Dr. Siddharth Bhardwaj is currently serving as a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore. His research interests include ergonomics, human factors, human motor adaptation, and rehabilitation robotics. He obtained his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Aligarh Muslim University (2020), where his research focused on developing EMG-based control strategies for lower limb rehabilitation devices.
Dr. Bhardwaj has three years of postdoctoral experience at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, Gujarat. During his time at IIT Gandhinagar, he contributed to the development of a passive back exosuit for manual lifting tasks and investigated sensory augmentation and virtual reality (VR) technology for improving postural balance and control. Dr. Bhardwaj has published several research articles in reputed journals and has been granted one patent in the field of mechanical engineering. His other scientific and academic recognitions include multiple Best Paper awards at international conferences, DST Postdoctoral Fellowship (2021-2023), CSIR Senior Research Fellowship (2017-2020), and university medal in MTech (mechanical engineering) from Aligarh Muslim University (2014).
As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow, Dr. Bhardwaj is studying the effect of personal and environmental factors on the gait and balance of individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study of these interacting factors is particularly important as freezing of gait and fall in PD patients is associated with response inhibition, divided attention, and visuospatial function. In particular, the project will explore VR-based visual perturbations incorporating personal and environmental factors for developing unique gait and balance training paradigms for PD patients.