Author: dhudson4

Project Title: Foot skin hydration: Quantification, Interpretation, and Opportunities for Modification.

Project details: The foot skin is a common location for dry skin to occur. This can quickly lead to pain and disability, particularly in vulnerable patient groups. Little data is available on the hydration of the foot skin, how this is linked to the physical behaviour of the skin, and how this may be modified by topical applicants. The purpose of my work is to contribute to this knowledge base by collecting data on the composition of foot skin and how this relates to skin characteristics, including hydration and physical behaviour.

Supervisor:

Professor Chris Nester

Co-supervisors:

Dr Farina Hashmi, Dr Carina Price, Dr Dan Parker

External Co-supervisor:

Dr Marc Masen (ICL)

Hobbies and interests:

Outside of my work, I like to keep myself very busy. I work at a local pub, I volunteer with Manchester Village Angels,  I indulge in long-distance running, and I play rugby for Trafford MV. I have also recently joined the local chess club, at which I am yet to win a single game!

University of Strathclyde

Supervisor – Dr Andrew Kerr

Interest area – Stroke Rehabilitation

Working project title – “Observable gait patterns in acute post-Stroke as indicators of future rehabilitation potential.”

Bio – I graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 2013 with a BSc(Hons) in Prosthetics and Orthotics. Since graduating I have worked with Peacocks Medical Group as an Orthotist, first on the south coast and more recently in West Yorkshire. Clinical involvement and interaction with the service users is of great importance to me and I try my best to keep the user at the centre of all I do. Alongside my own research I have been involved in helping to facilitate the running of the new Strathclyde Stroke Rehabilitation gym which has been quite a success so far.

Outside of Uni I enjoy a range of activities including sewing, costume making (cosplay), hiking, camping and musical theatre. I am very much enjoying the local dry ski slope in Glasgow and being a member of the Strathclyde ski society has helped me add (very beginner) snowboarding to my activity list.

Supervisor: Arjan Buis, Olga Bylya

Title: Evaluating and optimising prosthetic liners for people with transtibial amputation

Current work:

• Prosthetic liner material characterisation under loading conditions representative of in-vivo use
• Investigating how effectivly prosthetic liner materials reduce peak pressures and pressure gradients under loading conditions representative of in-vivo use
• Exploring new liner/body socket interface designs

Title: Monitoring of Orthosis Use for Hand Osteoarthritis

Supervisor: Dr Angela Kedgely

Devi is a PhD student in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London enrolled in the EPSRC CDT in Prosthetics and Orthotics programme. Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint condition that leads to progressive pain and reduced mobility. Consequently, those living with hand OA often find it difficult to perform activities of daily living. Affecting the majority of over 80s and a third of postmenopausal women, this condition is a burden to many in society. There’s currently no known cure, but orthoses are a non-invasive and inexpensive treatment option often used for symptom relief. When investigating the effectiveness of orthotic treatment, patient compliance is usually monitored using patient diaries. This can be subjective as it’s been found that patients can overestimate their levels of compliance. If patients do not wear an orthosis as instructed, the desired anatomical impact will not be achieved, and the orthosis will simply not work as intended. Therefore, Devi’s PhD project is on the monitoring of orthosis use for hand osteoarthritis. Prior to joining Imperial College London, Devi completed her MEng (Hons) degree in Biomedical Engineering at King’s College London. Devi’s hobbies and interests include art, music and reading.

Name: Kirstie M. Devin

University: University of Southampton

Year of Study: Year 3

Background: Masters in Mechanical Engineering (MEng)

Hobbies/Interests: Reading, gaming, Sharks, MCU

Project Title: Intelligent Body Interface for Lower-Limb Prosthetics

Project Description: This project involves computational and experimental research to assess the dynamic interactions at the residuum/socket interface, upon which a novel body interface will be designed and evaluated.

Supervisors: Professor Liudi Jiang (Primary), Dr. Andrew R. Hamilton (Secondary), Clinical Advisors: Dr. Maggie Kate Donovan-Hall (Internal), Dr. Dan Parker (External)

Title: Exploring Social Enterprise for Sustainability of Prosthetic and Orthotic Service in Cambodia

Supervisory Team: Prof. Malcolm Granat,Dr. Cathy Ure, Dr. Cheryl Metcalf, Mr. Carson Harte

Sisary Kheng has been involved in the education of prosthetists/orthotists, CBR and clinical service management since 2001. Sisary has obtained the following qualifications: Diploma in Health Personnel Education from the University of Health Science, Cambodia; Diploma in Prosthetics and Orthotics from CSPO, Cambodia; Degree in Prosthetics and Orthotics from La Trobe University, Australia; MSc in Rehabilitation Studies from the University of Strathclyde, UK.​

She has travelled and visited more than 20 countries for her professional interaction in the field of prosthetic and orthotic for both education and clinical service.​

Areas of special interest to Sisary are education, inclusive development, and research.

My hobbies are cooking, traveling, and adventure.

My PhD title: Human-machine interfacing using ultrasound for upper limb prosthetic control. 

State-of-the-art upper limb prosthetic control methods measure the electrical signals propagating through the muscle using sensors on the surface of the skin, and translate these into motion. This has issues due to the low spatial resolution, low penetration, and complicated relationship between signal and intended hand motion. Given the high spatial resolution and high penetration of ultrasound, my project focusses on how we can use ultrasound to analyse the mechanics of residuum limb muscle and directly infer motion that way. 

Institute: Imperial College London

Supervisors: Professor Dario Farina, Professor Mengxing Tang

Hobbies: My main hobby (and the main way I spend my time) is cooking – I’m vegan and a huge lover of food/cooking/making up recipes. I’m getting a kitten in December and calling her Miso as a testament to my love for miso, it definitely features in over 80% of things I cook. I also like lino printing and spend a lot of time on that!