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Are you interested in better understanding the properties of children’s bones and how they fracture?

We are recruiting a dedicated Postdoctoral Research Associate for the multi-disciplinary EPSRC funded ChildBone project (EP/Z536118/1) in collaboration with Sheffield Children’s Hospital and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. The aim of this innovative project is to develop and validate digital twin of paediatric bones and investigate biomarkers to accurately predict bone strength, particularly in relation to different serum vitamin D levels.

You

We are looking for a well-organised and creative engineer to join us on this adventure. The ideal candidate will have a PhD (or be about to submit your thesis) in biomechanics and finite element analysis. A proven track record of publications in high-quality peer reviewed journals. Previous experience in bone biomechanics and non-linear finite element analysis are essential. A strong background in creating personal-specific computer model or digital twin is preferred. You will have excellent data analysis, scientific programming, and communication skills and be able to plan and organise your time effectively. You will be based in Sheffield and will work with academic and clinical collaborators in this project. You will also be supported and encouraged to present project outputs at national and international conferences.

Vision

Ensuring the achievement of the project objectives will advance the vision of the Insigneo Institute to validate computational models for the musculoskeletal system and produce a transformational impact on healthcare. You will also sustain and strengthen collaboration within relevant Insigneo research groups and beyond; and will commit to INSIGNEO’s mission to produce high quality and impactful cutting-edge research.

Team

You will be part of the Integrative Musculoskeletal Biomechanics (IMSB) group within the Insigneo Institute. You will actively engage with the activities organised by the IMSB group. The IMSB is formed by eleven principal investigators and their teams (in total ~40 members), with expertise in multiscale computational modelling, experimental validation and imaging in musculoskeletal biomechanics. You will work collaboratively with other colleagues within the IMSB group, the Skelet.AL laboratory, and the Insigneo Institute to validate the digital twin for children’s bones. You will have the opportunity to learn from several principal investigators involved in this project, participate to project meetings within the team and the IMSB group. Together with the project team, you will also participate in patient and public involvement and engagement events for project dissemination.

This post is fixed-term for 34 months with a start date from 1st September 2025 or until 1st November 2025.

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university. We build teams of people from different heritages and lifestyles from across the world, whose talent and contributions complement each other to greatest effect. We believe diversity in all its forms delivers greater impact through research, teaching and student experience.

How to apply

To apply visit our job pages () and search for job ID: 1144

Enquiries:

For informal enquiries about this job contact Dr Xinshan (Shannon) Li, Senior Lecturer and Project Lead: on xinshan.li@sheffield.ac.uk

Around 1% of the adult population has osteoarthritis of the foot and ankle. Total ankle replacement (TAR) has been a surgical intervention for ankle arthritis since the 1970s and should provide a solution that restores function and quality of life to patients. However, despite the widespread clinical success of other joint replacements in the lower limb, TAR has not generally performed so well. Ankle fusion, where the bones of the tibiotalar joint are permanently joined together, is the more popular treatment at present. There is a growing need to improve the solutions provided for patients with ankle osteoarthritis, to help them resume physical activity and achieve high function without pain. The National Joint Registry (NJR) has a decade of TAR data that has already been used to identify risk of failure associated with age, BMI and underlying condition.

This project aims to link the NJR with the BOFAS fusion registry to investigate the key factors influencing success of TAR and fusion, with specific exploration of devices. During this project, you will work with the data from the joint and fusion registries to examine outcomes with the two approaches, as well as undertaking implant-specific analysis. You will compare the patient characteristics and approaches for the two surgeries to identify any difference between them and complete sub-analysis to evaluate failure risks. During the project, you will work with surgeons to investigate how they decide whether a patient has a replacement or fusion, and we will work with a group of people who have had either replacement or fusion to gain their perspectives on the surgery and this research.

The supervision team includes academic and clinical researchers with expertise in joint replacement, foot and ankle surgeon, registry data and statistics.

Candidate Requirements

You must have, or be about to gain, a minimum of a 2:1 in a discipline appropriate to the PhD (e.g. medical or mechanical engineering, data science).

National Joint Registry Non-Clinical Studentship - funding covers fees and an enhanced stipend of £25,000 increasing annually in line with UKRI rates