Cyprus and wider region. It is a joint venture between the three public universities of Cyprus: the University of Cyprus, the Cyprus University of Technology, and the Open University of Cyprus, the Municipality of Nicosia, and two renowned international partners, the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Germany, and, the University College London, United Kingdom. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017 (Teaming Phase 2) under grant agreement No. 739578, as well as from the Cypriot Government, local and international partners, and other sponsors. 
  
Research in CYENS integrates the Visual Sciences, Human Factors & Design, and Communications & Artificial Intelligence, in a tight synergy that provides a unique interdisciplinary research perspective that emphasizes an “Inspired by Humans, Designed for Humans” philosophy. The Centre conducts excellent, internationally competitive scientific research delivered by 18 high-caliber multidisciplinary research teams. CYENS engages in knowledge transfer and innovation activities aiming to act as an integrator of academic research and industrial innovation, towards the sustainable fueling of the scientific, technological, and economic growth of Cyprus and Europe. 



CYENS Centre of Excellence is an equal opportunity employer and the position is open to everyone, internationally.


All applications are treated in the strictest confidence.
 
 

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