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Schemes for Engineers in Research and Development
Global Research Awards: Profiles
Dr Venketesh Dubey - Bournemouth University
Design of a Gravity-balancing Upper-arm Orthosis
for Older People.
The last couple of years have
seen Dr Dubey travel to the University of Delaware
in the US to research the design of gravity
balancing orthosis for older people. Being a senior
lecturer with teaching commitments Dr Dubey opted to
split his time overseas into two 6 months periods
over the summer breaks.
“The Award has great
flexibility and allowed me to continue with my
teaching commitments without the University having
to hire a replacement. Of course the University’s
support was by no means small but this Award has
significantly contributed to the new structure of
our academically led university”.
The Award also allows support
for accompanying family members, which Dr Dubey says
is unique to this scheme, and gave his family a
chance for a new experience that would not have been
possible otherwise.
The research Dr Dubey
undertook during his 12 month secondment has
resulted in a patent application, two conference
papers and two journal articles.
“This would not have been
possible without the support from The Academy which
allowed me to concentrate on research without
teaching or family worries”.
When Dr Dubey returned from
his first 6 month visit in 2007, he organised a
highly successful conference; International
Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics in Holland,
which brought together specialists working in
robotic rehabilitation.
“The conference was a
meeting point for specialists working in this field
and created a fantastic networking opportunity for
UK- and internationally-based engineers”.
 A strong collaboration has
been forged between the groups, with several visits
by his US colleagues being planned. In addition, the
groups are submitting an international grant
application in order to fund future collaborative
research projects. The project has generated
significant interest amongst clinicians and
industry, with the commercial development of his
research a very real possibility.
“It was a fantastic
experience and exposed me to new technologies which
are not available here in the UK. The main point was
that this was a new research venture and both myself
and my colleagues in Delaware are very keen to
continue with the research”.
Dr Venketesh N Dubey MEng (Hons.), PhD, CEng,
MIET
Senior Lecturer in Engineering Design
School of Design, Engineering & Computing
Bournemouth University
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