Bionics+ will implement a comprehensive equality, diversity, and inclusion panel to guide and shepherd network activities. Membership will include representation across academia, industry, patient users and healthcare. The panel will identify main areas where policies and initiatives can be established and enhanced to support underrepresented groups within the network including policies to address inequalities relating to gender, race, sexuality and mental and physical disabilities. Good practices will be shared, disseminated and implemented across the network.
From the outset we will look at engaging Bionics+ with the relevant Policy Makers in order to create a means whereby accurate and meaningful advice on bionics can be channelled. Two of the co-investigators (RO and HD) are clinicians with direct liaisons to NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence). They will work closely with the network members to ensure that the inception, codesign and development of future bionics technologies are in line with current, and inform future, guidelines.
We aspire to nurture a new generation of research leaders across the spectrum of bionics. Therefore, we will create a virtual Academy to bring together potential PhD students and supervisors from different universities, industry and clinics. The working principles of the Academy will be: 1) Accelerated capacity building via vertical integration and 2) Horizon scanning and research agility. Leveraging on other funding sources, e.g., CDT, DTA, iCASE and industry studentships, the Academy will deliver a sizeable part of the research in bionics, via our doctoral students as a rapid innovation incubator. The benefits of the Academy will be cascaded out across the sector through the development and delivery of flexible and accessible online training and CPD suitable to evolving needs in the field, within and across discipline, as well as workshops and seminars/webinars.