About Me

Curriculum Vitae - Rune Thorsen, M.Sc.e.e, Industrial Ph.D.

I was born in Denmark in 1967 and earned my M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark in 1994, followed by an Industrial Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 1997. Throughout my career, I have held postdoctoral research positions in the Netherlands, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and I currently work as a Senior Scientist at Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ETS within the LAMoBiR - Movement Analysis and Rehabilitation Bioengineering Laboratory.

My research focuses on rehabilitation engineering, assistive technologies, and Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES), with a particular interest in user-centered design, participatory approaches, and co-creation methodologies. I work on the development of innovative biomedical solutions that integrate hardware, software, electronics, and signal processing to support rehabilitation and improve quality of life.

I have extensive programming experience ranging from embedded systems to modern web technologies such as PHP and JavaScript, which I apply in both research prototypes and clinical applications. Alongside technical development, I have many years of experience conducting clinical research and trials in close collaboration with patients, therapists, clinicians, and multidisciplinary research teams.

I am the author and co-author of several peer-reviewed scientific publications and patents, serve as a reviewer for international scientific journals, and actively contribute to open-source initiatives related to rehabilitation technology and assistive systems. I have also participated in the preparation and development of international research proposals and competitive funding applications.

Beyond my professional work, I have a broad interest in technology, philosophy, open-source development, and the relationship between engineering, society, and human well-being.

Employments

Year	Place	Title
2003-	Fondazione don Carlo Gnocchi, Milan, Italy	Senior Researcher
2000-02	Centro di Bioingegneria, Milan, Italy	Post Doc. NeuralPRO
1999-00	University college London and Salisbury District Hospital	Post Doc. NEUROS
1998-99	University of Twente, The Netherlands	Post Doc. NEUROS
1997-98	CBI, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy	Post Doc.
1994-97	ASAH Medico A/S, Denmark The Technical University of Denmark The University Hospital, Denmark	Industrial Ph.D. Fellow

As a researcher in the Danish company, Asah Medico A/S, I carried out research for the European project EPCES (1994-97). Then I started a three-year Post. Doc. position in the European project NEUROS (under the European TMR programme), bringing me around in Europe; 1997 in Italy at the Bioengineering Center (Centro di Bioingegneria), Milano, 1998 in The Netherlands working at Universiteit Twente and in 1999 I conducted experimental work in collaboration with Salisbury District Hospital and University College London in England. In 2000, a new EU project (NeuralPRO) gave me the opportunity to settle in Italy - working at the Bioengineering Center, Don Gnocchi Foundation (Centro di Bioingegneria) then a department of the Bioengineering Department, Polytechnic of Milan.