The Inria centre at Université Côte d'Azur includes 37 research teams and 8 support services. The centre's staff (about 500 people) is made up of scientists of different nationalities, engineers, technicians and administrative staff. The teams are mainly located on the university campuses of Sophia Antipolis and Nice as well as Montpellier, in close collaboration with research and higher education laboratories and establishments (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, INRAE, INSERM ...), but also with the regiona economic players.

With a presence in the fields of computational neuroscience and biology, data science and modeling, software engineering and certification, as well as collaborative robotics, the Inria Centre at Université Côte d'Azur  is a major player in terms of scientific excellence through its results and collaborations at both European and international levels.

Every year Inria International Relations Department has a few postdoctoral positions in order to support Inria international collaborations.

This year, postdoctoral positions within the frame of Inria London, Inria Brasil and Inria Chile programs and to strengthen partnerships with Simula (Norway), University of Waterloo (Canada) and KAIST and ETRI (South Ko rea) are eligible.

The postdoc contract will have a duration of 12 to 24 months. The default start date is November 1st, 2023 and not later than January, 1st 2024. The postdoctoral fellow will be recruited by one of the Inria Centres in France but it is recommended that the time is shared between France and the partner’s country (please note that the postdoctoral fellow has to start his/her contract being in France and that the visits have to respect Inria rules for missions).

This postdoc will be conducted within the Inria associated team MUSCULAR which is a partnership between the Cronos team of the Inria Centre at Université Côte d’Azur and Dario Farina’s team at Imperial College London. The objective of MUSCULAR is to increase the bandwidth between the EEG and EMG communities and promote a mutually beneficial exchange of methodology and knowledge.

Some travel between Nice and London is expected and travel expenses will be covered according to current regulations and Inria rules for missions.

Surface electromyography (EMG) is the non-invasive recording of electrical activity produced by skeletal muscle contractions. Surface electroencephalography (EEG) is the recording of electrical activity produced by the activity of neural assemblies in the brain. In both modalities, there is a strong interest in recovering the underlying physiological sources, either the motor unit spike trains or the activity of cortical neural assemblies, that explain the recordings. The EEG community has long recognized the importance of forward modelling. As a consequence, the majority of approaches to estimate cortical sources from EEG measurements rely on knowledge of the volume conductor, whose geometry is provided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, an important limitation of these approaches is our imperfect knowledge of the tissue properties, in particular their conductivities, used to construct the model. In contrast to EEG, it is possible to implant electrodes inside the volume conductor during EMG acquisitions. This procedure provides us with a unique opportunity to estimate tissue conductivities in vivo and minimally invasively.

The general objective of this postdoc is to develop and test new method ologies and tools to estimate tissue conductivities from intra-muscular EMG recordings.

Candidates for postdoctoral positions are recruited after the end of their Ph.D. or after a first post-doctoral period: for the candidates who obtained their PhD in the Northern hemisphere, the date of the Ph.D. defense shall be later than 1 September 2021; in the Southern hemisphere, later than 1 April 2021.

In order to encourage mobility, the postdoctoral position must take place in a scientific environment that is truly different from the one of the Ph.D. (and, if applicable, from the position held since the Ph.D.); particular attention is thus paid to French or international  candidates who obtained their doctorate abroad.

Over the course of 24 months, selected candidate will be expected to:

• Setup a simulation pipeline to test different experimental conditions and validate theoretical results. This pipeline will leverage existing software, 3for example OpenMEEG.
• Determine the optimal experimental conditions for the EMG acquisition. For example, determining the number and placement of implanted electrodes based on preliminary simulation data.
• Investigate and develop the theory required to solve the “conductivity inverse problem” by evaluating different approaches and similar work (e.g. electrical impedance tomography).
• Develop and test software that implements the identified solution.

As the project will be conducted in partnership with Imperial College London, the selected candidate is also expected to help coordinate the project with them.

Technical skills and level required :

• A Ph.D. in medical imaging or signal processing with an emphasis on the development of mathematical or software tools. Previous experience in electromyography or electrophysiology is an asset.
• Knowledge of Python for scientific computing and medical imaging.
• Knowledge of the fundamental concepts in signal processing and time series analysis (filtering, regression, . . . ).
• Excellent background in applied mathematics (linear algebra, PDEs, . . . ).
  Experience in finite element methods is an asset.

Languages :

• The candidate is expected to have an advanced (C1) English writing level sufficient for publishing in international journals and conferences. Speaking and understanding French is an asset.

Other valued appreciated :

• Due to the collaborative aspect of the project, the selected candidate is also expected to help coordinate the project between Inria and Imperial College London. Some project management experience is an asset.

• Subsidized meals
• Partial reimbursement of public transport costs
• Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.)
• Possibility of teleworking and flexible organization of working hours
• Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.)
• Social, cultural and sports events and activities
• Access to vocational training
• Contribution to mutual insurance (subject to conditions)

Gross Salary: 2746 € per month