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Delft University of Technology

Faculty/department Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Level Master degree

Maximum employment Maximum of 38 hours per week (1 FTE)

Duration of contract Four years

Salary scale €2042 to €2612 per month gross





JOB DESCRIPTION

As part of the ZonMw Grant Assessment of a Disease Management system with Medical devices in Renal disease (ADMIRE), a vacancy position for a PhD student is available. As a PhD student you would participate in the ADMIRE project, which studies the usage and effectiveness of a disease management system (DMS) with a self-management component. With this system, kidney transplant patients should be able to tele-monitor their kidney function and use this information to take appropriate actions towards the care provider if required or if they have questions about their health condition. The system teaches patients to take care of their life after the transplant with regard to their lifestyle and their health condition. You will be part of the project team, which consists of a project leader, information and communication experts, psycho-social scientists, medical and health scientists and informatics experts. For the clinical parts of the project, a PhD student has already started within the project. Your responsibilities include the preparation, conducting, analysis and reporting of the research that focuses on usability and safety of the disease-management system, the self-management components and the measuring tools as part of the tele-monitoring in the home setting.



In the first phase, you will research and optimise an existing prototype disease management system, organise focus interviews with future users about their ‘nice and need to haves’ in such a system. Furthermore, you will work on the development of an education module in combination with the existing prototype, and create connections to the tele-monitor system with two home-measurement components for creatinine and blood-pressure. These activities will be realised in cooperation with a programmer and will result in a prototype that works in a clinical setting in phase 2. You will prepare the method of research for medical and technical parameters that investigate the efficacy of the disease management system including the tele-monitoring and home measurement instruments on usability, self management and safety.



In phase two, the prototype will be clinically tested with a small group of patients.  You will be responsible for the disease management system, the test itself and the fine-tuning, including further optimising of the prototype, resulting in a reliable randomized control study (RCT). To this end you will develop questionnaires and interview users. You will coordinate the data collection and analyse the results.



In the third phase, you will develop a concept guideline, based on best practices, for the implementation of a diseasemanagement system and instruments for the measurement of the creatinine level by kidney patients themselves in their home setting. In phase four you will analyse and evaluate the results, resulting in a thesis aimed at usability, self management and safety.



You will publish in renowned journals and present the research at international congresses. Eventually, the project will lead to a promotion under supervision of prof. dr. M. Neerincx (TNO Soesterberg/TU Delft) and dr.ir. W.-P. Brinkman (TU Delft).



The main work place will be TNO Quality of Life Leiden, where A.J.M. Rovelkamp will be the regular supervisor. The PhD will also work at other research locations--the Man-Machine Interaction section (TU Delft) and TNO Human Factors (Soesterberg)--and work closely together with Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC).



REQUIREMENTS

You have a university master’s degree in the area of computer science, (medical) informatics, media and knowledge engineering, human technology interaction, cognitive ergonomics, or applied cognitive psychology. Your performance in the master’s degree can be classified as excellent. Experience with qualitative research, statistical analysis, requirements analysis, ergonomics, and/or human-computer interaction is an advantage. An affinity for information technology in the care domain is required. Knowledge of and experience with programming are not necessary, but you will have to learn to make software modifications for experimentation. You have a creative mind, like to work at a meticulous level and have stamina. You have excellent communication skills, in both spoken and written Dutch and English.    



CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The successful candidate will be employed full-time by TU Delft for a fixed period of 4 years within which he or she is expected to write a dissertation leading to a doctoral degree (PhD thesis). The starting salary for a PhD is €2042 gross per month increasing to a maximum of €2612 gross per month in the fourth year. TU Delft offers an attractive benefits package, including a flexible work week, free high-speed Internet access from home, and the option of assembling a customised compensation and benefits package (the 'IKA'). Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.



ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

The faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) is known world wide for its high academic quality and social relevance of its research programs. The faculty’s excellent facilities accentuate its international position in teaching and research. The faculty offers an interdisciplinary setting for its 500 employees, 350 PhD students and 1700 undergraduates. Together they work on a broad range of technical innovations in the fields of sustainable energy, telecommunications, microelectronics, embedded systems, computer and software engineering, interactive multimedia and applied mathematics. EEMCS: Your Connection to the Future.



The Department of Mediamatics comprises the media-oriented computer science groups in the Faculty of EEMCS and is responsible for a major part of the Bachelor and Master programmes in Computer Science. The department’s mission is to be internationally recognised for its excellent researchers in the field of data processing and interpretation using model- and knowledge-based algorithms. The department aims thus to enable man and machine, in close cooperation with their intelligent environment, to deal with ever increasing information flows.

    

The section’s mission is to engineer adaptive intelligent systems to create intended user experiences. We consider the entire chain, from analysis, modelling and system design to implementation and evaluation. Our research focuses on the combination of the research disciplines (1) Artificial Intelligence (AI) including the themes of agent reasoning and programming and computational intelligence, and (2) Cognitive Engineering (CE) including the research themes of user-centred design and human perception. Application areas include negotiation, incident management, lifestyle experience, and eHealth. The group currently comprises nine faculty members, four post-docs, and 17 PhD students. The group runs an Experience Lab equipped to perform perception, psychophysical and behavioural experiments.





INFORMATION AND APPLICATION

For more information about this position, please contact Prof. Dr. M. A. Neerincx, phone: +31 (0)15-2787106, e-mail: [log in to unmask]; or Dr.ir. W.-P. Brinkman, e-mail: [log in to unmask]

To apply, please submit the following:



• Curriculum Vitae including contact details of references.

• Course lists with grades.

• A letter of application in which you explain both your interest and the relevance of your skills and experience in the context of this research project.



Please e-mail your application by 20 September 2010 to J. Eddini, [log in to unmask]

When applying for this position, make sure to mention vacancy number EWI2010-20.





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