Bionics Plus Sandpit 2022

We are excited to announce our first Sandpit for the Bionics+ network. This will be our first opportunity to really push the boundaries of our work, a chance to create real cross-disciplinary collaborations that will explore and develop novel ideas.

The future of Bionics is exciting, challenging, and boundless, and our Bionics+ network is ideally placed to lead the World in its ideas, thinking, research, and solutions, and so we invite you to apply for a place on this forthcoming Sandpit to come and invent the future.

Attending the sandpit will provide you with the opportunity to perhaps meet new people in this field and try something new or different – sandpits allow for the creation of different and exciting projects.

The remit of the Bionics+ Network is across multiple application areas and cross-cutting capabilities – bear these in mind when attending the sandpit, we really do wish to push the boundaries.

This Sandpit will consist of a 2 hour online session, followed by a full day face-to-face event. Participants must attend both sessions, and will be expected to also make time to develop their final project proposal after the event, in advance of a final proposal presentation.

Key dates are:

  • Online orientation session (2 hrs) – Afternoon of Thursday 19th May
  • Face-to-face sandpit – all day on campus (University of Warwick, Coventry), Monday 23rd May
  • Final proposal presentations – Monday 6th June

Places at this exciting event are limited. Successful applicants will come with an open mind to meet new colleagues, create new ideas, and make new collaborations.

Please save the date and apply ASAP if you would like to be a part of this – click below to apply. (Note that you will be responsible for funding your own travel to the face-to-face meeting in Coventry.)

Apply here

Meet the team: The Bioengineering Inaugural Lecture of Professor Rylie Green

Professor Rylie Green delivers her inaugural lecture detailing her career in polymer bioelectronics. 

Evolution of a cyborg: Bionic eyes, ears, spines and brains.
The cyborg – part human and part machine – is a science fiction construct that has been realised across recent decades, with increasing numbers of devices being used to improve the quality of life for millions of people globally.

Prof Rylie Green, imperial college london

Date for your diary:

Wednesday 18th May, 17:30 BST.

If you would like to attend, just follow the link below:

Bioengineering Inaugural Lecture: Professor Rylie Green (newsweaver.com)

Announcing our EDI Advisory Group

The new EDI advisory group is taking shape with currently five members including Helen Dawes, Maria Feijoo Reñones, and Drs Nada Yousif, Mae Mansoubi,  Amit Narahar Pujari and Leen Jabban. We are currently writing our Terms of Reference.  The group plans to meet 6 times a year and take an active role in embedding our EDI vision within the Bionics+ network. Our early activities include creating an EDI checklist for the network activities,  writing guidance for research in Bionics and for our funding streams. We look forward to welcoming new members and updating the network in the next newsletter.

If anyone wishes to get involved then please still do contact Maria Feijoo Reñones and let us know.

Helen and the team

Special Session at EMBC2022, Glasgow – 11-15 July 2022

We would like to announce that we will be hosting a Special Session on the Bionics+ network at this year’s annual EMBC conference that will be taking place in Glasgow, UK. We hope to see you at the conference as this will provide you with an opportunity to meet the team and to discuss areas of interest and concern in the Bionics filed. We will also be having a presence at the conference in the form of an exhibition stand, so please do stop by to say hello if you are there.

We do hope we will see you there, please feel free to contact Prof James if you want any more details about this conference or our Special Session.

Reminder: Call for Funding

Remember that we have our first open call for funding which is open to all eligible network members (make sure you are registered as a network member so that you are able to apply – use the contact us form on our webpages to do so). This call covers three specific funding streams which are listed next. Please read carefully and contact us if you have any queries or wish to apply.

Funding Areas

  1. RADA training: Each year, we will sponsor a number of network members to attend a relevant training workshop of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). We don’t wish to proscribe the eligible courses, just take a look here to see what RADA offer. We of course have limited funds and can only fund a small number of members each year – so make a reasonable and compelling case: we will read all applications sent carefully. Total Budget Available £8,000
  1. Public Engagement Projects: Each year, we will sponsor a number small scale public engagement projects within the Bionics field and other related STEM activities broadly. Example activities could be the creation of Bionics related videos, animations & high-quality illustrations, or demos of specific aspects of research within the Bionics remit. In assessing these applications we will consider how appropriate a project is for public engagement, as well as cost-effectiveness. Total Budget available: £6,000
  1. Research Exchange Visits: Each year, we will fund two National & one International research exchange visits of PhD students and/or ECRs to facilitate the initiation of new collaborations and help researchers to acquire new skills that are not available in their home institution. Note that this funding is exclusive to PhD students and ECRs and you will be required to state your career stage in your application. Funding will be allocated to partially cover receipted travel and accommodation expenses. You will be required to make up any shortfall between actual expenses and the amount we can offer. Total Budget available: £6,500

You can apply at any time by going here filling out the requisite form and submitting it to us. All funding decisions will be made during the quarterly meetings of the Steering Group – which includes the executive group as well as EPSRC representation. We will follow all the rules and regulations stipulated by EPSRC when allocating funding and we expected those funded to abide by these similar rules. A short report will be expected upon completion of the project/ trip by each awardee. We welcome applicants from the UK from all backgrounds – some calls may be limited to early career researchers by design but this will be made clear in the call.

