Engineering for health

We are applying the latest research in medical engineering to push the boundaries in areas where pioneering engineering innovation has the potential to transform patient care.

We are developing new approaches to medical image analysis to deliver new insights into a patient's condition and improve radiotherapy and other treatments. Through a better understanding of soft tissue mechanics, we are developing new systems for drug delivery and improving protective equipment to reduce the risk of injury or infection.

We use advanced analytical tools to monitor patients pre-and post- orthopaedic surgery, assess the impact of arthritis and ultimately improve lives. We impact surgical processes through the creation of training, simulation and navigation tools and new surgical instruments that allow quicker healing and improved recovery.

We aim to combine expertise from the fields of biomechanics, medical physics, medical electronics and high-frequency communications engineering, to deliver improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness, from the investigation of treatments for osteoarthritis and advanced electronic diagnostics, to developing new sensors for use in medical devices, microneedles for drug delivery, antimicrobial materials and PPE.

We collaborate closely with several partners in industry and the National Health Service, including Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, National Imaging Academy Wales, Velindre University NHS Trust and the Wales Research and Diagnostic PET Imaging Centre. Our Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research facility provides a clinical gait analysis service.

We also collaborate with a number of research groups within Cardiff University, including the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, research groups in Biosciences, Healthcare Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, Advanced Research Computing at Cardiff, the Centre for Trials Research – Cancer, and the Visual Computing Group.

Specialist expertise

Our researchers have specialist expertise in:

human motion analysis and orthopaedic biomechanics
soft tissue mechanics
trauma biomechanics
novel diagnostic imaging and personalised treatments techniques
advanced medical image and signal processing methods
medical informatics
health and sports monitoring
novel microwave sensor and diagnostic technologies.

Recent highlights and investments

Our new Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Research Facility provides the latest research access to patients and clinicians and will expand our research into osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal biomechanics.

The Biomechanics and Bioengineering Research Centre Versus Arthritis is a unique collaboration between the Schools of Engineering, Healthcare Sciences, Medicine, Biosciences, Pharmacy and Dentistry to understand the development of arthritis and develop new treatments.

Our Medical Engineering Research Group has secured £1.2M EPSRC Osteoarthritis Technologies Network+ (OATECH+) funding, which aims to drive multidisciplinary collaborations in UK osteoarthritis research to ultimately improve diagnosis and treatment of osteoarthritis.

The Magnetics and Materials Research Group has secured a research award from the National Institute of Health Research to generate hand therapy devices for an inherited life-limiting condition.

Through CEDAR Healthcare Technology Research Centre, an NHS-academic evaluation centre which is based in Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board (UHB) and funded through the School, our researchers evaluate e-medical devices and diagnostics.

Researchers at the Centre for High Frequency Engineering Research Group are working on transformational technologies to develop artificial cells to help understand the function of proteins, as well as microwave-enabled, non-invasive blood glucose sensors.