Our doctoral researcher Robert Jakob (ETH Zurich) has commenced a six-month visiting research fellowship at Harvard University’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Mentored by Prof. Susan A Murphy at the Statistical Reinforcement Learning Lab, Robert is working on RL algorithms for sequential decision-making in digital health interventions, with a focus on strategies to prevent user dropout.

Robert is also continuing his research collaboration with WayBetter Inc., a mobile health company headquartered in New York. Together, they are investigating applications of dropout interventions in the real world, given WayBetter’s status as one of the most prominent weight loss apps in the United States.

During his stay, Robert is also partnering with the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH) at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. Under the leadership of Prof. Catherine Stanger, Robert is supporting the SweetGoals Study, exploring the influence of monetary incentives and personal coaching on adherence to digital health interventions.

We are very happy to announce, that in recognition of his efforts, Robert has been awarded the ETH Doc.Mobility Fellowship.