Bachelor’s Internship and Thesis Opportunities: Digital Therapeutics and Behavior Change

Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) is a leading research and innovation organization based in Trento, Italy. With over 450 researchers across 12 Research Centers, FBK operates in diverse scientific and technological fields, organized into two main clusters: Technology & Innovation and Humanities & Social Sciences. More information: https://www.fbk.eu/en/about-us/. The Digital Health & Wellbeing Center conducts interdisciplinary research on innovative digital technologies for health and wellbeing, with particular attention to person-centered, preventive, personalized, and evidence-based approaches. Within the Center, the Digital Health Research Unit (dHRes) focuses on the design, development, and evaluation of digital technologies for health promotion, prevention, and therapeutic interventions. The Unit combines expertise from Human-Computer Interaction, digital health, computer science, psychological science and related disciplines. We are looking for Bachelor’s students interested in carrying out a curricular internship and/or Bachelor’s thesis project within the dHRes Unit. The opportunity is particularly suitable for students enrolled in degree programs related to Psychology, Human-Computer Interaction, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and related disciplines. Research Area The general research area concerns Digital Therapeutics, digital health interventions, and technology-mediated Behavior Change. Projects investigate how digital and interactive technologies can support psychological wellbeing, prevention, health promotion, and changes in health-related behaviors. Depending on the student’s interests, academic background and on the research projects active within the Unit, possible topics may include: Nature-Based Digital Interventions, exploring how digital and immersive experiences inspired by natural environments may support relaxation, stress reduction, emotional regulation, and psychological wellbeing; Cyberdelics and Immersive Experiences, investigating immersive and virtual experiences designed to influence cognitive, emotional, and perceptual processes;
- Eating Disorders, including digital approaches for prevention, assessment, engagement, and support of therapeutic interventions; Anxiety, Depression and related disorders, investigating digital tools and interventions aimed at supporting emotional regulation, psychological wellbeing, prevention, and self-management; Healthy Aging, exploring technologies designed to support cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social wellbeing across the lifespan; Neurodevelopmental Disorders, investigating digital, interactive, game-based, and immersive approaches that may support individuals with different neurodevelopmental profiles. Psychological Wellbeing of Caregivers, Siblings, and Healthcare Professionals, investigating digital and technology-mediated interventions aimed at supporting the psychological wellbeing, emotional regulation, coping, resilience, and quality of life of family caregivers, siblings, and healthcare professionals involved in the care of individuals with chronic medical conditions or acute health conditions. Research in this area may also address caregiver burden, stress, burnout, adaptation to illness, and the psychological impact of caregiving and healthcare work. Possible Activities Depending on the selected project and their academic background and interests & experience level, students may contribute to activities such as: conducting bibliographic and scientific literature searches on the selected application domain; identifying, reading, and summarizing relevant scientific papers; supporting the preparation of literature reviews and research background materials;
- participating in interdisciplinary research meetings; documenting research activities and contributing to internal reports and scientific materials. (Psychology and HCI background) assisting in the preparation of research protocols and user studies; supporting the preparation of questionnaires, interview protocols, behavioral measures, and research materials; contributing to participant recruitment and data collection activities, when applicable; supporting usability evaluations and user experience studies; organizing research data and supporting preliminary quantitative and/or qualitative analyses; (Computer Science/Engineering and HCI background) contributing to the development of interactive prototypes (e.g., mobile, web, or VR applications in Unity), starting from design mock-ups and interaction concepts defined with the research team; implementing well-defined features or modules within existing research applications, under the guidance of the research team; integrating study components into applications, such as in-app questionnaires, event and interaction logging, or data export functions; testing the developed features on target devices (e.g., smartphones,