Postdoctoral Fellow, Multi-modal Cognitive Health Assessment

at  National Research Council Canada

Priority may be given to the following designated employment equity groups: women, Indigenous peoples* (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), persons with disabilities and racialized persons*.

• The Employment Equity Act, which is under review, uses the terminology Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities.

Candidates are asked to self-declare when applying to this hiring process.
City: Boucherville
Organizational Unit: Medical Devices
Classification: RO
Tenure: Term
Duration: 2 Years
Language Requirements: English or French
Note: Due to the nature of the work and operational requirements, this position will require full-time physical presence at the NRC work location identified.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, neuroscience, computer science, or a related discipline within the past three years.
For information on certificates and diplomas issued abroad, please see Degree equivalency

EXPERIENCE

Candidates should have experience in the following areas:

• Expertise in biosensing technologies, computer vision, signal processing, or biomarker detection.
• Experience in applied knowledge of EEG, HRV, and/or facial expression and emotion analysis and programming skills.
• Previous experience with remote sensing technologies or cognitive health assessment tools is considered an asset.

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

English or French
Information on language requirements and self-assessment tests

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

In order to be considered for the program please include the following in your application, please note that you will need to attach the required documents as per the list below when submitting your application. Failure to do so will result in your application being excluded from searches.

• Resume
• Statement of Interest in the project (maximum one page in length)
• PhD Transcript - an electronic copy is sufficient, it does not have to be an official version.
• List of Publications

When submitting your application you can include the required documents in any attachment field such as «Second language evaluation results» or «Other attachments»
In addition, applicants who best meet the requirements of the position will be asked to provide three letters of recommendation at a later stage of the competition process.

THE ROLE

With Canada’s aging population, cognitive decline is becoming increasingly prevalent, affecting about 11% of the elderly. While traditional diagnostic tools like MRIs and EEGs are effective, they often come with high costs and limited accessibility.
To address these challenges, the NRC Medical Devices Research Centre (NRC-MD) has been developing a proprietary remote biosensing software to enhance personalized health assessments, in line with national healthcare goals.
This project aims to extend NRC-MD’s existing physiological biosensing capabilities by incorporating cognitive health assessment through the integration of multi-modal data sources such as facial expression analysis, EEG, and other physiological metrics. By tracking the connection between facial expressions, mobility, and brain activity, this advanced system will detect subtle cognitive changes linked to conditions like dementia and mild cognitive impairment.
The post-doctoral fellow will lead this research, integrating these new capabilities into NRC-MD’s biosensing platform to broadening its potential impact on healthcare. The expected outcome is a scalable, cost-effective method for early detection, supporting preventative cognitive care in both clinical and home settings.

In order to be considered for the program please include the following in your application, please note that you will need to attach the required documents as per the list below when submitting your application. Failure to do so will result in your application being excluded from searches.

• Resume
• Statement of Interest in the project (maximum one page in length)
• PhD Transcript - an electronic copy is sufficient, it does not have to be an official version.
• List of Publication