CAREER OPPORTUNITY
The CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) is a leading scientific and
technology research organisation, implementing projects throughout Africa and making a
difference in people’s lives.
PhD/MSc Studentship in Computational Modelling of Thrombus Development in
Cerebral Aneurysms: Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) and University
of Cape Town (UCT)
About the job:
The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), a unit within Meraka Institute of the
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in collaboration with the University of
Cape Town (UCT) has an opportunity for a PhD or MSc Studentship in the Computational
Modelling of Thrombus Development in Cerebral Aneurysms project.
The project comprises high performance computing, computational fluid dynamics,
computational biochemistry and level set methods. A clot or thrombus in a cerebral
aneurysm can either accelerate the road to rupture, through inflammatory processes and
vascular wall degradation, or stabilise the situation by occluding the aneurysm, thus
preventing rupture. A three-dimensional computational model of clotting in patient-derived
cerebral aneurysm geometries is currently under development and is a tool both for
interventional planning and for elucidating disease mechanisms. The successful candidate
will be expected to contribute to further development of this model. Research duties will
include the reporting of research outcomes at regular project seminars and in
quarterlyprogress reports as well as the preparation of scientific papers for publication.
The studentship is tenable at the Biomechanics and Mechanobiology Lab
(http://www.biomechanics.uct.ac.za/) in the Division of Biomedical Engineering, Department
of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Cape Town. The project
will start as soon as possible and the student must be a South African citizen.
PhD scholarship: The value of the scholarship is R130 000 per annum. Annual renewal will
be subject to satisfactory progress and funding will be available for up to three years.
Applicants should have a Masters degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics or related
disciplines and an interest in bio-fluid mechanics.
MSc scholarship: The value of the scholarship is R90 000 per annum. Annual renewal will be
subject to satisfactory progress and funding will be available for up to two years. Applicants
should have a Bachelors degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics or related disciplines
and an interest in bio-fluid mechanics.
Closing date: 20 October 2014
PLEASE NOTE THAT FEEDBACK WILL BE GIVEN TO SHORTLISTED CANDIDATES
ONLY.
Please contact Malebogo Ngoepe (email: M.Ngoepe@uct.ac.za) to express interest and for
further information.