Research Associate in Surgical Vision and AI

Location: South Kensington

About the role:

Applicants are invited to apply for a new vacancy at Research Associate level in Surgical Vision and Artificial Intelligence for intraoperative surgical guidance during cancer resection. The post is based within the Hamlyn Centre at Imperial College London and the appointed applicant will carry out research at the South Kensington laboratories. The Hamlyn Centre is dedicated to developing safe, effective and accessible imaging, sensing and robotics technologies that can reshape the future of healthcare for both developing and developed countries. The Hamlyn Centre is part of the Institute of Global Health Innovation and is supported by two stake-holding departments, Mechanical Engineering, and Surgery & Cancer.

The post is funded by the EPSRC grant ‘Self-propelled soft robotic endoscopes for next-generation gastrointestinal surgery and beyond’ – Robogast (PI Professor Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena). This 5-year programme will build self-propelled soft robotic endoscopes for use in the diagnosis and minimally invasive treatment of conditions of the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

What you would be doing:

You will play a pivotal role in developing a cognitive platform for tissue diagnostics during colonoscopy. This platform will enable accurate and highly personalised tissue characterisation with the aim of improving both the efficacy and safety of tumour resections. To this effect, the project focuses on computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) for intraoperative surgical visualisation during robotic-assisted cancer resection.

You will be a key member of a large team of engineers, scientists and clinicians, from multiple departments of Imperial College and the NHS. Key responsibilities include the development of a platform that integrates endoscopic vision data with other sensing modalities such as optical spectroscopy, providing better visualisation capabilities for the robot. This will involve the use of advanced machine learning methodologies for the analysis of the multimodal and optical spectroscopy data.

What we are looking for:

You will hold a PhD in Visual Computing, Machine Learning, AI, Image Guided Interventions or a closely related discipline, or equivalent research, industrial or commercial experience, and have programming experience in C++/Python, ML and computer vision. Experience of working with clinical partners is important, and you should also have a creative approach to research projects and exceptional problem-solving skills. Communication and scientific writing skills are also required to ensure the widest impact of the work.

What we can offer you:

• The opportunity to continue your career at a world-leading institution and be part of our mission to continue science for humanity.
• Grow your career: gain access to Imperial’s sector-leading dedicated career support for researchers as well as opportunities for promotion and progression.
• As a member of research staff you have 10 development days to use to develop your skills and explore your career prospects
• Sector-leading salary and remuneration package (including 41 days off a year and generous pension schemes).
• Be part of a diverse, inclusive and collaborative work culture with various staff networks and resources to support your personal and professional wellbeing.
• The opportunity to develop tools and resources that can be applied across different surgical contexts

Further Information

This is a full-time fixed term post for 18 months with the possibility of an extension

If you require any further details about the role, contact: Daniel Elson – ds.elson@imperial.ac.uk

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