果冻影院

The symposium was a showcase of excellence in healthcare engineering across 果冻影院 and an opportunity for old and new members of our community to connect.听

This year, we aimed for a departure from the traditional format of back-to-back talks. We wanted to capture the diversity of 果冻影院鈥檚 healthcare engineering community through a mix of panel discussions, live research demonstrations and stories from people with lived experience. The event was grouped into three sessions based on our Institute鈥檚 key values: collaboration, innovation and translation.听

We began with an introduction by Prof David Price (果冻影院 Vice-Provost, Research) and Prof Becky Shipley (Director, Institute of Healthcare Engineering) who spoke about 果冻影院 and the Institute鈥檚 commitment to interdisciplinarity, and why this is essential for impactful research.听

鈥�鈥淭his symposium is an opportunity to look back over the last year and celebrate our new initiatives, but also to look forward to the upcoming challenges and opportunities in healthcare engineering鈥� - Prof Becky Shipley, Director, Institute of Healthcare Engineering

Collaboration

As a demonstration of what interdisciplinary collaboration looks like in practice, we heard from engineers and clinicians who work together successfully. Adrien Desjardins (果冻影院 Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering) and Malcolm Finlay (Consultant Electrophysiologist at Barts Heart Centre) spoke about their work to improve minimally-invasive surgical tools.听

Malcolm said, 鈥渢he real clinical need can be hidden from clinicians, and an engineering solution can be hidden from engineers. It can be hard when we鈥檙e busy thinking about treating the next patient to think about the tool we really need!鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e had a collaboration where I鈥檝e been able to use some of my engineering knowledge, and Adrien鈥檚 been able to use some of his healthcare knowledge to really understand one another, and come up with solutions that are going to help people鈥�.

We then heard from two of the Institute鈥檚 deputy directors, Prof Ann Blandford (Deputy Director, Digital), and Prof Elizabeth Murray (Deputy Director, Clinical). They shared how they initially struggled to communicate in each other鈥檚 technical language but found a way to work effectively together.听

鈥淲e were using the same words, but we meant completely different things by them. Sometimes we used different words but meant exactly the same thing!鈥� 听said Elizabeth.

鈥�鈥淐ollaboration is really important to what we do, but it can be really difficult. You need a very strong clinical and patient voice to articulate what the problems are, and you need the engineering perspective to see how technology can be used鈥�.

In this session, there was a strong focus on the culture within healthcare engineering (and academia as a whole), and particularly why improving research culture leads to improved research outcomes. This segment is part of our ADAPT to Thrive initiative, in collaboration with the Academic Careers Office in SLMS. Throughout the year, we鈥檝e been focusing on shifting perceptions of failure in the academic community.听

Prof Clare Elwell (right) and Dr Ivana Drobjnak shared their personal stories of setbacks and rejection in academia

We heard from early-career researchers and senior academics about moments where they鈥檝e 鈥榝ailed鈥� and why we should view our setbacks as learning opportunities, rather than personal shortcomings.听

Dr Cathy Holloway (Director of the Global Disability Innovation Hub) spoke about global collaboration in the context of her wheelchair access project in India, and also, effecting wider accessibility change.

She described the challenges that come with operating in a new environment: 鈥淧olitically, it鈥檚 very difficult when you鈥檙e working globally. Sometimes you鈥檙e met with people saying 鈥榃ho are you coming in here, telling us what to do?鈥�

Cathy and her team have been working with non-government organisations and ministries of health to help countries understand what evidence they need to inform their policy on assistive technologies.听

鈥淏uilding that level of trust and confidence in each other has taken a long time but we鈥檝e managed to get there鈥�.听

Global collaboration is a core priority for the Institute. We work with a wide range of international institutions and partners (including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Indian Institute of Technology), and we are looking to expand the work we do in this area.

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Research demonstrations

That morning we were also听visited by Chris Skidmore, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation and representatives from Engineering UK who we have been working with on an outreach campaign for Tomorrow鈥檚 Engineers Week. The minister met with Prof Becky Shipley and her team, who demonstrated their creating virtual simulations of cancerous tumours. The team exhibited this work in July at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition and are committed to increasing public engagement in research.

Left to right: Dr Hilary Leevers (CEO, Engineering UK), Rt Hon Chris Skidmore and Prof Becky Shipley

As well as the REANIMATE team, we had lunchtime demonstrations from colleagues at (focusing on digital health) and the (demonstrating work to improve surgical tools).

Dr Claire Walsh gives the audience a taste of the REANIMATE research demonstration

Innovation

Developing technology to enable healthy ageing is a national (and international) priority. In the afternoon session, we held a panel discussion on this important topic and asked the group what engineers can do to support an ageing society.听

We heard how life events like our childhood education and our built surroundings have a significant effect on the way we age, and our experience as older people.听

Dr Mine Orlu (果冻影院 School of Pharmacy) had an optimistic outlook on growing older, saying 鈥渢here鈥檚 never been a better time age鈥� but acknowledging we need to reframe the way we look at older life.听

Healthy ageing panel听left to right: Prof Danny Alexander,听Dr Evangelia Chrysikou,听Dr Sergi Costafreda Gonzalez, Prof Ann Blandford

Translation

After another panel discussion on spin-out companies, the day ended on a powerful note, as we heard about the strong impact 果冻影院 research has had on people鈥檚 lives.

Dr Sue Pringle is the mother of Marchant Barron, a 23-year-old man with dystonic cerebral palsy. She described the challenges of finding technology that lets Marchant move independently while giving him the physical support he needs. She read out Marchant鈥檚 words:

鈥�鈥淲hen I was five-years-old I thought I was stupid. Other children had worked out how to walk but I couldn鈥檛. I needed to move, I dreamt of running鈥�.

鈥淚鈥檝e broken many chairs and chairs have broken me. Torn my skin, bent my bones, warped my muscles. Somehow I鈥檝e learnt to tolerate it. Chairs define what I do鈥�.听

Sue and her husband are both scientists, and when Marchant was little they customised and created their own mobility chairs for Marchant. Now, as he鈥檚 an adult, finding a chair which works for him has become more difficult.

Sue and Marchant are now working with Dr Tim Adlam (Global Disability Innovation Hub) to create a solution. Tim specialises in creating technology for people with movement disorders, so they can explore their full capability. He said, 鈥渨e learn to move, but we also move to learn鈥�.

Sue and Tim鈥檚 talk was a reminder about what our ultimate focus always needs to be 鈥� not technology for technology鈥檚 sake, but technologies that transform lives across the globe.听

Related links:
果冻影院 hosts minister as part of Tomorrow鈥檚 Engineer Week
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