Research Associate in Biomechanics of Head Injury

Location: South Kensington, London, UK

Job Summary

We have an exciting opportunity to join a strong collaborative project between Imperial College and Autoliv (https://www.autoliv.com/), on the development of new methods for assessing facial impact protection systems.

Face is a commonly impacted area in cyclists, motorcyclists and e-scooter riders involved in road traffic collisions, yet there are no effective solutions for protecting the face nor are there any suitable methods for assessing such solutions. This is particularly important because micro-mobility is on a rapid rise across the world and improving personal protective equipment is one of the key approaches to reduce the associated injuries.

In-depth collision databases and advanced computational modelling have provided an exciting opportunity to better understand the biomechanics of injuries caused by facial impacts and design representative lab methods.

You will join an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Imperial College and Autoliv Research in Sweden (https://www.autoliv.com/innovation/our-research). This project is a great opportunity to produce research outputs based on real-world data and advanced scientific and engineering methods and to use these outputs to influence standards and policies, thus producing a real-world “impact”. You will also expand your professional network across the academia and industry in the progressive fields of head injury biomechanics and road safety.

Duties and responsibilities

You are expected to take initiative in the planning of the research and collaboration under minor supervision. You will analyse an in-depth road traffic collisions database and model real-world collisions to improve our understanding of facial impact biomechanics. In addition, you will use this understanding to develop new assessment methods. You will collaborate with Autoliv researchers to progress this project towards new proposals for helmet standards. You are also expected to publish in world-leading journals in the field and to communicate your work at project meetings as well as externally at conferences and working group meetings.

Essential requirements

You are expected to:

• Hold a PhD in Biomechanics, Impact Mechanics or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research or industrial experience

*Candidates who have not yet been officially awarded their PhD will be appointed as Research Assistant.

You are also expected to have:

• Practical experience within a research environment and publication in relevant refereed journals
• Practical experience in a broad range of techniques including data analysis (preferably Python or R), finite element modelling (preferably LS-DYNA) and multibody dynamics modelling (preferably MADYMO)
• Knowledge of biomechanics, impact mechanics and computational modelling
• Knowledge of statistical procedures

Further Information

Your salary will be in the range of £41,388 to £46,734. The contract will be fixed term for 21 months.

To apply for this post, you need to complete an online application. Please first read the descriptions of the research topic.

To apply, visit www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs and search by the job reference ENG02567.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact:

Dr Mazdak Ghajari – m.ghajari@imperial.ac.uk

For queries to Autoliv Research please contact:

Dr Shiyang Meng  - shiyang.meng@autoliv.com

For queries regarding the application process, please contact:

Monika Delczyk - m.delczyk@imperial.ac.uk

Closing date: 18/04/2023

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