Open PhD Position on Machine Learning for Brain Connectivity in Clinical Neuroscience
Paolo Avesani
OPEN PHD POSITION ON MACHINE LEARNING FOR BRAIN CONNECTIVITY IN CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE
We are pleased to announce the opening of one PhD position in neuroinformatics at the International Doctoral School in Cognitive and Brain Sciences (CIMeC) of the University of Trento, Italy. The PhD Grant is funded by the Neuroinformatics Laboratory (NILab) of Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK). This project is in collaboration with the School of Medicine of the University of Trento and the Division of Neurosurgery, S. Chiara Hospital, Trento.
Clinical neuroscience is playing a key role in the understanding of the brain with data of pathological alterations. The detection of anomalies in the brain structure and function is a crucial step not only for diagnosis and prognosis but also to decode the connectome of the human brain. Data driven approaches are providing promising results to characterize the patterns of the healthy brain. The challenge is to disentangle the intrinsic interindividual differences in the brain structure and function with respect to alterations related to cognitive impairment.
The research objective is to investigate the most innovative techniques of Artificial Intelligence, such as geometric deep learning, to translate the knowledge of connectivity structures from a healthy population to the individual patients of a clinical study. The ultimate goal is the development of computational methods to support the detection of altered structures in the connectome affected by brain disorders.
The successful candidate will have a MSc in computer science, biomedical engineering, physics, or any STEM discipline. Hands-on training in neuroimaging data analysis and/or software tools for brain connectivity will be highly valued. For reference to recent work of relevance to this project, please see Astolfi et al. MICCAI (2020), Legarreta et al., Medical Image Analysis (2021).
The position is for a 4 year PhD program (Nov. 1, 2023- Oct. 31, 2027). Courses are in English.
The salary is starting at approximately €1.200/mo., net. An additional personal budget of around €5.000 is provided for research and mobility.
The University of Trento ranks among top Italian Universities (https://www.unitn.it/en/ateneo/1636/rankings). Fondazione Bruno Kessler ranks first among the Italian research centers in Engineering and Computer Science (https://magazine.fbk.eu/en/news/fbk-ranks-1st-in-italy-for-scientific-excellence-in-three-areas).
Why choose Trento? (http://www.unitn.it/en/ateneo/1629/why-choose-the-university-of-trento)
Important dates:
Deadline for application: 31 May 2023
Evaluation interview: 25 June 2023
Beginning of PhD program: 1 November 2023
Apply now:
https://webapps.unitn.it/Apply/en/Web/GoHome/dott/cbs39
https://www.unitn.it/drcimec/105/2023-topic-specific-grants-and-descriptions
You are kindly invited to contact in advance Paolo Avesani (paolo.avesani@unitn.it).