Research output per year
Research output per year
Accepting PhD Students
Dr Alex Casson is a Reader in the Materials, Devices and Systems division of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on non-invasive bioelectronic interfaces: the design and application of wearable sensors, and skin-conformal flexible sensors, for human body monitoring and data analysis from highly artefact prone naturalistic situations. This work is highly multi-disciplinary and he has research expertise in:
He has particular interests in closed loop systems: those which are tailored to the individual by personalised manufacturing via printing; and tailored to the individual by adjusting non-invasive stimulation (light, sound, electrical current) using data driven responses/outputs from real-time signal processing. Dr Casson’s ultra low power sensors work is mainly for health and wellness applications, with a strong background in brain interfacing (EEG and transcranial current stimulation) and heart monitoring. Applications focus on both mental health situations including chronic pain, sleep disorders, and autism, and physical health/rehabilitation applications including diabetic foot ulceration, and chronic kidney disease.
Dr Casson gained his undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford in 2006 where he read Engineering Science specialising in Electronic Engineering (MEng). He completed his PhD from Imperial College London in 2010, winning the prize for best doctoral thesis in electrical and electronic engineering. Dr Casson worked as a research associate and research fellow at Imperial College until 2013 when he joined the faculty at the University of Manchester. He an ambassador for the Manchester Integrating Medicine and Innovative Technology (MIMIT) scheme for systematically connecting clinicians and engineers to address unmet clinical needs. Dr Casson is currently a Senior Member of the IEEE, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and chair of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s healthcare technologies network.
Awards for me and my team:
2020: Outstanding presentation prize, NYC neuromodulation 2020 international conference.
2018: Best paper award for journal article in ICT Xpress, with co-authors Arturo Vazquez Galvez, Delaram Jarchi. Total prize value $3500.
2018: Highly commended in the "Better World" showcase for an outstanding contribution to equality and diversity.
2017: First prize in the University of Manchester 'Venture Further' awards for best spin out, business category. Total value £10,000.
2017: First prize in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering poster competition with PhD student Chris Beach.
2017: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
2016: First prize in the Rogue Resolutions Challenge 2016 with PhD student Siddharth Kohli. Total value £74,000.
2016: First prize in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering poster competition with PhD student Mohammed Abdulaal.
2016: Together with student Sammy Medhi highly commended in the Engineering category international Undergraduate Awards. Described as the "Junior Nobel Prize".
2015: Senior member of the IEEE.
2013: IET JA Lodge award, recognising “promising early-career electrical engineers working in biomedical engineering”.
2012: Runner-up in QUASAR USA dry sensor innovation challenge.
2010: Eryl Cadwaladr Davies prize for best doctoral thesis in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London.
2008: IET Ambition Award to “celebrate the achievements of talented young engineering and technology professionals”.
2006: EPSRC DTA award: £15,000 a year for three years scholarship.
2005, 2004, 2003: ARM limited sponsored student.
2005, 2004, 2003: Lincoln College, University of Oxford, exhibitions and scholarship.
My research focuses on creating low power electronic devices combined with real-time signal processing. This has been involved with more than £20 million of research funding across a wide range of projects, funders, and multi-disciplinary working.
Current major projects:
Completed major projects:
I am also involved in a number of leadership activities across the University of Manchester and UK:
My team and I have a number of publications describing my work and achievements and a number of high impact outputs.
Videos descriping our work:
Open data:
Open hardware and software:
My lab is always looking for highly motivated and skilled individuals who are interested in pursuing a PhD, and who want to create innovative new sensors which can enhance human performance. Our multi-disciplinary work has exciting opportunities for working at the state-of-the art in a number of high profile areas:
If you would like more details please contact alex.casson@manchester.ac.uk, stating your interests and funding circumstances. Please note that I may not be able to reply to your email unless you include details on both your interests and your funding circumstances.
Full application instructions can be found here and full details about postgraduate research in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering can be found here.
Before applying you are strongly encouraged to contact alex.casson@manchester.ac.uk, stating your interests and funding circumstances. Please note that I may not be able to reply to your email unless you include details on both your interests and your funding circumstances.
