Vahid Farrahi, PhD
Assistant professor (tenure-track)
Institute of Sport and Sport Science
TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
Research fellow and group leader
Research Unit of Health Science and Technology
University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qs_96rAAAAAJ&hl=en
ORCID: 0000-0001-8355-8488
Scopus ID: 57205114673
Email: Vahid.Farrahi[at]tu-dortmund.de
About
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 late 2023, 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.
Joining my team
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.
If there are open positions available, I aim to post them on my webpages, although it is likely that I fail to do so sometimes :). 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.
Team & thesis supervision
Supervision of doctoral student (supervision period started - ended):
Alireza Sameh, University of Oulu (Feb 2023-ongoing)
Mulusew Yaltaye, University of Oulu (Co-supervisor, April 2023-ongoing)
Maija Korpisaari, University of Oulu (Co-supervisor, May 2022-ongoing)
Laura Nauha, University of Oulu (Co-supervisor, May 2022-ongoing)
Supervision of master students (supervision period started - ended):
Clarence Tan, University of Oulu (Primary supervisor, Dec 2023 - ongoing)
Henri Lamberg, University of Oulu (Primary supervisor, September 2023 - ongoing)
Aleksi Leviäkangas, University of Oulu (Primary supervisor, December 2021-July 2023)
Joana Chong, visiting student from the University of Lisbon (March 2020-November 2020, thesis graded as outstanding at the University of Lisbon)
Awais Kolachi, University of Oulu (October 2020, July 2021)
Awards
Best PhD Thesis Award 2021, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu
Exemplary PhD Thesis Award, University of Oulu Graduate School (UniOGS)
Receiving the grade of ‘passed with distinction’ for doctoral thesis, which is only awarded to exceptionally high-quality theses representing the top-15% in their field
Nomination for Best Paper Award 2021 in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, and receiving commendation for the best article in Health, Disease & Physical Activity (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/16000838/homepage/sjmss-awards)
Best Dissemination Award 2020 (Vahid Farrahi), awarded in BioMEP doctoral program for outreaching the general population via more than 30 national and international news outlets
Best Presentation Award (Emilia Pesonen), Science Day of the Kontinkangas Campus (8.11.2023), University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Second-best poster presentation (Aleksi Leviäkangas) in LFT Day (09.02.2023, Oulu) organized annually by the Finnish Society for Medical Physics and Medical Engineering
Nomination for Best Poster Award (Laura Nauha) at 26th Congress of European Sleep Research Society, September 2022, Athens, Greece
Best grade (19.6 out of 20 = outstanding) for master thesis at Dept of Computer Engineering & Information Technology, Shiraz University of Technology, Fall 2016
Key scientific and academic merits
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
Publications (selected)
Farrahi Vahid, Niemelä Maisa, Kangas Maarit, Korpelainen Raija, Jämsä Timo. Calibration and validation of accelerometer-based activity monitors: a systematic review of machine-learning approaches. Gait Posture. 2019;68:285–99. DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2018.12.003
Niemelä Maisa, Kiviniemi Antti, Ikäheimo Tiina M, Tulppo Mikko, Korpelainen Raija, Jämsä Timo, Farrahi Vahid. Compositional association of 24-hour movement behavior with incident major adverse cardiac events and all-cause mortality. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14315
Chong Joana, Tjurin Petra, Niemelä Maisa, Jämsä Timo, Farrahi Vahid. Machine-learning models for activity class prediction: A comparative study of feature selection and classification algorithms. Gait Posture. 2021;89:45–53. DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2021.06.017
Farrahi Vahid, Rostami Mehrdad, Dumuid Dot, Chastin Sebastien FM, Niemelä Maisa, Korpelainen Raija, Jämsä Timo, Oussalah Mourad. Joint Profiles of Sedentary Time and Physical Activity in Adults and their Associations with Cardiometabolic Health. Med Sci Sport Exerc. 2022;54(12):2118–28. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003008.