Institute of Healthcare Engineering Workshop Awards
Our workshop award scheme promotes interdisciplinary collaboration across UCL and our partner hospitals, by bringing together new consortia to develop novel research approaches
and technologies.
Interdisciplinary approaches to frugal innovation - 3 October 2018
Prof Prashant Jha, lifelong frugal innovator, shared his expertise in developing innovative medical technologies using simple, affordable and efficient methods. The workshop helped attendees replicate this frugal approach in their own research.
Read more: Visit from India helps UCL scientists to nurture frugal mindset in research
UK Nerve Engineering Network Meeting - 5 November 2018
We supported the UCL Centre for Nerve Engineering in hosting the UK Nerve Engineering Network Meeting. Nerve engineers, clinicians and industry representatives from across the UK descended on UCL to learn more about collaborative opportunities in this space.
Making Research Interactive - 21 January 2019
Events and festivals are a popular way of opening up research to the public by breaking down research concepts and starting new discussions through engaging methods. However, it can be difficult finding the best activities to convey your research.
We held a hands-on workshop with Dan Plane, a science communicator at the Royal Institution, to help our researchers develop their own interactive public activities.
Read more: Public engagement workshop with Dan Plane: ‘Making Research Interactive’
IHE/IPLS Workshop: Applying physics and engineering to fight cancer - 30 January 2019
Tumours are notoriously heterogeneous and therefore difficult to treat.
This workshop set out to establish a community of researchers who are working to map this heterogeneity. Prof Roger Kamm, a world-renowned expert on the mechanics of cancer, joined us from MIT.
We also funded a PhD studentship stemming from this event.
Read more: Prof Roger Kamm, MIT, visits UCL for cancer workshop & colloquium
UCL Respiratory Workshop - 13 February 2019
At this CMIC-hosted workshop, our researchers explored the most pressing clinical challenges affecting the lungs and how engineering could provide solutions.
Preclinical Fibrosis Workshop - 14 February 2019
Lung fibrosis is a deadly disease that occurs when lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred.
We supported this workshop directed at UCL researchers who work with pre-clinical models of lung fibrosis. The group discussed ways of using new imaging and computational techniques to see and quantify microstructural lung damage.
Healthy Ageing Symposium - 15 February 2019
Thanks to advances in healthcare, people in the UK are living longer than ever before.
An ageing population brings new challenges. People in later life can struggle with deteriorating health, loneliness and difficulty accessing services. Society needs to adapt to meet older people’s needs and provide them with a better quality of life.
This was the premise of our ‘Healthy Ageing Symposium’ - bringing together around 180 academics, industry leaders and charity representatives, the event aimed to address the challenges of ageing healthily.
The UK Government has made tackling this challenge a priority. They are looking to invest up to £98 million in research for the development of products and services that support people as they get older.
This event provided an opportunity for attendees from different backgrounds to mix and come up with strong ideas to carry forward. Strategic follow-up sessions took place to ensure that connections from the symposium generate real-world impact.
Read more: Healthy Ageing Symposium - living better for longer
IDDSI Congress: Improving life for dysphagia patients - 18 February 2019
Dysphagia – the medical term for swallowing problems – affects almost 600 million people worldwide.
People with dysphagia and their carers need a safe, reliable way to test whether food is safe for them to eat, otherwise they risk choking.
Based on UCL healthcare engineering research, the IDDSI (International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative) organisation has developed a standardised way of testing and categorising different foods.
We supported the IDDSI Congress – a full-day conference for healthcare professionals, caterers, industry representatives, carers and patients to learn more about the IDDSI framework.
IHE/CVD Hub: Clinicians' challenge to engineers in cardiovascular health - 28 March 2019
This workshop brought together engineers and clinicians in cardiovascular health from QMUL’s Cardiovascular Devices Hub (CVD Hub), the IHE and our partner hospitals. The focus was on finding engineering solutions to real clinical challenges.
Innovation Workshop: Measuring outcomes in childhood movement disorders - 31 May 2019
Objectively measuring the effectiveness of interventions for children with movement disorders is difficult for many reasons including a lack of useable measures, group diversity, difficulties with communication and complexity in their condition.
This event explored the development of innovative technologies for the management of paediatric movement disorders. The day consisted of short talks from leading experts and interactive sessions. The workshop concluded by developing a joint action plan to advance this field.
The workshop was organised by UCL, the Global Disability Innovation Hub and NIHR Children and Young People’s MedTech Co-operative - a national organisation committed to developing paediatric medical technology in health areas with high disease burden and clear unmet needs.
IHE/IoO Workshop: Engineering solutions to ophthalmology's clinical challenges - 2 June 2019
Alongside the Institute of Ophthalmology (IoO), we hosted a workshop to bring ophthalmologists, scientists and healthcare engineers together to explore healthcare challenges that could be solved through the application of engineering technologies. We awarded two fully-funded PhD studentships for projects that arose from this workshop.
Centre for Longitudinal Studies: Large-scale surveys and technology innovation - 25 June 2019
This event by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) brought together industry and academics to explore best practice and innovation in data collection.
Institute of Making: Manufacturing in healthcare - 22 July 2019
This event by the Institute of Making brought together industry and academics to explore challenges and opportunities in healthcare manufacturing, and identify areas for collaboration.
