Expressions of interest are sought from applicants wishing to complete a Doctor of Philosophy degree (PhD) at Griffith University (Gold Coast campus), Australia. Applicants would be co-supervised by, and integrated into the research programs of Griffith Health Clinical Science academics Dr Jayishni Maharaj and Prof Jim Woodburn. Collectively, their main research areas are foot and ankle health and rehabilitation with a focus on the development and use of technologies to enable personalised management of chronic and acute health conditions. Further, the team is well-positioned to concurrently mentor and develop research students with aspirations to gain or develop research and academic, and/or applied clinical health portfolios for post-PhD employment.

The Research Opportunity

This program of research aims to innovate current management interventions to reduce foot ulcerations in people with diabetes. Every 20 seconds, someone in the world loses a foot or leg because of diabetes. Diabetic foot ulcers are the precursor lesion in 85% of these amputations. We plan to combine personalised biophysical modelling, smart textile technologies and advanced manufacturing techniques to optimise and 3D print interventions to reduce the risk of foot ulcers in people with debates

About the scholarship

Self-funded applicants are welcome. However, applicants requiring funding will be mentored through an Australian Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship (or equivalent) application funded by Griffith University according to known criteria. Successful scholarship applicants will receive a tax-free scholarship, indexed annually, and beginning in February or April 2023, for 3 years. The 2022 value was $28,854 AUD. See https://www.griffith.edu.au/research-study/scholarships for further information about PhD scholarships provided by Griffith University.

PhD scholarship

If successful in securing either an Australian or Griffith-funded scholarship, the award will provide living allowances and tuition fees for international students for 3-3.5 years. Similarly, there are scholarships and awards available to domestic students. Please note we are willing to consider applications from individuals who have secured research funding from sources other than the Australian government or Griffith University. However, the funding may not be sufficient to support a full 3-4 year PhD project, and as such externally funded PhDs will be scrutinized closely.

More information regarding scholarships funded by Griffith University (see GUIPRS and GUPRS): https://www.griffith.edu.au/griffith-graduate-research-school/research-scholarships.

The following attributes and experiences are essential:

• Awarded a, or on track by December 2022 to receive a first-class Honours in a related area e.g., Exercise Science, Podiatry, Biomedical science, or Biomedical Engineering
•  and/or a Master of Philosophy or Masters by course work with an overall grade >85%, that contained a substantial research project component in one of these areas; with an interest in physiological adaptations to exercise

The following attributes and experiences are desirable:

• Experience in conducting human research
• Experience with some signal processing and coding in MATLAB or Python, and experience with processing medical imaging.
•  Experience with publishing in high-quality peer-reviewed scientific journals

What we offer

As a scholarship holder, you will study with a University that ranks among the top 2% worldwide and spans across campuses in South East Queensland. At Griffith University, we’ve worked hard to create a culture that will challenge you to be curious, creative and courageous. We also support the professional and personal development of all our HDR candidates and invest in the skills of our people. Griffith University values diversity, inclusion and flexibility and we encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and people of all backgrounds to apply. Griffith's strategic goals are to also increase the proportion of women in senior academic and administrative roles and in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM).

We are a large research group, including senior professorial staff, post-doctoral research fellows, and PhD students. Our approach is to work collaboratively, but with a keen focus on research excellence. Our exceptional research facilities include:

• A state-of-the-art motion capture laboratory, which include the following equipment: 12-Camera Vicon MX systems, 4 AMTI force plates, 1 Bertec split belt instrumented treadmill, 16-channel Zero Wire EMG system, 16-channel wireless Noraxon EMG system, 16-channel wireless Noraxon IMU system, 1 Noraxon capacitive treadmill, and Novel pressure insoles.
• Imaging laboratories (pQCT, DEXA, 3D and acoustoelastography ultrasound systems).
• Motion capture and medical image processing software (Matlab, Mimics, OpenSim,
• Vicon Nexus, Noraxon MR3, CMISS).
• High-performance computer clusters.