1. RaySearch Laboratories (Sweden)
2. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Germany)
3. Sheffield Hallam University (UK)
Within the UPLIFT Consortium, CNAO will make all its skills available to the candidate to investigate the human aspects of upright RT/PT and build tools for patient training and familiarization with this innovative type of immobilization and set-up
Goal:
Gain hands-on clinical experience at CNAO, working closely with colleagues hosted by SHU to implement a VR learning environment aimed at enhancing patient engagement and improving radiotherapy outcomes with upright positioning (upRT). Develop design specifications for effective patient support systems tailored to upright positions—seated, perched, and reclined. Additionally, create a training and strategy system that empowers patients and maximizes their cooperation to facilitate the upRT approach.
Tasks:
My name is Jiale Chen, and I come from a small city in Henan, central China. I built my technical foundation in Electrical Automation at CUMT (China) and later in information and Communication Engineering at TU Darmstadt (Germany). I am currently pursuing my doctoral studies in Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, and Health Technologies, enrolled at the University of Pavia and hosted by Fondazione CNAO (Italy). My supervisors at CNAO are Dr. Andrea Pella and Dr. Mario Ciocca, and their guidance helps me connect methodological development with real clinical needs.
Within UPLIFT, I am Doctoral Candidate 14 and my project is titled “Patient empowerment: The human aspect of particle therapy.” In particle therapy, accurate positioning matters—small deviations can impact precision. My research explores how virtual reality (VR) can help patients train for upright self-positioning, turning a demanding clinical task into a guided, repeatable, and confidence-building experience. At CNAO, I collaborate closely with DC7 (María), a medical physicist contributing to the clinical workflow side, to keep the patient-facing support aligned with how treatment is delivered in practice. As part of my doctoral pathway, I will also complete secondments at SHU (UK), HZDR (Germany), and RaySearch (Sweden), to learn from complementary expertise spanning human factors, technology integration, and clinical translation. I look forward to collaborating with the DCs within the whole UPLIFT Project and learning from the different perspectives each site brings.
Before moving into clinical research, my focus was strictly on engineering. Over time, I realised I was happiest when my work could be closer to real-world care—contributing to clinical research by bringing an engineering perspective and working closely with clinical teams. In this project, I am developing a validated VR training concept and prototype to be evaluated with patients and clinical staff, with the long-term goal of supporting routine workflows. Outside the lab, you’ll usually find me relaxing by watching a movie or, more often, being bossed around by my cat, FuFu.
