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Professor Harry Witchel

Professor Harry Witchel (PhD)

Professor of Physiology (Neuroscience and Imaging)
E: H.Witchel@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1273 873549
Location: Room 204 Trafford Centre for Medical Research, BSMS, University of Sussex, BN1 9RY

Areas of expertise: embodied cognition (mind wandering, engagement and human factors), multiple sclerosis and gait (wearable sensors & computer vision); soundscape

Research areas: Neuroscience

Other relevant positions: Discipline Lead in Physiology, BSMS 20 Academic Co-Lead

Biography

Discipline Lead in Physiology, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Senior Lecturer, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Senior Research Fellow, Department of Physiology, University of Bristol
Visiting Professorship, Institute of Pathology, University of Florence (Italy)-hERG cell biology
Research Fellow, Molecular pharmacology of cardiac ion channels, Department of Physiology, University of Bristol
Research Associate, Cloning rabbit cardiac ion channels, Dr. Jules Hancox, Department of Physiology, University of Bristol
Research Associate, Cloning rabbit cardiac ion channels, Dr. Allan Levi, Department of Physiology, University of Bristol
Research Associate, Molecular Biology of Invertebrate Ion channels, Dr. Robert Meech, Department of Physiology, University of Bristol

Education

PhD (Physiology - Anatomy), University of California at Berkeley
AB (Physics), Columbia University, New York

In 2022 Harry was the senior editor for the book "Technologies in Biomedical and Life Sciences Education", which was published by Springer as part of the American Physiological Society's prestigious Methods in Physiology series. In 2020 Harry‘s book "Writing for Biomedical Sciences Students" was published by Macmillan.

Research

Research focus

Harry is a Discipline Leader in Physiology, and uses time series analysis to correlate physiological and motion metrics with physiological, psychological or pathological (disease) states. His work in the laboratory focuses on the triangulation of behavioural data, physical properties and subjective reporting.

Harry uses wearable sensors, motion capture and time series analysis to determine the cognitive, emotional and behavioural correlates of engagement and disengagement in response to different psychologically relevant stimuli (e.g. audio and video). Harry is currently examining mind wandering and boredom using PsychoPy and matlab, as well as doing educational research.

Harry also uses wearable inertial sensors to develop metrics of ambulatory function/dysfunction, for example in multiple sclerosis.

Current research

Developing motion analysis techniques to demonstrate differences in physiology and in subconscious, non-instrumental postural micromovements based on different stimuli. Harry is focusing on seated healthy volunteers, in order to detect subtle (mm) changes over time in response to discrete, two-minute, homogeneous stimuli including games, quizzes, and films. This kind of stimulus allows us to make clear conclusions about the emotion elicited by the stimulus, as two minutes is long enough to become bored, but not long enough to re-engage. Harry is also measuring postural surrogates of fatigue and arousal.

Harry uses dynamic time warping of inertial measurements for walking, and also mathematical models for static balance, to make metrics of disability that are objective.

Active collaborations

Professor Nachiappan Chockalingam, Staffordshire University
Professor Hugo Critchley, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Professor Kate Galvin, University of Brighton

Current/recent laboratory funding/grants

Harry's successful grant proposals have thus far received £869,960. He has received grant funding from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the BBSRC, Pfizer, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).In 2019 a paper from my lab by two project students won Best Paper at Conference at ECCE (Dublin).

Teaching

Teaching focus

Physiology (cardiovascular, ECG, arrhythmogenesis, neuroscience, ions and action potentials)
Core Academic Skills for Medical Students (Academic writing, statistics)

Teaching responsibilities

Module Leader for Heart, Lungs and Blood
Intercalation Lead

Previously

Module Leader of Neuroscience and Behaviour
Deputy Phase 1 Leader (Years 1 & 2)

