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Cooper-Carlson PhD scholar, Yidan Xu

The new Cooper-Carlson PhD scholar is Yidan Xu (Informatics). As she begins her Sussex journey, she says, “I am profoundly grateful for the generous support of this scholarship, which has made a significant impact on my pursuit of a PhD in the field of machine learning and its application to Parkinson’s disease research.

“I’m from the south of China and completed my undergraduate study in Beijing. I got my Masters in Computer Engineering from Northwestern University in Illinois. This was an extremely precious time in my life. I learned a lot about machine learning, experienced a different culture in the United States and met a group of good friends.

After graduating from Northwestern, Yidan went back to China and started work as an algorithm engineer in Meituan, Beijing. “However,” she says, “I found that I was doing the same thing over and over again. I wanted to pursue something more challenging and delve deeper into my professional field. That’s when my fate with Sussex began.

“When I first saw the description of this PhD programme, I was deeply attracted. If machine learning can be used to help patients detect Parkinson’s disease earlier or predict some symptoms in advance, the patient’s condition can be intervened early and they can be helped to avoid dangerous situations such as falls by being given rhythmical cueing synchronised with the gait. 

“I am very honored that, because I was awarded the scholarship, I can participate in this very meaningful research project. I may realise my dream to make even a small contribution to this field.

“Since I started my PhD life at Sussex, I feel that everything here is as good as I expected. I love the summers and the food in Brighton, the library on campus, and the colleagues I’m working with.

“At the same time, I am grateful to have two supervisors who are serious, responsible and patient in their guidance. My principal supervisor Temi (Dr Temitayo Olugbade) and I meet every week to exchange our ideas on the project. She has her own insights in this field and often inspires me to come up with better ideas.

“Currently, I am working on how to apply machine learning methods to predict Parkinson’s disease events when given limited data. In February, I presented my poster at Sussex AI Launch. It was my first poster and I was excited about it.

“I am deeply grateful for the Friends’ generosity, kindness and belief in my potential. This scholarship has made a profound impact on my academic and research journey.”