💊 MSc Thesis Opportunity: Chronic pain prediction from wearable signals and psychological data

📍 Location: Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna
⏳ Duration: 6 months, full-time
📅 Start: September/October 2026

Chronic pain is a complex condition shaped by both physiological and psychological factors. Understanding how these interact could pave the way for more personalized, data-driven approaches to pain assessment and treatment.

At the NeuroEngineering Lab at the Medical University of Vienna, you’ll join the PainSense project, where we combine wearable sensor data, psychological assessments, and artificial intelligence to better understand and predict pain fluctuations in everyday life. Building on an existing machine-learning pipeline, you’ll explore state-of-the-art AI methods to discover richer patterns in physiological signals and improve pain prediction while keeping the models clinically interpretable.

What you’ll work on:

• Investigate how physiological signals relate to changes in chronic pain

• Develop AI models that learn meaningful representations directly from wearable data

• Apply explainable AI techniques to understand how the models make predictions

• Compare your approach with the existing machine-learning pipeline and evaluate its clinical value

Who we’re looking for:

• Good programming skills in Python

• Knowledge of AI and machine learning

• Experience with deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch), signal processing, or statistical analysis is a plus

📄 Download the complete thesis proposal here.

📩 You can apply directly through the website form or by sending your CV, transcript of records, and a short motivation letter to neuroenglab2019@gmail.com.