My interest in research stems from a concussion I sustained from playing rugby union, which lead to post-concussion syndrome as I played on when I was concussed. After completing my MEng (2:1) at the University of Oxford, I was excited to realise I could contribute to the understanding and prevention of SR-TBI through further research. I am now attempting to use machine learning to predict concussion from on-the-day assessments of athletes.

Research Project

I am in my second year of my DPhil project: a coupled experimental-numerical framework for the prediction of sports-related traumatic brain injury (SR-TBI). My primary research focus is the relationship between the mechanics of the brain and the subsequent physiological injury which can occur. My interest in SR-TBI originates from my experience playing rugby union. I have completed and submitted a systematic review in methods of monitoring and assessing SR-TBI, and presented a subset of the work in the form of a short communication at the IRCOBI conference in Cambridge 2023 titled “The under-representation of women in biomechanical sports-related concussion studies”. Now, I am focusing on developing a surrogate model for mechanical simulations of the brain. I will present a proof of concept titled “Machine learning-based prediction of brain mechanics in sports-like head-to-head collisions” at the EMMC19 Madrid conference in May 2024.

Supervisors: Prof. Antoine Jerusalem and Prof. Jeroen Bergmann