Delivering radiotherapy to patients positioned upright, rather than lying supine, represents a significant paradigm shift that could reduce treatment costs and improve clinical outcomes for certain patients. Many individuals struggle to tolerate, or feel uncomfortable, in supine radiotherapy positions: transitioning to upright body positioning presents a valuable opportunity to enhance patient comfort and make treatments more patient-centred. 

In this interdisciplinary project, the successful candidate will use ergonomics and human factors investigations to enhance upright positioning and treatment workflows for radiotherapy. The project will evaluate the comfort of new immobilization devices for upright radiotherapy, for example arm supports. Additionally, treatment devices will be assessed according to the principles of inclusive design, to determine whether they are accessible and usable for a wide range of patients and clinical staff. Using human factors frameworks, treatment workflows will be evaluated to consider any possible “pinch-points” or safety issues.

This project will be co-supervised by Leo Cancer Care, an innovative company founded in 2016 that specializes in medical devices for upright radiotherapy. The company is developing upright patient positioning systems, imaging scanners, and treatment delivery systems. (Leo Cancer Care’s technology is not yet available for clinical use). Leo Cancer Care has offices in Crawley, near London (UK) and Middleton, Wisconsin (USA).

Human factors studies are now a crucial aspect of medical device regulation, and pursuing a PhD in this area will equip the candidate with skills that are highly sought-after within the medical device industry. 

Goal:  

To consider ergonomics and human factors, as applied to the management of comfortable, accurate and repeatable patient positioning for upright radiotherapy. To help develop immobilisation solutions that accommodate a diverse range of needs and preferences (for both patients and clinical staff), promoting equality and usability for everyone. 

Tasks: 

• To collaborate with the wider UPLIFT project group to evaluate technologies and immobilisation devices designed to physically support the patient (e.g arm supports), for the delivery of upright radiotherapy.  

• To use anthropometric and range of motion data from different demographic groups to consider the accessibility and inclusivity of equipment designed for upright radiotherapy. 

• To consider the comfort of various patient groups and staff (therapeutic radiographers). 

• To investigate treatment workflows to identify any pinch-points from human factors perspectives. 

• To conduct a series of controlled experiments to evaluate various immobilisation/medical devices and help to develop new and innovative systems, to improve treatment effectiveness. 

• Based in Loughborough with visits to Leo Cancer Care in Crawley. 

• 3 months secondment @Centre Leon Berard (leading radiotherapy clinical centre). 

• Close collaboration with PhD students at Sheffield Hallam University, HZDR and CNAO. 

• Presentation of research in the form of peer-reviewed publications, reports and oral presentations in workshops, symposiums and conferences. 

• Participation in Consortium training activities and secondment projects. 

Your profile 

• Higher education in therapeutic radiography, physiotherapy, ergonomics, human factors, human-centred design, product design, or other related areas.  

• Good knowledge of English. 

• A willingness to learn about and contribute to the fields of radiation therapy and medical physics.  

• Excellent problem-solving skills, academic writing skills, and communication skills. 

• Ability to work independently as well as in a team. Effective collaboration attitude with both inter- and intra-institutional partners. 

Application process 

If you find this position interesting and would like to work in an exceptional, international, strongly innovative environment, please send your full application documents, including the filled application form, motivation letter, short CV, list of most important publications with explanation of your own contribution, and information of your earliest possible starting date. If you are applying for more than one UPLIFT PhD position, you may indicate your top 1-3 preferences in the application form by using the DC numbers associated with the projects. Please submit your application to [email protected] until January 15, 2025.

We anticipate video conference interviews with candidates starting in the third week of February,
for start dates from March 2025. Applications submitted without any of the required documents will not be considered.  

Candidates can be of any nationality but must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date. Applicants should be within the first four years of their research careers and must not have been awarded a doctoral degree. Submitted applications will be evaluated in accordance with the European Code of Conduct for Recruitment.