Dr Beth Jelfs MEng, PhD

Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering
Assistant Professor

Contact details

Email: b.jelfs@bham.ac.uk

Address: Department of Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering
School of Engineering
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Beth Jelfs is an Assistant Professor in Signal Processing and Data Analysis within the Microwave Integrated System Laboratory.

Dr Jelfs’s research interests are in adaptive signal processing. In particular, the intersection of signal processing and machine learning and how signal processing techniques can be used to inform machine learning algorithms.

Qualifications

Ph.D in Signal Processing from Imperial College London, 2010
MEng (1^st Class Hons) in Electronic & Software Engineering from University of Leicester, 2005

Biography

Beth Jelfs is an Assistant Professor in Signal Processing and Data Analysis in the School of Engineering.

She obtained her PhD from Imperial College London and held research positions at University of Oxford (Depts. of Chemistry and Physics), University College London (Dept. Medical Physics & Bioengineering) before joining the International Transition Team at City University of Hong Kong (Dept. Electronic Engineering) where she had a joint appointment as a research fellow and providing English language support to both staff and students. Following her time in Hong Kong she received a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellowship and Lectureship at RMIT University in Australia.

Her research interests are in adaptive signal processing, in particular, she is interested in the intersection of signal processing and machine learning and how signal processing techniques can be used to inform machine learning algorithms. Her work is highly multidisciplinary ranging from the development of prototype devices for real-time monitoring of muscle fatigue to path prediction and attitude estimation for high-altitude platforms, and the creation of a toolbox for analysis of the relationships between single neuron spiking events and local field potentials for use by biologists and neuroscientists.

She is also currently chair of the Asia-Pacific Signal and Information Processing Association’s Biomedical Signal Processing and Systems technical committee and a member of the IEEE Women in Signal Processing Subcommittee.

Postgraduate supervision

Beth is taking applications from students who are interested in pursuing projects in signal and image processing.

Research

Beth's research interests are in adaptive signal processing especially statistical signal processing and signal characterisation. In particular, she is interested in the intersection of signal processing and machine learning and how signal processing techniques can be used to inform machine learning algorithms.

Beth also has a specific interest in how these techniques can be applied to multichannel and multimodal data, particularly with reference to complex systems, for example neural data.

For further details about Beth's research please see her personal website

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Wu, K, Jelfs, B, Fang, Q & Gollo, LL 2025, 'Criticality and increased intrinsic neural timescales in stroke', NPJ systems biology and applications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41540-025-00626-7

Esmaelpoor, J, Peng, T, Jelfs, B, Mao, D, Shader, MJ & McKay, CM 2025, 'Cross-modal functional plasticity after cochlear implantation', Cerebral Cortex, vol. 35, no. 4, bhaf084. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaf084

Esmaelpoor, J, Peng, T, Jelfs, B, Mao, D, Shader, MJ & McKay, CM 2025, 'Dynamic functional connectivity following cochlear implantation: Predicting speech outcomes and exploring brain network dynamics', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 122, no. 51, e2505086122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2505086122

Wu, K, Jelfs, B, Neville, K, Mahmoud, SS, He, W & Fang, Q 2024, 'Dynamic Reconfiguration of Brain Functional Network in Stroke', IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics . https://doi.org/10.1109/JBHI.2024.3371097

Esmaelpoor, J, Peng, T, Jelfs, B, Mao, D, Shader, MJ & McKay, CM 2024, 'Resting-State Functional Connectivity Predicts Cochlear-Implant Speech Outcomes', Ear and Hearing. https://doi.org/10.1097/AUD.0000000000001564

Conference contribution

Hilton, M, Jelfs, B, Martorella, M, Moran, B & Gilliam, C 2025, Cooperative Sensor Scheduling for Long Term Planning. in Proceedings of the 2025 28th International Conference on Information Fusion, FUSION 2025. International Conference on Information Fusion (FUSION), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 1-8, 28th International Conference on Information Fusion, FUSION 2025, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, 7/07/25. https://doi.org/10.23919/FUSION65864.2025.11123932

Gilliam, C, Amjad, B, Hilton, M, Pike, S, Barr, J, Kenyon, A, Perree, N, Martorella, M, Moran, B & Jelfs, B 2025, Multi-Objective Continuous Sensor Scheduling for Long Horizon Path Planning. in 2025 IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop (SSP)., 11073418, IEEE/SP Workshop on Statistical Signal Processing (SSP), IEEE, 2025 IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop (SSP), 8/06/25. https://doi.org/10.1109/SSP64130.2025.11073418

Choy, CS, Fang, Q, Neville, K & Jelfs, B 2024, The Metaverse for Stroke Motor Rehabilitation^∗. in 2023 IEEE Engineering Informatics., 10520376, Engineering Informatics, IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2023 IEEE Conference on Engineering Informatics, EI 2023, Melbourne, Australia, 22/11/23. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEEECONF58110.2023.10520376

Esmaelpoor, J, Peng, T, Jelfs, B, Shader, MJ, McKay, CM & Mao, D 2023, Brain Functional Connectivity Networks do not Return to Resting-state During Control Trials in Block Design Experiments. in 2023 45th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC)., 10340143, IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC40787.2023.10340143

Wu, K, Fang, Q, Neville, K & Jelfs, B 2023, Evaluation of Module Dynamics in Functional Brain Networks After Stroke. in 2023 45th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC)., 10340633, IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC40787.2023.10340633

Choy, CS, Ye, Z, Huang, Z, Zheng, Q, Fang, Q, Mahmoud, SS, Neville, K & Jelfs, B 2023, Motor Imagery Observed by fNIRS. in 2023 IEEE 19th International Conference on Body Sensor Networks (BSN)., 10331069, IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/BSN58485.2023.10331069

Preprint

Kirkpatrick, O, Ozafrain, S, Gilliam, C & Jelfs, B 2026 'MIMO Array Calibration in Non-stationary Channels with Residual Surfaces and Slepian Spherical Harmonics' arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2601.11741

Esmaelpoor, J, Peng, T, Jelfs, B, Mao, D, Shader, MJ & McKay, CM 2024 'Resting-state Functional Connectivity Predicts Cochlear-Implant Speech Outcomes' medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.30.24301908

Wu, K, Jelfs, B, Neville, K, He, W & Fang, Q 2023 'Dynamic Reconfiguration of Brain Functional Network in Stroke' arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2306.15209

Review article

Wu, K, Jelfs, B, Neville, K, Cai, A & Fang, Q 2024, 'FMRI-Based Static and Dynamic Functional Connectivity Analysis for Post-Stroke Motor Dysfunction Patient: A Review', IEEE Access, vol. 12, pp. 133067-133085. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3445580

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