Tagged / technology

Epidural simulator wins Institution of Engineering and Technology Innovation Award

BU research, Research news

A medical device developed by Bournemouth University (BU) and Poole Hospital to make epidural injections safer and more effective has received a prestigious innovation award.
 
The epidural simulator uses software to predict where a patient’s epidural space will be, and helps doctors electronically measure the loss of pressure that occurs when they reach the space, to prevent errors.
 
The project won the Information Technology category at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Innovation Awards, which received more than 400 entries from over 30 countries.
Dr Venky Dubey, PhD student Neil Vaughan, and awards host and former Apprentice winner Tim Campbell.

L-R: Dr Venky Dubey, PhD student Neil Vaughan, and awards host and former Apprentice winner Tim Campbell.

“We knew that our project is unique as it blends engineering expertise and knowledge of clinicians directly dealing with the problems in their day to day care,” said Dr Venky Dubey, Associate Professor in Research at BU, who is leading the epidural simulator project alongside PhD student Neil Vaughan and Dr Michael Wee and Dr Richard Isaacs from Poole Hospital.
 
“We have done this several times in the past, competing with international institutions of repute like MIT and Harvard, but what is unbelievable this time is that we have won it against giant companies vying for this coveted award.
 
“Honestly, we are shocked to have won this award. It’s like winning a Technological Oscar for our hard work”.  
 
He added: “This clearly shows that there is a technology gap in patient care for epidurals and the associated safety issues. This award recognises our innovative approach that has the potential to reduce patient injury and improve training experience of anaesthetists.”
 
The IET Innovation Awards celebrate the best innovations in science, technology and engineering. The ceremony took place at The Brewery, in London last week.
 
The judging panel for the Information Technology category, in which the epidural simulator was named winner, said: “The standard for the IT Category is always high and this year was no exception. The 2013 winning entry provides an innovative training solution to teach the epidural procedure to medical practitioners.”

Find out more about the Technology and Design research theme

Research themes, Uncategorized

Renewable Technology cross-School events were held during last academic year (January 2013 and Feb 2013), these were well attended. Presentations were led by academics and Local Government Representatives including from Poole Borough Council. Additional meetings took place in the area of medical engineering in collaboration with local Health Trusts with excellent attendance cross school and the medical professions. Internal cross school meetings were also organised in the area of creative design and design business. During BU’s Festival of Learning a number of public engagement events were held in June 2013. These events provided a networking opportunity for public engagement, local/regional businesses, government, community and local council representatives, academics and researchers. This included a “question time” activity, one day course in sustainable design and “let’s take pride in design and engineering”  In addition the theme exhibited with cross-school academics at the GovToday Carbon Reduction 2012 event in November 2012 at London and delivered a master class. Attendees included representatives from relevant government departments, agencies and other public sector organisations.

Future plans include international networking and extending our public engagement activities at the next BU Festival in 2014. In addition we will develop initiatives around the computing/engineering interface. This will include autonomous systems, robotics and intelligent manufacturing. 

 

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    Do you have a smart idea for using technology at BU?

    Funding opportunities

    If you’re looking for rapid project funding, pitch your idea on a new JISC website and receive feedback from your peers.

    The JISC Elevator is a new beta platform for people to pitch ideas for projects up to £10,000 using video and short descriptions.

    Once an idea has been submitted to the site, people working and studying in UK higher and further education will be able to vote if they like the idea.

    When an idea receives the target number of votes then JISC will decide whether or not to fund the idea.

    Andrew McGregor, who is managing the JISC Elevator, said: “JISC’s remit is to fund cutting edge innovation – so we hope that by creating a different platform for bidding we’ll be able to capture the brainwaves of many more people in colleges and universities, perhaps people who haven’t previously bid for JISC funds.  The voting mechanisms on the Elevator will also allow us to respond directly to what’s important for people in further and higher education.”

    The JISC Elevator is open to all kinds of ideas, with suggestions including:

    • Innovate with e-books
    • Start a student led project
    • Open a can of worms – propose a technical project that starts a big conversation in your institution
    • Use gaming principles to improve research or teaching processes
    • Apply work previously funded by JISC to your own situation
    • Create online services to help students make decisions about university
    • Develop cloud solutions to account for and monitor cloud security

    For details on what kinds of idea JISC are looking for please see the submission criteria.

    Successful projects will be notified in April and expected to complete by the end of July 2012.

    Visit the JISC Elevator

    Find out about our other funding opportunities

    Give your feedback on the JISC Elevator

     

    Fancy working in Brazil?

    EU

     Science without Borders is a Brazilian scholarship programme which aims to provide mobility opportunities between Brazil and Europe, for undergraduates, postgraduates, postdoctoral and senior research fellows in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

    The programme aims to:

    • Increase the presence of Brazilian students, scientists and industry personnel in international institutions of excellence;
    • Attract young investigators and internationally recognised research leaders to Brazil to work with local researchers in joint projects; and
    • Encourage the internationalisation of universities and research centres in Brazil through international partnerships.

    There are a number of ways of getting involved:

    1. Host Brazilian undergraduates and postgraduates – with a view to start hosting for the 2012/13 academic year. A bilateral agreement between the UK and Brazil has been signed, Universities UK (UUK) is the UK partner organisation.
    2. Apply for a research grant to work in Brazil:
    3. Young post-doctoral researchers can apply under the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme for a two to three year long research project in Brazil;
    4. Science leaders can apply under the ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants that will fund joint projects with research groups in Brazil and fund work in Brazil for up to three months every year.