At BSMS Harry has an extensive teaching and administration load; he serves as Intercalation Lead, he is the Module Leader for Module 103 (Heart Lungs and Blood), previous to that he was the Module Leader for Module 202 (Neuroscience and Behaviour) from 2009-2011, and he has been the Discipline Leader in Physiology from 2008 to the present. As a module leader, he manages ~50 instructors contributing to ~80 learning sessions, he leads an annual Module Review process, and he manages the assembly of a wide range of assessments for students that are standard set by expert committees and must meet the national standards of the General Medical Council. He teaches over 60 hours of structured contact per year in divergent subjects including cardiac, vascular, respiratory, neuroscience, gastrointestinal, blood, skeletal muscle, bone and general physiology. Harry teaches skills such as academic writing and basic use of statistics, and he has extensive experience of undergraduate and postgraduate research students in his lab, with over 20 peer-reviewed papers resulting from student work.

Selected publications

Lee MW & Witchel HJ (2022). Intentional Innovation in Educational Technology and Media to Promote Students’ Holistic Development. In: Witchel HJ & Lee MW (eds.) Technologies in Biomedical and Life Sciences Education: Approaches and Evidence for Efficacy in Teaching. London: Springer. ISBN 978-3030956325

Guy R & Witchel HJ (2022). Supplementary Videos in the Biosciences: How Stakeholders Can Reinforce Complex Concepts for Self-Directed Learners. In: Witchel HJ & Lee MW (eds.) Technologies in Biomedical and Life Sciences Education: Approaches and Evidence for Efficacy in Teaching.London: Springer. ISBN 978-3030956325

Witchel HJ, Guy R, Torrens C, Langlands K, Doggrell SA (2022). Lecture Capture, Attendance and Exam Performance in the Biosciences: Exploring rare exceptions to the link between attendance and performance in the era of online teaching. In: Witchel HJ & Lee MW (eds.) Technologies in Biomedical and Life Sciences Education: Approaches and Evidence for Efficacy in Teaching. London: Springer. ISBN 978-3030956325

Witchel HJ, Klein R, Sinnayah P, Rathner J (2022). From Psychology Laboratory to Student Development: Untangling Momentary Engagement from Longer-term Engagement in Bioscience Education. In: Witchel HJ & Lee MW (eds.) Technologies in Biomedical and Life Sciences Education: Approaches and Evidence for Efficacy in Teaching. London: Springer. ISBN 978-3030956325

Witchel HJ, Jones CI, Thompson GA, Westling CEI, Romero J, Nicotra A, Maag B and Critchley HD (2022) Spelling Errors in Brief Computer-Mediated Texts Implicitly Lead to Linearly Additive Penalties in Trustworthiness. Front. Psychol. 13:873844. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.873844

Dittmar A, Murray DM, van der Veer GC, Witchel HJ (2021, March). Cognitive Ergonomics – A European Take on HCI. Interactions 21(3): 89-92. (4 pages, thought-leadership)

Nagasubramony A, Player RF, Westling CEI, Galvin K, Witchel HJ (2021). Using wearable inertial sensors to detect different strategies for the sit-to-stand transition in multiple sclerosis. ECCE 2019 Proceedings of the 38th European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics (Siena). Article 14. doi.org/10.1145/3452853.3452862 (4 pages, novel research)

Witchel HJ, Langlands K, MacQueen HA, Kumar P, Torrens C, Hall SK (2020). Online Learning versus classroom learning: Questioning who learns what. Physiology News, 119, 16-17. doi: 10.36866/pn.119.16

Witchel HJ, Thompson GA, Jones CI, Westling CEI, Romero J, Nicotra A, Maag B, Critchley HD (2020). Spelling errors and 'shouting' capitalization lead to additive penalties to trustworthiness of online health information: Randomized Experiment with Laypersons. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(6): e15171. doi: 10.2196/15171 (14 pages)

Witchel HJ, Santos CP, Ackah JK, Chockalingam N, Westling CEI (2020). Proxemics of Screen Mediation: Engagement with reading on screen manifests as diminished variation due to self-control, rather than diminished mean distance from screen. Electronic Journal of Communication, 29(3/4): 4. (9 pages).

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