Dr Nicola Hancock has been successful in a competitive application to participate in the prestigious Design Leadership Programme which is an opportunity to follow designing processes and have input from an industrial design expert into the development of a novel device to enhance recovery of motor function after stroke.
An ABIRA team, comprised of Dr Nicola Hancock, Prof Valerie Pomeroy, Dr Niamh Kennedy and Dr Celia Clarke, have secured one of six places on the Design Leadership Programme run by the Design Council. This work has been supported by a successful application to the UEA Proof of Concept fund; in which the team were awarded the maximum award of £15,000. After a competitive process, the team have selected a Design Agency to produce a design for the new prototype. Consultation with service users and therapists will begin very soon.
Nicola Hancock said: “Winning a place on the Design Leadership Programme provides us with an opportunity to take the lessons learned from the feasibility work on our original upright pedalling device (U-Ped1) and apply them to the development of a new prototype, with expert Design Council and Design Agency input. This is a very exciting Programme with the potential to support an important research-enterprise development for the team in collaboration with leading design experts, service users and therapy staff”.
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