Jun.-Prof. Dr. Vahid Farrahi

Research focus:

• Device-based measurement of movement behaviors
• Physical activity and health
• Data-driven health
• Wearables for population health

I was born in 1990 in Iran, raised in the beautiful city of Shiraz. I completed my MSc studies in Information Technology at Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz, Iran in 2016. I completed my PhD from 2017 to 2021 at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu with a Marie Curie grant, which is one of Europe's most competitive and prestigious grants. My PhD thesis received the grade of 'passed with distinction' and was honored with the 'Best PhD Thesis Award 2021' from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, as well as the 'Exemplary PhD Thesis Award' from the University of Oulu Graduate School (UniOGS). From 2021 to 2023, I held a postdoctoral researcher position at the Center for Machine Vision and Signal Analysis and the Research Unit of Health Sciences and Technology, both at the University of Oulu. My primary focus at the University of Oulu was studying the health impact of device-measured human movement and non-movement behaviors. Among other responsibilities and supervision activities, I was actively involved in teaching a couple of master's courses, including 'Biomechanics of Human Movement' and 'Biomedical Research Seminar and Methods.

Since January 2024, I have held the position of Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at TU Dortmund University. Collaborating with fellow professors at the university, we are currently in the process of designing a new master's program in sports data science, with plans for its launch in Winter 2024. Overall, I have a deep interest in behavioral and health data science, machine learning and data mining, and wearable devices and technologies. More specifically, my research is focused on the relationships between 24-hour movement and non-movement behaviors measured with wearable accelerometer-based activity monitors.

I am actively seeking talented researchers and students to join my team. If you are interested in our research and possess a relevant background, I encourage you to reach out to me. In your message, please be specific about how you can contribute to our research and development. You would be an ideal candidate if you are enthusiastic, eager to learn, and, most importantly, passionate about executing tasks with precision and accuracy. Additionally, we provide internship placements, and the specifics of expectations vary on a case-by-case basis. If you are interested in an internship, feel free to inquire about the details with a detailed message about your expectations from your internship. 

• Associate Editor and Editorial Board member for the Journal for the Measurement of Physical Behaviour
• Editorial Board member for the Journal of Activity, Sedentary and Sleep Behaviors (https://jassb.biomedcentral.com/about/editorial-board)
• Editorial Board member for the Journal of Physical Activity and Health (https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/jpah-overview.xml?tab_body=editorial-board)
• Invited speaker and oral presentations: ISBNPA 2023 (to be delivered in June 2023); University of Oulu’s Science Day 2023; Researcher’s Night 2022, University of Oulu; Liikuntalääketieteen päivät 2021, Helsinki, Finland, December 2021; Physical Activity Research Summit, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, November 2019; ICAMPAM 2019, Maastricht, Netherlands, June 2019; BiB (Born in Bradford) seminar series, Bradford Research Institute for Health, Bradford, UK, December 2019; Finnish Sports Medicine Days 2020, organized by Finnish Society of Sport Sciences
• Reviewer for 20+ scientific journals such as PLOS Digital Health; BMC Public Health; Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, Preventive Medicine, Gait & Posture, Journal for the Measurement of Physical Behaviour, Scientific Reports, BMC Systematic Reviews

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qs_96rAAAAAJ&hl=en