Dr Ningrong Lei PhD, MSc, BEng, FHEA
Associate Professor in Systems Engineering, Course leader for MSc Advanced Engineering and Management
- Department of Engineering and Mathematics
- Advanced Wellbeing Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Centre
- Industry and Innovation Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Institute
Summary
Dr Ningrong Lei is an associate professor in systems engineering and course leader for MSc Advanced Engineering and Management. She holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Ningrong's research focuses on leveraging systems engineering methodologies to create accessible and scalable multi-disease detection and monitoring services based on artificial intelligence and wearable technology.
About
Ningrong joined Ï㽶ÊÓƵ as a lecturer in 2016, achieving promotion to senior lecturer and associate professor in 2019 and 2023 respectively. Prior to joining Hallam, Ningrong was a visiting scholar at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. She worked as a researcher at Centre of Innovation at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. Before that, she was a lecturer at Wuhan Institute of Technology, China, where she led the industrial training program of surface mount technology in collaboration with Foxconn Technology Group.
Ningrong's vision is to develop a scalable and sustainable service platform for multi-disease detection and monitoring. This aspiration has driven the creation of technologies that harness wearable devices and artificial intelligence for the detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) and sleep apnoea. These technological innovations hold promising potential to improve AF and sleep apnoea detection allowing earlier treatment with the attendant downstream benefits of reduced morbidity.
To validate these technologies, she spearheaded two clinical studies, undertaken in collaboration with esteemed clinical and industry partners. Clinical evidence showed that both AF and sleep apnoea can be detected based on cardiac electrical activity in the home environment. To further advance these technologies towards commercialization, she successfully secured Innovate UK funding. Please see press coverage: and .
Ningrong acts as a mentor within the Advance Wellbeing Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Centre (AWRC) Accelerator program—an esteemed R&D initiative. Through this role, she provide invaluable support and mentorship to pre-revenue and early-stage health and wellbeing companies, not only fostering their growth but also enriching her own professional development and networking endeavours.
Teaching
Department of Engineering and Mathematics
College of Business, Technology and Engineering
Department of Engineering and Mathematics
College of Business, Technology and Engineering
Subject areas: Systems engineering; Digital health
Group: Materials and Engineering Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Institute, Industry and Innovation Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Institute, Advanced Wellbeing Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Centre
Courses taught:
MSc Advanced Engineering and Management
BEng/MEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering
BEng/MEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Modules taught:
Systems engineering (level 6, module leader)
Systems Engineering and Systems Thinking (level 7)
Mechatronics (level 5)
Design evaluation technology (level 5)
Group project (level 7)
Ï㽶ÊÓƵ
- Principal Investigator(PI), A real time sleep apnoea detection service in the home environment. £133,000, SHU GTA PhD project, 2024-2027.
- PI, Heart rate variability biofeedback in long COVID rehabilitation. £6,000, SHU department research fund, 2023-2024.
- PI, A mental health monitoring service to prevent depression. £68,000, PhD scholarship project-Lybia Government, 2022-2026.
- PI, Sleep Apnoea Detection with Smart Internet of Things Technology. £65,000, PhD scholarship project-Lybia Government, 2019-2023.
- Consultant, AWRC accelerator. £8,250, 2023.
- Early career research and innovation fellowship, A multi-disease detection service platform
based on deep learning and internet of things. £5,000, SHU, 2022.
- Entrepreneurial Lead, an atrial fibrillation detection service for stroke prevention. £ 60,000, Innovate UK. 2021-2022.
- Co-I, the stroke risk monitoring service. Grant: £ 40,000, Grow MedTech, 2019-2021.
- Co-I, Stroke Risk Monitoring Service. Ï㽶ÊÓƵ England, £5,000. 2019.
- Founding member, transformative artificial intelligence applications research cluster. £1,550, CKIP SHU, 2019.
1. 2023. AWRC Accelerator project.
2. 2023. Long COVID rehabilitation monitoring based on wearable technology and artificial intelligence.
3. 2021-2022 An atrial fibrillation detection service for stroke prevention. Funded by Innovate UK.
4. 2019-2022. A stroke risk monitoring service. Funded by Grow MedTech.
Publications
Journal articles
Barika, R., Elphick, H., Lei, N., Razaghi, H., & Faust, O. (2022). . Processes, 10 (9).
Faust, O., Kareem, M., & Lei, N. (2021). . Software Impacts, 10.
Paszkiel, S., Rojek, R., Lei, N., & Castro, M.A. (2021). . Przeglad Elektrotechniczny, 97 (11), 111-116.
