Analysis of central and peripheral physiological signals to optimize mental and physical expenditure in elite athletes

The appointed candidate will participate in a research project aimed at developing new real-time methods for assessing both mental and physical expenditure from multiple physiological signals acquired  during demanding tasks using non-invasive portable devices. The project will be conducted in strong collaboration with Formula Medicine srl, a company with a validated expertise in the field of the "mental training". Based on the experience gained in over 30 years of activity with top-level professionals, Formula Medicine is able to provide complete and unique support to any athlete, from a medical, physiotherapeutic, mental, and athletic point of view. The candidate will contribute to design new experimental protocols intended to define a complex set of physiological parameters able to assess the level of attention, the neural efficiency and the capacity to manage mental and physiological stress of the subject while performing different tasks and to predict performance breakdowns and increased level of mental fatigue and/or drowsiness. In this context, the candidate will perform a complete review of the literature in order to identify the best candidates among all the potentially informative features that can be derived from both central and peripheral physiological signals, as well as to recognize among all the currently available devices those providing the best compromise between signal-quality and portability. Moreover, the candidate will be involved in the data acquisition sessions and in the development of automated softwares able to extract in real-time the defined set of physiological parameters. The candidate should guaranteee an almost constant presence at the Formula Medicina spaces in Viareggio (Lucca, Italy).