The University of Strathclyde is training a new generation of engineers and physical scientists to design medical devices and health technologies, working directly with clinicians and industry partners. This matters because the UK’s 3,000 medical technology companies—employing nearly 64,000 people with a combined annual turnover of £15 billion—need researchers who can bridge the gap between laboratory science and real-world clinical use. The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) addresses a persistent bottleneck: translating engineering breakthroughs into devices that actually help patients, from drug delivery systems and cardiovascular implants to brain-machine interfaces and telehealth tools. If successful, this CDT will produce research leaders who can accelerate the development of new diagnostics, prosthetics, and surgical technologies. The impact is tangible: better wound care, more effective orthopaedic implants, and smarter sensors for monitoring chronic conditions at home. By strengthening international links with Europe, the US, and emerging research centres in the Middle East and Far East, the programme also aims to keep the UK competitive in a high-growth global sector. The students themselves will be supported by the Strathclyde Institute of Medical Devices to ensure their work reaches industry, the NHS, and ultimately patients.
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EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Medical Devices and Health Technologies (MD&HT) at the University of Strathclyde. This CDT will address the themes (1) Engineering for Life and Health and (2) Healthcare Device Innovation within the current call. It will seek to be distinguished and internationally recognised for its industrial connectivity, innovation in devices and health technologies, and for the production of skilled researchers and research leaders of tomorrow through research at the clinical and industrial interface. This proposal aims to increase the momentum of the existing CDT moving in to an enhanced phase in 2014-2018 with particular strengthening of international networks and EU interfaces, while still providing a high quality opportunity for engineers and physical scientists to receive a full research training at the Life Sciences Interface (LSI) of high relevance to the sector. The new CDT will have increased global reach into Europe, the USA and the fast growing research activities in the sector in the Middle East and Far East through the PI and CIs' international research activities. This CDT addresses the EPSRC's Delivery Plan for Strategy and will deliver international excellence in a sector of importance to the UK, promoting state of the art knowledge, skills and capabilities in MD&HT while generating leading edge research between the disciplines of Medicine, Science and Engineering. Our established partnerships with the NHS and other clinical providers in the UK and abroad will continue to be the clinical foundation for our work. The cohort and student-centred approach for the CDT we propose will provide an active and stimulated peer community for the researchers we will train and develop. Importantly the students will be given support from Strathclyde Institute of Medical Devices (SIMD) to nurture their awareness of the impact of their research and help them deliver impact of benefit to industry, clinicians and patients. The new Healthcare Technologies challenge theme looks across the entire EPSRC research and training portfolio, providing solutions that underpin the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector, including the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries and the NHS. In addition the EPSRC theme Engineering for Life and Health states "In a healthcare agenda calling for prolonging independent living and the personalisation/stratification of care, there is opportunity for innovation from the engineering community, but successful translation requires early collaboration across industry, academia and the NHS". This CDT will deliver to that agenda through its clinical and industrial interfaces, research excellence and impact pathways. MD&HT covers a critical, high-value research and jobs sector in the UK that underpins a medical industry with global reach. In 2011 there were over 3,000 medical technology companies in the UK with a combined annual turnover of £15bn. These companies employ almost 64,000 people in the UK mainly with professional qualifications and this is identified as a strong sector with high growth prospects in UK Government Strength and Opportunities Report 2011 1 for the sector. The spread of the sector across disease types and medical conditions includes MD&HT in categories such as; single use devices ; wound care ; orthopaedics, cardiovascular devices and diagnostics as well as others. This wide scope drives the need for multidisciplinarity in research, a wide base in training and excellent clinical interfaces for relevant research and development. The subthemes for MD&HT projects ( from our core Strathclyde research strengths) are; Drug Delivery ,Bioimaging, Medical Diagnostics, Cardiovascular Devices, , Cell & Tissue Engineering , Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation Technologies, , Microdevices & Sensors , Biomaterials, Brain Machine Interfaces and Neuroprosthetics, , Bionanotechnology, Biomolecular Gels, Medical Photonics, Devices for Telehealth
Bernard Conway (Co-Investigator)Duncan Graham (Co-Investigator)Iain Hunter (Co-Investigator)Keith Mathieson (Co-Investigator)Philip Winn (Co-Investigator)Rein Ulijn (Co-Investigator)Richard A. Black (Co-Investigator)
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