Research Fellow – Radar Systems for Sign Language Recognition

Full Time Fixed Term for 24 months

Join the project shaping the future of inclusive technology

At the University of Southampton, our research addresses some of the most pressing challenges of today’s world. Now, funded by EPSRC, we are looking for a talented Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join the RADAR-SIGN-BRIDGE project – an exciting initiative to develop privacy-preserving radar technology for British Sign Language (BSL) recognition and translation.

You will be based in the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), working alongside an interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Shelly Vishwakarma (s.vishwakarma@soton.ac.uk), in collaboration with partners at the University of Edinburgh (Centre for Speech Technology Research, CSTR) and University College London (Deafness Cognition and Language Research Centre, DCAL).

About the role

You will lead the design, development, and validation of LinguaRadar – a first-of-its-kind radar simulator for sign language gestures. Your work will involve integrating animation pipelines (e.g., OpenPose, MediaPipe, Blender) with radar signal models, generating synthetic radar datasets, and validating them with real-world measurements from radar hardware.

As part of the team, you will:

• Build and validate radar signal simulation frameworks for BSL gestures.
• Process skeletal motion data to drive simulation pipelines.
• Conduct radar experiments to calibrate and benchmark simulation outputs.
• Write academic papers, contribute to open-source dataset releases, and present your work at international conferences.

About you

You will bring your passion for advancing radar sensing technology into a new application domain. You will have:

• A PhD* or equivalent qualification / experience in Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Signal Processing, or a closely related field.
• Proven experience in radar systems, radar signal processing, and simulation.
• Strong programming skills (Python, MATLAB, or C++).
• Excellent problem-solving skills and a collaborative mindset.

Experience with micro-Doppler or range-Doppler radar analysis, or familiarity with animation/motion capture data processing, would be advantageous.

What we can offer you?

The University of Southampton is a top university (1% globally), and ECS is one of the top-ranked schools for Electronic Engineering and Computer Science in the UK. You'll also benefit from ECS’s links to the ARM-ECS Research Centre, the MINDS CDT, and the Future Worlds startup accelerator. 

As a founding signatory of the Athena SWAN charter, and holder of a silver award, we’re committed to improving equality. We aim to create an environment where everyone can thrive and are proactive in fostering a culture of inclusion, respect and equality of opportunity. As well as additional benefits that will make your life easier, such as a generous holiday allowance and additional university closure days. We will help you find a good work-life balance with flexible working hours. We will support your long-term future too, with access to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)*, subsidised health and fitness facilities and a range of discounts.

We strongly encourage interested candidates to contact:

Dr. Shelly Vishwakarma (s.vishwakarma@soton.ac.uk) to discuss this role further.

Applications will be considered from candidates who are working towards or nearing completion of a relevant PhD. The title of Research Fellow will be applied upon completion of the PhD. Prior to qualification being awarded, the title of Senior Research Assistant will be given.

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