The Chair of Movement Science of Full Prof. Dr. Joachim Hermsdorfer obtains reknowned support. Doctoral candidate Nina Rohrbach will be a Fellow at the Bavarian Digitalization Center (ZD.B) for the coming three years. A total of 142 doctoral students from Bavarian universities applied for the ten fellowship positions that have now been commissioned for the first time.
Conferral of a Doctoral Degree on the Topic of "Mixed Reality in Neurorehabilitation"
With this initiative, the Bavarian State Government promotes this trend-setting graduate opportunity, which is a relevant focus of technical, economic and social research for digitalization. Rohrbach will have a full-time position over the course of the next three years for her doctorate on "Mixed Reality in Neurorehabilitation".
"The Bavarian Digitalization Center operates with a substantial financial expenditure in order to promote digitalization in the Free State and to create suitable structures for this, as well as to initiate interdisciplinary networking - for example, for that of the ten ZD.B Fellows. I am very happy that we can participate in this great initiative," explains Prof. Hermsdörfer, who acts as counsellor for the doctoral procedure of Rohrbach.
Study on Technologies for the Rehabilitation of Patients with Neurological Diseases
"In the framework of this doctoral degree, we are carrying out a study on how patients with neurological illnesses can obtain support in their everyday life through new technologies," explains Rohrbach. Diseases such as apoplexy or dementia, for example, can cause individuals to be unable to carry out such everyday life activities correctly as, for instance, cooking tea or estimating quantities, or even to completely forget how to use tools. "We support the patients in these activities by providing them with special glasses, the so-called Microsoft HoloLens, which light up additional information in the patients' field of view as helpful stimuli," explains Rohrbach. For instance, the procedure of cooking tea can be divided into individual steps, which are then described individually.
A goal of the thesis is to determine which auxiliary stimuli offer the greatest assistance for those concerned. Examined for this purpose are, among other things, text-based and auditory stimuli, as well as static and dynamic stimuli.
"The technological support in rehabilitation is an innovative research field which is still being developed and in which we have already been active for around six years," explains Prof. Hermsdörfer. Thereby, the Chair already successfully carried out the third-party funded projects of "Cogwatch" and "EIT Health". Rohrbach also adds, "Digitalization offers many new possibilities for following new innovative paths in rehabilitation and acts as a supplement to the conventional methods."
Apart from the financial support as a Fellow, participation in the graduation program of the ZD.B is planned. The Fellows can thereby participate in application-orientated courses and events on digitalization. As a part of the ZD.B network, the Fellows will also have access to a variety of events and, in the course of network events, will profit from interdisciplinary exchange with other doctorates at Bavarian universities, as well as from experts in science and economics. The kick-off event will take place on the 1st and 2nd of February at the ZD.B offices in Garching.
To the Homepage of the Chair for Movement Science
Information on the ZD.B Fellowship
Contact:
Nina Rohrbach
Chair of Movement Science
Georg-Brauchle Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Telephone: 089 289 24643
Email: Nina.Rohrbach(at)tum.de
Text: Fabian Kautz
Photo: Fabian Kautz