It is estimated that over two-thirds of women experience Pregnancy-Related Low Back Pain (P-RLBP) and the pain may be severe enough to interfere with work, daily activities and sleep. Furthermore, women who experience P-RLBP in one pregnancy may continue to experience problems post-delivery and/or with subsequent pregnancies.
Preliminary findings from a cohort study by Dr Dianne Liddle, that attained insight from 200 pregnant women, suggest that many women are choosing to self-medicate with over-the-counter painkillers, with little input from health care professionals. There is a growing concern of such behaviours, as the effect of these medications on the unborn foetus is one of critical importance and little is known about the long-term impact. Furthermore, pressures on the health service are steadily increasing.
Therefore, a more effective method is needed to identify the most suitable form of invention in a timely fashion.
ICT is projected to be a key facilitator in enhancing how we operate our health services. As such, the PhD project will build upon the survey findings from Dr Liddle’s work, and, through her expertise in this field, it will involve the development of an intelligent system for gathering information about women’s on-going experiences and management of P-RLBP as it occurs.
This PhD would go beyond current state-of-the-art by using artificial intelligence (AI) on the data to allow for better targeted information to the patient as their condition changes before, during and after pregnancy.
This could lead to patient centred condition control via a dedicated App that would suggest exercise, appropriately tailored to the stage of pregnancy, to significantly reduce P-RLBP more than usual care alone. Stratifying women into different levels of need would help alert health care professionals that an intervention is needed and therefore provide an individually tailored programme to better meet their needs. The project will have these main overarching objectives:
1. To discover key requirements and scientific underpinnings from the existing datasets, combined with Dr Liddle’s guidance/expertise and literature. Methods such as AI, statistical analysis, and logistic regression analysis will be employed.
2. From these requirements and review of the state-of-the-art in the domain of P-RLBP, and relevant health tools/devices, a prototype tool will be developed tailored to pregnancy. Whereby the existing data collection occurred a maximum of 4 times for the participant, this tool will enable a much higher frequency of reporting, (i.e. pain levels/location, quality of life, function) enabling a comprehensive and enriched overview of the history and occurrence to be achieved.
3. The prototype will be deployed to enable data collection. A dashboard for Dr Liddle will show the current state of the user to assist decision making and further refine intervention strategies for the health personnel, and provide insight to refine the system further.
Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.
We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.
In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.
If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.
The University offers the following levels of support:
The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and a maintenance allowance of £19,000 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).
This scholarship also comes with £900 per annum for three years as a research training support grant (RTSG) allocation to help support the PhD researcher.
Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living
Submission deadline
Monday 18 February 2019
12:00AM
Interview Date
25 to 29 March 2019
Preferred student start date
September 2019