Stroke-related damage to the central neural pathways from the eye to the brain results in partial blindness. Affected individuals often become blind in one-half of their visual field (hemianopia). Although not fully blind, this impairment severely impacts their physical, social, and emotional well-being, and limits their ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle and participate in society.

We believe that VR can be used to help people with hemianopia to train their functional vision and boost their recovery and we would like to demonstrate that in the people's home setting while monitoring their progress remotely. To do that, we expect the PhD candidate to:
- implement vision tests on the VR device to enable the remote monitoring of standard ophthalmic and vision parameters and obtain feedback on usability and test results;
- create ad-hoc home-based VR solutions for people close to the affected individual, that simulate the vision impairment and its consequences on daily work and life abilities in order to create awareness and improve the support from family, employers and caregivers, and evaluate the usability, feasibility, validity and effects of these simulations together with these user groups.

We are currently looking for an enthusiastic and motivated person, with affinity and interest in VR technology research who wants to contribute to healthcare innovation by designing, testing and implementing VR-based training and simulation systems targeted to people with visual impairment. The PhD candidate will be primarily responsible for developing and optimising VR-based visual assessment at the individual level and for developing and evaluating the VR-based simulation. Research findings will be presented at meetings, (international) conferences, and in scientific journals and will result in a PhD thesis. The candidate will have the possibility to follow a business course to explore potential return and follow up of his/her idea.

For this project there are in total 3 open positions for 3 PhD students: one at the UMCG, one at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and one at the University of Utrecht. The current vacancy refers exclusively to the PhD position at the UMCG. For more information regarding the project and the other PhD positions within the project, see: Grant awarded for the “Virtual Reality for enhanced Visual Rehabilitation” (VR4eVR) project – Visual Neuroscience.

- a completed technical education at WO level (or equivalent).
- ability to actively interact with multidisciplinary and multisectoral players.
- affinity with interacting with different populations, including people with acquired brain injury and health care professionals.
- excellent and interpersonal communications skills both in Dutch and in English to ensure smooth collaboration among the partners.
- the ability to speak/understand Dutch or be willing to become fluent in Dutch in a relatively short time.
- excellent management skills to effectively and efficiently plan and execute the project’s tasks and activities.
- ability to work independently and take initiative on your own.
- ability to plan and organise meetings with the different users/players as well as with the promoter and co-promoters.
- a result-oriented mind, with problem solving attitude and accuracy for details.
- a knowledge of the relevant medical field and/or VR programming is a plus but not mandatory.

The UMCG has a preventive Hepatitis B policy. The UMCG can provide you with the vaccination, should it be required for your position. In case of specific professions a ‘Certificate of Good Conduct’ is required.

This is a full-time position (36 hours per week) for 4 years at the UMCG with an initial one-year contract, followed by a performance-based extension. The terms of employment are in accordance with the CAO University Medical Centres. The salary is at least € 3.017 gross per month in the first year up to a maximum of € 3.824 gross per month (salary scale PRO) in the last (4th) year, based on full-time employment. In addition, the UMCG will offer you 8% holiday pay, and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC).

Oogheelkunde

You will primarily work at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), one of the largest hospitals in the Netherlands and the biggest employer in the North of the Netherlands. It is a stimulating work environment where technology and care constantly merge to bring medical innovations at the use of patients. You will also closely collaborate with other universities, vision companies and end-users (people with hemianopia, their relatives, rehabilitation professionals, other health care professionals, and employers) who have the relevant knowledge and established expertise needed for the development and implementation of visual training and simulation systems.

Therefore you will work in a multidisciplinary and multisectoral team. You will perform practice-oriented, translational vision research but also develop entrepreneurial skills (i.e. business course) to enhance future possibilities on the job market. The PhD candidate will also be part of a junior board that will provide advice on all aspects relevant to his/her tasks, training and career development.