Kareem, M., Lei, N., Ali, A., Ciaccio, E.J., Acharya, U.R., & Faust, O. (2021). . Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 69, 102818.
Paszkiel, S., Rojek, R., Lei, N., & Castro, M.A. (2021). . NeuroSci, 2 (2), 109-119.
Lei, N., Kareem, M., Moon, S.K., Ciaccio, E.J., Acharya, U.R., & Faust, O. (2021). . International Journal of Environmental Ï㽶ÊÓƵ and Public Health, 18 (2), 813.
Faust, O., Lei, N., Chew, E., Ciaccio, E.J., & Acharya, U.R. (2020). . International Journal of Environmental Ï㽶ÊÓƵ and Public Health, 17 (17), e6313.
Lei, N., Yao, X., Moon, S.K., & Bi, G. (2016). . Journal of Engineering Design, 27 (11), 751-767.
Lei, N., & Moon, S.K. (2015). . Decision Support Systems, 69, 82-91.
Lei, N., LU, P., & Liu, Z.-.M. (2009). Effect of magnetic fluid grinding parameters on grinding efficiency and grinding mechanism of steel balls. Machinery Design & Manufacture, 241.
Lei, N., & Liu, Z.-.M. (2005). Engineering Experimental Long Distance Supervisory Control System Based on Web. Journal of WUT Information and Management Engineering, 27, 28-31.
Conference papers
Chen, J., Alboul, L., & Lei, N. (2022). . UKRAS22 Conference "Robotics for Unconstrained Environments" Proceedings, 30-31.
Lei, N., Faust, O., Rosen, D.W., & Sherkat, N. (2018). . The proceeding of 15th international design conference, 57-68.
Lei, N., Moon, S.K., & Rosen, D. (2015). . In Weber, C., Husung, S., Cantamessa, M., Cascini, G., Marjanovic, D., Graziosi, S., ... Venkataraman, S. (Eds.) 20th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED15), Milan, Italy, 27 July 2015 - 30 July 2015. The Design Society
Lei, N., Moon, S.K., & Bi, G. (2014). Additive manufacturing and topology optimization to support product family design. High Value Manufacturing: Advanced Ï㽶ÊÓƵ in Virtual and Rapid Prototyping - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Advanced Ï㽶ÊÓƵ and Rapid Prototyping, VR@P 2013, 505-510.
Chen, G.X., Kwee, T.J., Lei, N.R., Tan, K.P., Choo, Y.S., & Hong, M.H. (2010). Underwater laser cleaning for marine and offshore applications. International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics, 456-460.
Kwee, T.J., Chen, G.X., Lei, N., Tan, K.P., Choo, Y.S., & Hong, M.H. (2010). . International Congress on Applications of Lasers & Electro-Optics, 451-455.
Book chapters
Lei, N., & Moon, S.K. (2014). . In ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. ASME:
Lei, N., Moon, S.K., & Bi, G. (2014). . In Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM). IEEE:
Lei, N., & Moon, S.K. (2013). . In Lindemann, U., Venkataraman, S., Kim, Y.S., Lee, S.W., Papalambros, P., & Chen, W. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED13), Design for Harmonies. (pp. 177-186). Design Society:
Theses / Dissertations
Lei, N. (2016). Data-driven project family design for additive manufacturing. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Moon, S.K.
Media
Lei, N. (2022). Ebers Health - Real time atrial fibrillation detection to prevent stroke.
Presentations
Lei, N. (2021). . Presented at: Materials and Engineering Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Symposium (MERI) research symposium, Online, 2021
Lei, N., Yao, X., Ki Moon, S., & Bi, G. (2014). . Presented at: 1st International Conference on Progress in Additive Manufacturing (Pro-AM 2014), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 2014
Other activities
Guest editor - MDPI special issue on AI-based automated recognition and detection in healthcare.
Guest editor - Applied Science special issue on Advance in Technology of Brain-Computer Interface.
Review editor - Biomedical Signal Processing, Frontiers.
Grant funding reviewer -National Institute for Health and Care Ï㽶ÊÓƵ (NIHR).
Scientific advisory board - Design Conferences from 2018 to 2022.
Postgraduate supervision
- Jude Okorie (as Director of Studies)
- Marim Altaleb (as Director of Studies)
- Ragab Barika (as Director of Studies)
- Jiacheng Chen (as Co-supervisor)
- Samina Komal (as Co-supervisor)