PhD Studentship in Computer Science: Analysing and Visualizing Brain-Heart Interactions in Health and Disease

Award summary 

100% Home fees covered and minimum tax-free annual living allowance of £19,237 (2024/25 UKRI rate) 

Overview 

The interaction between the heart and the brain is highly complex, especially in paroxysmal disorders, such epilepsy. Certain epileptic seizures commonly occur in association with changes in heart function; and some patients with cardiac abnormalities (e.g. QT prolongation) can have a primary seizure disorder and intractable focal epilepsy. For example, patients with concealed long QT syndrome (LQTS) can present clinically as syncope, seizures, or sudden cardiac death (SCD), and as such LQTS is often misdiagnosed as epilepsy. This research aims to analyse and visualise brain-heart interactions to predict early signs of ventricular arrhythmia/SCD, and other relevant phenomena in neurological conditions such as epilepsy, using ECG and EEG data. The research aims to build a comprehensive computational framework using AI & data visualisations to have much wider implications for translation and treatment. 

Supervisory environment: 

We offer a rich interdisciplinary research environment in both clinical and computational labs. Dr Alaa Alahmadi is a Lecturer in Computational Medicine at the Interdisciplinary Computing and Complex BioSystems (ICOS) research group in the School of Computing. She has excellent track record in cardiac monitoring technologies, human-like explainable AI & data visualisations. Prof Yujiang Wang is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and leads the Computational Neuroscience, Neurology, and Psychiatry (CNNP) lab in the School of Computing. Wang has extensive experience in both EEG, ECG, and wearable sensor analysis, and has a long track record in epilepsy research using computational and data science approaches with over 70 peer-reviewed papers on the topic. Dr Rhys Thomas is an Epileptologist (Royal Victoria Infirmary), Reader in Epilepsy (Newcastle University) and President of the British branch of the International League Against Epilepsy. He has extensive experience in clinical epilepsy research, including studying preventable causes of sudden death unexpected in epilepsy. 

Number of awards 

1 

Start date  

January 2025 

Award duration 

3.5 years 

Application closing date 

15 November 2024 

Sponsor 

School of Computing  

Name of supervisor/s 

Dr Alaa Alahmadi 

Professor Yujiang Wang 

Dr Rhys Thomas 

Eligibility Criteria 

You must have minimum 2:1 Honours degree/and or a merit Masters degree/international equivalent, in a relevant subject. 

Applicants whose first language is not English require IELTS score of 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in all sub-skills. 

Studentship covers fees at Home rate (UK and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status and meet the residency criteria). International applicants are welcome to apply but will be required to cover the difference between Home and International fees. 

International applicants may require an ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance certificate before obtaining a visa for this programme. 

How to apply 

Apply to Newcastle Portal  

‘Create a Postgraduate Application’.  

Use ‘Course Search’ to identify programme of study:  

• Search ‘Course Title’ using code: 8050F 
• Research Area: Computing Science 
• Select PhD Computer Science as programme of study 

‘Further Questions’ section please upload:  

• ‘Personal Statement’- upload document/write directly into form 
• ‘Research Proposal’- select ‘Write Proposal’. Use the project title from this advert – you don’t need to provide a proposal. 
• Studentship code COMP2173 in ‘Studentship/Partnership Reference’ field 

In ‘supporting documentation’ please upload:  

• covering letter/CV 
• transcripts/certificates 

Contact Details 

[email protected]