PhD Student Monitoring and Targeted Treatment in the Diabetes Continuum

Do you want to do research that contributes to the decrease of the impact of diabetes type 2? And do you want to conduct technically oriented PhD research in which fundamental and applied methodologies are combined and in which you closely cooperate with researchers of different disciplines, clinicians, patients and enterprises? If so, we are looking for you!

Under the umbrella of the Health Technology Research and Innovation Cluster (HTRIC), the Hanze University of Applied Sciences is looking for a PhD Student Monitoring and Targeted Treatment in the Diabetes Continuum.

The Health Technology Research and Innovation Cluster (HTRIC) is rethinking the future of healthcare. We bring academic research, health technology, and clinical practice together to tackle the challenges faced by today’s healthcare system. Our aspiration? More healthy years of life for the people around us! Through our research, we will foster new developments that support healthy aging and longevity while improving people’s quality of life and making healthcare more efficient. We focus on the entire innovation chain, from societal and clinical demands to groundbreaking innovations and first-in-human applications. We aim to speed up innovation through the interplay of knowledge development, health technology development, and business development. By linking researchers, businesses, and external professionals, we want to develop technologies that will continue to improve and transform our healthcare system. This is what HTRIC stands for.

What you will do

The research topic
6.5% of the Dutch population has diabetes type 2. In the near future, this prevalence and the associated burden to the Dutch healthcare system will likely increase due to demographic changes and modern lifestyle. Leveraging technology-driven lifestyle interventions that harness wearables and data science methods holds huge promises in order to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes. These interventions empower self-management through feedback, thereby enhancing the impact of lifestyle intervention programs.

Within this project, we are looking for a PhD candidate who contributes to the development of an integrative technology based lifestyle intervention for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. The goal is to use wearables to monitor behaviors such as food intake, stress, sleep, and physical activity and use this information to give personalized motivational feedback. In an iterative user-centered design process, an e-health application to support lifestyle interventions for diabetes self-management and prevention should be developed and validated. To achieve good adherence to the intervention, the application should be co-designed with clinicians, patients, and users that are overweight. During the PhD project the following research questions need to be addressed:

• Which information obtained with the wearables correlates with extremely high/ low glucose values?
• Which feedback methods have a positive influence on user adherence?
• Is the intervention developed within the project able to reduce symptoms of Diabetes type 2?

What will be your tasks?

• Following a user centred approach you will identify the application’s stakeholders and together with them you will (co-)create the design of the application, based on the value specifications of the to be used wearables and the intended effect of the application.
• You will develop a testable, user friendly, digital solution in order to be able to provide users with personalized and motivating feedback concerning relevant lifestyle parameters.
• As such, you will set up and carry out experimental studies with intented users in which you test and evaluate the effects of the digital solution in real life.
• You will write papers and ultimately a dissertation based on the design-based research process described above.
• You will present your results at scientific conferences.

Where you will work
The position is housed within the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. The position is created on the basis of existing cooperation between the professorship Digital Transformation (dr. Hilbrand Oldenhuis) and the professorship Data Science for Life Sciences (dr. Wynand Alkema) of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, the Faculty of Science and Engineering of the University of Groningen (dr. Elisabeth Wilhelm) and the department of Human Movement Sciences of the University Medical Center Groningen (Prof. dr. Claudine Lamoth).

What we ask of you
The ideal candidate:

• holds a master’s degree in a relevant field, such as biomedical sciences, biomedical engineering, life sciences, technical medicine, behavioural sciences, human movement sciences or a related field;
• has expertise in applying data science methods based on human physiology and/or human behavioural data;
• has an interest in or affinity with social psychological theories and applications aimed at motivating people to make healthy choices;
• possesses knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods;
• demonstrates a clear interest in impact-oriented and user-centred research;
• can effectively collaborate in multidisciplinary teams, is open to different approaches, is flexible, and is simultaneously capable of independently and pro-actively carrying out tasks;
• exhibits excellent organizational and communication skills;
• demonstrates outstanding oral and written proficiency in English proven by a master degree obtained in a program taught in English, an IELTS or a TOEFL certificate and is proficient in Dutch or is willing to learn Dutch;
• has an interest in or affinity with educating or supervising bachelor students.

This is what you get in return

• A full-time PhD position, starting at latest on October 1st, 2024, for 1 year, that can be extended to 4 years.
• Scale 10 (min. € 3.152,- en max. € 5.019,-), in accordance with CAO-HBO. A gross monthly salary for a full-time appointment.
• A holiday allowance of 8% and a structural end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• A maximum of 53 days off and, in addition, you can make use of sustainable employability hours and home working facilities.
• A challenging position within an enthusiastic and collegial network of partners of the HTRIC network.
• To support your development as a researcher, you will be guided by an experienced team of supervisors, affiliated at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen.
• You will follow a personalized PhD training program (30 ECTS) within the Graduate School of Science and Engineering at the University of Groningen.
• Within the HTRIC consortium you will have the possibility to join a VentureLab weekend and obtain insights in entrepreneurship and valorization of medical devices.
• The opportunity to continuously professionalise yourself through our Hanze PL Academy.

Curious to know more?
If you want to know more about this position, you can contact Hilbrand Oldenhuis, professor Digital Health at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, or Elisabeth Wilhelm, assistant professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Groningen. Hilbrand Oldenhuis: h.k.e.oldenhuis@pl.hanze.nl, +31 (0) 595 3305 Elisabeth Wilhelm: e.wilhelm@rug.nl, +31(0)631921169. Please do not use this email addresses for your application (click on Apply-button).

Will you become our new colleague?
Then send your resume and motivation, written in English, via the application button.

• Closing date is: 05/05/2024.
• The job interviews are scheduled on Wednesday May 22nd between 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. (GMT+1).
• We ask new employees to apply for a Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) upon commencement of employment. The costs for this will be reimbursed by Hanze UAS.
• This vacancy is open simultaneously internally and externally. Employees working at Hanze University Groningen have priority over external candidates.

Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.