The general procedure for PhD applications is then:
To have an informal conversation by Zoom (or similar). This isn’t mandatory, but helpful to discuss research focus and fit with the lab.
To complete the application form at https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/admissions/how-to-apply/ listing Alex Casson as the potential supervisor.
To have a formal interview by Zoom (or similar) with Alex Casson and another academic.
(If successful) we can then issue an offer letter which can be used to apply for funding.
Note that this process typically takes 1-2 months, allowing for all the forms to be processed. Make sure you apply well in advance of any funding or other deadlines that you may have.
We have lots of funding opportunities for talented and enthusiastic students. Search the databases below to see which schemes you are eligible for:
Unfortunately my lab cannot accept summer intership students from outside the University of Manchester. Enquires for such placements will not receive a reply.
My team and I have a wide number of outputs demonstrating our research impact. Our highlights are summarised below.
2019
Faculty of Science and Engineering representative on the University of Manchester 'DevoHub', collating research of the devolution process in Manchester, March 2017.
PhD student Siddharth Kohli made a member of the Brainbox initiative steering committee, aiming to give young neuroscience researchers a voice, March 2017.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review
Arvin, F., Casson, A. & Lennox, B.
1/10/20 → 30/09/25
Project: Research
Jones, A., Bower, P., Brooks, J., Brown, C., Casson, A., Charalambous, C., Sivan, M., Taylor, J. & Trujillo-Barreto, N.
1/04/21 → 14/06/21
Project: Research
Casson, A., Grieve, B., Ozanyan, K., Blanford, C., Cartmell, S., Li, Y., Ballestrem, C., Reid, A., Turner, M., Wong, L. S., Yeates, S., Trimble, E., Jones, C., Scully, P., Holmes, M., Wimpenny, I., Humphrey, B., Turner, M., Dobson, C., Halsall, M., Jones, S., Echtermeyer, T., Wijekoon, J., Curry, R., Picardo, M., Tracey, K., Persaud, K., Migliorato, M., Treves Brown, B., Ozanyan, K., Wright, P., Majewski, L., Hodgson, A., Dudek, P., Gaydecki, P., Morgan, P., Zhang, H., Keavney, B., Brenchley, P., Fields, R., Khan, U., Casiraghi, C., Blaker, J., Saiani, A., Vijayaraghavan, A., Lu, J., Kell, D., Donald, A., Ozols, M., Derby, B., Sharma, J., Mills, E. C., Mohd Nawi, I., Tandon, B., Read, M., Zhu, Q., Ren, L., Waigh, T., Petersen, R., Beach, C., Brown, T., Thomas, A. & Crowe, I.
1/02/18 → 31/07/18
Project: Research
Alex Casson (Academic expert member)
Activity: Membership › Membership of committee
Casson, A. (Creator), University of Manchester Figshare, 27 May 2022
DOI: 10.48420/19606930.v1, https://figshare.manchester.ac.uk/articles/software/Closed_Loop_Sound_Stimulation_During_Sleep_In_Matlab/19606930/1
Dataset
Casson, A. (Contributor) & Beach, C. (Contributor), Mendeley Data, 24 Sep 2018
DOI: 10.17632/tzfmydyzch.1, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/tzfmydyzch
Dataset
Casson, A. (Creator), Mendeley Data, 4 Apr 2019
DOI: 10.17632/68ycn9sgbr.1, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/68ycn9sgbr
Dataset
Casson, A. (Creator), Mendeley Data, 6 Mar 2020
DOI: 10.17632/tczn9t59rs.2, https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/tczn9t59rs
Dataset
Xing, L. (Creator) & Casson, A. (Creator), University of Manchester Figshare, 23 May 2023
DOI: 10.48420/23093759.v1, https://figshare.manchester.ac.uk/articles/software/Deep_autoencoder_for_real-time_EEG_artifact_removal_and_its_Android_smartphone_implementation/23093759/1 and one more link, https://figshare.manchester.ac.uk/articles/software/Deep_autoencoder_for_real-time_EEG_artifact_removal_and_its_Android_smartphone_implementation/23093759 (show fewer)
Dataset