Institution news
The Awards showcase the work of students and recent graduates in the wide field of bioengineering. Prizes were awarded by a panel of BMEA Board members and industrial partners for poster and podium presentations.
Poster presentations kicked off the event. The top prizes, sponsored by Vicon, were awarded to two Imperial College London graduates, Kieron Athwal in the PhD category and Marlene Pinzi in the mixed Undergraduate/MSc category. Robert Wescott (University College London), Deniz Ucan (Queen Mary London) and Esfandiar Khaleghi (Stanford University) were the runners up.
Alice Siyuan Zou from Queen Mary University, London, won the Vicon Prize for Best Medical Engineering Undergraduate Project for her study on the effect of ageing on the viscoelastic properties of tendon fascicles. Arturo José Mendoza Meinhardt, also from Queen Mary University, London, and Ilias Konstantinou, Imperial College London, also presented their work and won prizes.
DePuy sponsored the Prize for Best Biomedical Engineering PhD Project. This was won by Richard Van Arkel from Imperial College London for his investigation of the biomechanics of ligaments and muscles in hip motions while Mahsa Shahi Avadi, University of Leeds, and Samantha Simons, University of Surrey, were the runners up.
Helen Meese, Head of Healthcare at IMechE, presented an overview on the role of engineering in healthcare today.
Prof. Anthony Bull, Head of Bioengineering at Imperial College London closed the day with the annual Prestige Lecture. His address focused on the many applications of mechanical engineering to healthcare with a strong emphasis on the interdisciplinary collaboration needed to move research forward.