Loughborough University
About the Project
Women’s engagement in sport and exercise is heavily influenced by the stage of their menstrual cycle and appropriate support wear. Breast size, shape and sensitivity varies throughout a menstrual cycle, requiring better measurement and knowledge to define these changes and how to support women to engage in exercise.
This PhD focuses on a novel measurement system to see these breast size and motion changes at a greater resolution. This will better inform women on how their breasts change and move throughout the menstrual cycle, to improve support for women and increase female engagement in exercise.
This research will explore the resolution and traceability of digital image correlation methods to quantify breast volumetry throughout the menstrual cycle. A measurement systems approach will explore the utilisation of the large data volumes captured of torso surfaces to better translate knowledge to support garments.
The studentship will appeal to students with a sports engineering/technology or other relevant mechanical engineering or data analytics background. It is intended that a variety of qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques will need to be used, and there will be a mix of human factors work, integrated with big data handling and high-performance imaging techniques. Existing experience of using software such as Matlab, R, Python or similar would be beneficial, due to the measurement pipeline within this project.
Developing methods to better measure breast fluctuation and its translation to product design is an exciting part of this research cluster that brings together multidisciplinary project teams and cross cutting PhD Projects. Learn more here. You will be part of a team alongside expert supervisors from across Loughborough University departments. Dr Rebecca Grant, Dr Emma O’Donnell and Professor Andy Harland form the supervisor team, pooling expertise from the Sports Technology Institute within the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Manufacturing and Electrical Engineering, and the School of Sport, and Exercise Health Sciences.
The School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering has seen 100% of its research impact rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (REF, 2021).
Supervisors
Primary supervisor: Dr Rebecca Grant
Secondary supervisor: Dr Emma O’Donnell
Entry requirements
Applicants must have, or expect to have, at least a 2:1 honours degree (or international equivalent) with a UK master’s degree (with average programme mark of no less than 65%) or international equivalent.
English language requirements
Applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements. Further details are available on the International website.
How to apply
All applications should be made online. Under the programme name, select ‘Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering/ Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering’. Please quote reference number: FP-RG-2024
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