     
    2012 call deadlines for the ‘Attraction of Talented Youth’ programme and ‘Special Visiting Researcher’ grants are 15 February, 4 June and 1 October.

    EU funding relevant to Health and Media

    EU

    National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism – Economic Research on Incentives for Efficient use of Preventive Services: This R01 funding opportunity announcement solicits applications for economic research on the role of incentive arrangements in promoting efficient use of preventive services and interventions, specifically considering both costs and health outcomes. NIH intends to commit approximately $1.6 million in fiscal year 2012 to fund approximately four awards. Application budgets are not limited, but need to reflect actual needs of the proposed project for the maximum project period of five years. Deadline 15.11.11

    Healthy Ageing: Funding is available for innovative policies to support healthy, active and dignified ageing and raise the effectiveness and efficiency of spending on social, health and long-term care services and benefits. Deadline 26.09.11

    ESF-LiU Travel Grants for Conference on Images & Visualisation – Imaging Technology, Truth and Trust: The conference, to be held from 17 to 21 September 2012 in Scandic Linköping Vast, Sweden, will bring together experts from across the natural and social science with curators, artists, producers and users of images based on advanced visual engineering, in order to explore challenges at the interface between science and visual art. Grants are available to cover conference fees and possible part travel costs for students and early stage researchers. Deadline 06.06.12

    Culture Programme: The Culture Programme has been established to enhance the cultural area shared by Europeans, which is based on a common cultural heritage, through the development of cooperation activities among cultural operators from eligible countries, with a view to encouraging the emergence of European citizenship. The Programme is aimed at three specific objectives: promotion of the trans-national mobility of people working in the cultural sector; support for the trans-national circulation of cultural and artistic works and products; and promotion of inter-cultural dialogue. The Programme has a flexible, interdisciplinary approach and is focused on the needs expressed by cultural operators during the public consultations leading up to its design. Deadlines are: 15.09.11, 05.10.11, 16.11.11, 03.02.12, 03.05.12

    Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy Challenge: Report from Horizon 2020 Stakeholder Workshop

    EU

    The EU’s proposed Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation will run from 2014-2020, replacing FP7. Over the coming months, the EC is preparing the proposals for the Programme and as part of this, holding stakeholder workshops on the proposed ‘societal challenges’ of Horizon 2020.  The discussion focused around these questions:

    Are there new and emerging  areas in addition to those identified in the EU’s Strategic Energy Technology Plan that should be supported? It was agreed that a systematic approach will be used when analysing the future development of energy technologies, taking into account EU energy and climate policies and ways to enhance Europe’s global competitiveness. The Challenge should cover the whole innovation cycle (basic research, applied research, demonstration and market introduction) and more support is needed for energy storage, renewable heating and cooling, marine energy, geothermal energy and materials. 

    How can research, demonstration and innovation targeting energy efficiency be reinforced and how can ICT contribute most effectively? It was agreed that better coverage of the energy efficiency deployment chain, work on risk management and research combining technology, market and social aspects of energy systems were seen as important. ICT is important to support smart grids, energy efficient buildings and neighbourhoods. European research can be made more attractive to industry through measures related to ‘technology push’ and ‘demand pull’. Having a stable environment in Europe, in terms of policy objectives, regulation and support, was seen as important. European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) could be a possible way forward. The need to optimise the interaction between EU and national programmes was also emphasised, for example through Joint Programming.

     A summary report of the stakeholder workshop on the ‘Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy Challenge’ has been published.

    Consultation on Developing the Strategic Innovation Agenda for Innovation & Technology

    EU

    A stakeholder consultation as part of the process to develop the Strategic Innovation Agenda (SIA) for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is being held.  This is an important consultation as it will be the main opportunity for the research and innovation community to shape the future of the EIT. It sets out a number of key questions covering the overall core objectives, potential themes for future Knowledge Innovation Communities and the criteria on which these should be selected. The consultation will close on 30 June 2011 and it will be possible to either answer the online questionnaire or submit separate position papers covering the main issues covered in the questions. Website on EIT consultation

    iNets South West – Environmental (Bristol)

    Research news

    Environmental Technology Roadmap Initiative

    Friday 13 May, 9am-4pm, Viridor Room, SS Great Britain, Bristol

    What is a Technology Roadmap?

    A Technology Roadmap is a plan that matches your short-term and long-term goals with specific technology solutions to help meet those goals. This plan applies to new products, processes, and emerging technologies. Developing a roadmap has three major benefits.

      • It helps reach a consensus about a set of needs and the technologies required to satisfy those needs
      • It provides a forum to help forecast technology developments in the sector
      • It provides a network to help plan and coordinate technology developments 

    Who should attend?

    Businesses who want to develop new products, processes, technologies or expertise in the following sectors:

    • Renewable Energy
    • Sustainable Transport
    • Waste Management
    • Sustainable Construction

    Why should I attend?

    Be part of an open innovation community and identify many opportunities for business growth
    Opportunity to understand the technology needs of businesses in your sector group
    Opportunity to acquire knowledge from local universities and establish a collaborative relationship
    Develop on-going relationships with similar communities across the UK, Europe and beyond

    Participate in collaborative Research and Development projects in the UK and Europe (possible funding)

    This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of an ongoing business community where businesses can influence the universities and wider knowledge base on the technology required to drive the environmental industry forward.

    Places are limited for this event, so register early to ensure your place by clicking here