European conference meeting design and health head-on

A project that looks at how design can combat motor neurone disease is just one of the highlights of a major conference that returns to the University in July 2013.

Head Up, a project from the Lab4Living team at the University, is one of the feature exhibits at this year’s Design4Health conference, which aims to explore creative approaches to improving the efficiency of health and wellbeing services and products.

The team won an i4i (Invention for Innovation) research bid from the NIHR with partners from Devices for Dignity and Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience to develop a new neck collar for people with neck muscle weakness, with a focus on supporting those with Motor Neurone Disease.

University designers are currently building 30 neck braces ahead of a 10-month testing period.

This year's conference will also feature a day for businesses to get advice from the University's design, engineering and health teams, while exhibits include stockings modelled on human bacteria and an installation looking at obesity and over-consumption.

Lab4Living’s Paul Chamberlain said: “It is widely recognised there is an urgent need to radically transform the way we deliver healthcare service in response to an ageing society.

 “Innovation has been cited as key in the challenge to improve quality whilst facing the demands of restricted funding.

"Design can play a key role in supporting and developing creative approaches and in adopting and diffusing innovative healthcare products and services.

“But design effectiveness, in terms of economic benefits, enhancing patient and healthcare practitioner experience, has to be more explicit and Design4Health 2013 will provide a forum for debate around ‘evidence based’ design.”

The day for businesses, on Thursday 4 July, will allow attendees to access a range of expertise drawn from across the University’s design, health and engineering disciplines.

There will also be an opportunity to get a free 30-minute consultancy session with experts through Design4Health Connect sessions, ideal for businesses that have an idea or challenge and need additional input.

And the conference will also feature a 24-hour Design Challenge, an opportunity to collaborate on design projects with people who live with Cystic Fibrosis and Motor Neurone Disease and their carers.

 The event runs through the night and features a race against the clock to meet the challenges of collaborative design head-on. It will be facilitated by Julia Cassim, Visiting Senior Research Fellow of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art.

The Design4Health conference, first staged in 2011, runs in the University's Cantor Building from 3-5 July. For more information visit www.design4health.org.uk

For press information: contact Laurie Harvey in the Sheffield Hallam University press office on 0114 225 2621 or email laurie.harvey@shu.ac.uk