The Biomedical Engineering theme was derived from the Engineering for Clinical Practice initiative and was initially supported in part by the Evelyn Trust Lectureship in Engineering for Clinical Practice, which was established in 2008. The Evelyn Trust lecturer worked at the interface between engineering and medicine and aimed to encourage others into this active and rewarding field.
The Engineering for Clinical Practice initiative broadly covers the following activities:
- maintaining knowledge of areas of research within the Engineering Department that might be relevant to current clinical problems
- maintaining knowledge of hospital processes and potential problems that could benefit from a collaboration with Engineering
- providing assistance to engineering researchers with required NHS paperwork, such as NHS Research and Development forms and Ethics Committee forms
- advising medical staff on Engineering funding and Engineering Department staff on the possibilities of funding from medical sources
- facilitating joint licensing and commercial exploitation of research results by maintaining contact with Cambridge Enterprise and the appropriate NHS Innovation Hubs
- introducing researchers in engineering to clinicians who may be able to apply technical innovations in a clinical context
- running interdisciplinary workshops to support research and technology transfer
- liaising with other relevant initiatives to enable joint activities and collaborative research
- new and relevant research opportunities for staff in the Engineering Department
- new tools for clinicians at the Hospital, leading to better outcomes for patients
- income to both institutions from the commercial exploitation of research results
- involvement of staff from the Clinical School as investigators on new types of collaborative research projects
- enrichment of the engineering undergraduate course through the increased exploration of clinical applications