Bionics+: 1st funding call

We are happy to announce our first open call for funding which is open to all eligible network members (make sure you are registered as a network member so that you are able to apply – use the contact us form on our webpages to do so). This call covers three specific funding streams which are listed next. Please read carefully and contact us if you have any queries or wish to apply.

Funding Areas

  1. RADA training: Each year, we will sponsor a number of network members to attend a relevant training workshop of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). We don’t wish to proscribe the eligible courses, just take a look here to see what RADA offer. We of course have limited funds and can only fund a small number of members each year – so make a reasonable and compelling case: we will read all applications sent carefully. Budget Available £8,000
  1. Public Engagement Projects: Each year, we will sponsor a number small scale public engagement projects within the Bionics field and other related STEM activities broadly. Example activities could be the creation of Bionics related videos, animations & high-quality illustrations, or demos of specific aspects of research within the Bionics remit. In assessing these applications we will consider how appropriate a project is for public engagement, as well as cost-effectiveness. Budget available: £6,000
  1. Research Exchange Visits: Each year, we will fund two National & one International research exchange visits of PhD students and/or ECRs to facilitate the initiation of new collaborations and help researchers to acquire new skills that are not available in their home institution. Note that this funding is exclusive to PhD students and ECRs and you will be required to state your career stage in your application. Funding will be allocated to partially cover receipted travel and accommodation expenses. You will be required to make up any shortfall between actual expenses and the amount we can offer. Budget available: £6,500

In order to apply for any of these funding schemes you can apply at any time by submitting an email to our Network Manger Ms Richards, she will then supply you with a relevant form to submit to us. All funding decisions will be made during the quarterly meetings of the Steering Group – which includes the executive group as well as EPSRC representation. We will follow all the rules and regulations stipulated by EPSRC when allocating funding and we expected those funded to abide by these similar rules. A short report will be expected upon completion of the project/ trip by each awardee. We welcome applicants from the UK from all backgrounds – some calls may be limited to early career researchers by design but this will be made clear in the call.

Meet the team: Dr Kia Nazarpour

In the next few newsletters, we will be highlighting members of the Bionics+ team, and their work, this month we start with Kia.

I am Kia Nazarpour. I am an academic with the University of Edinburgh. I hold an EPSRC Healthcare Technology Challenge Award. My research is motivated by the potential of bionic technologies to make a real difference in the quality of life of people with sensorimotor impairment. I am a true advocate for engaging all stakeholders in the research and translation of medical technology to ensure the end products are fit-for-purpose. More information about my research in prosthetic limbs can be found in this link:

Innovating to Empower

Restoring and Extending the Human Brain, 12-13 May 2022

This event at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA, may be of interest to you.

This in-person two day event will include five sessions with topics including: Noninvasive Neuromodulation, Translational Neuroengineering, Decoding & Modulation of Human Language, Functional Imaging, and From Neuroscience to Neurotech.

Keynote Speaker: Ed Boyden (MIT McGovern Institute)

by Rice University Neuroengineering Initiative

Dates for your calendar:

  • Thursday 12th May, 2022 from 8:00 AM
  • Friday 13th May, 2022 to 6:00 PM

If you would like to know more about the conference please follow this link:

If you would like to submit an abstract or a poster, then just follow this link:

The submission period is from 1st February to 1st April 2022.

The 44th Annual Intl. Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Glasgow, 11-15 July, 2022

This year the annual EMBC conference will be taking place in Glasgow, UK – where our very own Prof. Christopher James will be the Conference Chair. This conference is themed:

“Biomedical Engineering transforming the provision of healthcare: promoting wellness through personalized & predictable provision at the point of care”.

The scientific tracks will cover the standard topics of the EMBS technical committees with an additional topic, consistent with the conference theme. Alongside the scientific sessions, there will be an exhibition comprising biomedical engineering companies, publishers, SMEs, start-ups, funded biomedical research, and Biomedical Engineering programs, Institutes, and Universities. The conference will provide networking opportunities for engineers, clinicians, scientists, and entrepreneurs, as well as for students and young professionals. The conference program consists of mini-symposia, workshops, invited sessions, oral and e-poster sessions, sessions for students and young professionals, and sessions for clinicians and entrepreneurs

EPSRC Bionics+ will be organising a Special Session on the network to both introduce the network to a wider audience, as well as to start discussions around areas of interest and other such “hot topics”.

We do hope we will see you there, please feel free to contact Prof James if you want any ore details about this conference.

EDI advisory group

We are looking to start  our EDI advisory group and are still looking for committee members. If you would like to be part of the EDI committee then please get in touch. We are planning to have our first meeting in the next few months . We will let everyone know the date and place, and where it will be held. During our first meeting we will discuss and form our terms of reference and our strategy for the network.

The University of Exeter has a great EDI calendar that we are sharing here (it is in three formats including PDF).

EDI Calendar | Equality, Diversity and Inclusion | University of Exeter

Prof Helen Dawes, the University of Exeter.

The University of Exeter aims to create an inclusive environment. The EDI Calendar gives everyone within the University community easy access to information on important religious, cultural, international and health-related events throughout the year. Our University community is diverse and it is the responsibility of everyone to ensure that all staff, students and visitors feel welcomed and respected.