Trinity Centre for Bioengineering Researchers Receive Awards at this year’s Bioengineering in Ireland Conference

Posted on: 01 February 2013

The 19th Annual Conference of the Bioengineering Section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI) took place recently. The aim of the conference is to promote bioengineering in its many facets by bringing together the clinical, engineering and scientific communities thus providing a platform for new and advanced researchers alike. The programme for this year’s gathering featured over 100 presentations with papers delivered on a broad spectrum of research  currently conducted in the Irish Higher Education sector including Biomaterials, Cardiovascular Biomechanics and Devices, Orthopaedic Biomechanics and Devices, Tissue Engineering and Neural Engineering.

This multidisciplinary research event brought together over 180 leading biomedical engineers and scientists covering a broad range of clinical engineering issues. Dr Daniel Kelly, Director of the Trinity Centre for Bioengineering (TCBE), chaired this year’s extremely successful event. The event was preceded by a Medical Device Industry-Academia workshop that was co-chaired by Dr. Kelly and Dr. Bruce Murphy. 

Professor Richard Reilly from Trinity College Dublin delivered the Samuel Haughton lecture for which he received the RAMI silver medal. In addition Professor Robert Mauck, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor Damien Lacroix, of the University of Sheffield presented plenary lectures. The conference was also host to the Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal competition, sponsored by Boston Scientific, won by PhD student Stefaan Vergruggen (NUI Galway) for making a significant contribution to the field of biomedical engineering research.

The RAMI Bronze medal was awarded to Caroline Curtin (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and TCBE) for the best overall paper. A number of PhD students from the TCBE also received prizes, including Eamon Sheehy (Best Presentation – Tissue Engineering), Alanna Gannon (Best Presentation – General Bioengineering) and Amy Lynch who received the Depuy Plate for the best young student presentation and poster. Tanya Levingstone (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and TCBE) won the Established Researcher award.