Thirty engineering, medical and biomedical engineering undergraduate students from across Europe have been designing next generation medical devices at the Trinity Centre for BioEngineering at Trinity College Dublin as part of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine (ESEM) Summer School.

This is the second year for this unique European summer school, organised in collaboration with eight leading universities in biomedical engineering and medicine. The eight universities include Trinity College Dublin, the University of Groningen, Ghent University, Brno University of Technology, Czech Technical University in Prague, RWTH University Aachen, University of Applied Sciences Regensburg, and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

“Current healthcare challenges, such as the ageing of Europe’s population as well as big killers such as cardiovascular disease, require multidisciplinary approaches for diagnosis and treatment. The focus therefore of this unique summer school is to establish a platform of cooperation between medicine and engineering across Europe starting at an undergraduate level,“ explained Professor Richard Reilly, Director of the Trinity Centre of BioEngineering and organiser of the Summer School.

With different working cultures and educational backgrounds, the aim of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine Summer School at Trinity College has been to teach students how to work together efficiently by getting small groups to design new, novel medical devices targeting specific medical and clinical problems.

To have the educational basis to undertake this challenge, the students are taking courses delivered by 15 leading Professors of Biomedical Engineering and Medicine, who also join the students at Trinity College. The medical students are instructed in bioengineering methods (materials science, mathematics, biomechanics, signals and systems) necessary to successfully work in biomedical engineering while engineering students are instructed in anatomy and physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Both groups of students are taught design methodologies for furthering their understanding and capability to understand, analyse and successfully conceptualise innovative medical device concepts using a multidisciplinary team approach.

“There are currently over 11,000 medical technology companies in Europe, exporting €65 billion worth of products annually and employing 500,000 people. It is critical that we can demonstrate to these students that engineering innovation and creative design can meet the challenges in healthcare, continue the growth of medical device sector and the delivery of the best medical care possible,” concluded Professor Reilly.