Earlier this month, a group of undergraduate students were invited to attend the first Conference of Medical and Biological Engineering (CMBEBIH) 2015 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ricky Moseley (Mechanical Engineering) takes up the story of their trip…

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It must be said that at 3am on Thursday 12th March, a day when so many of the team had deadlines, sat delirious in a chilly, dimly lit Pool Meadow bus station with a nine hour journey on the horizon, that the thought had briefly crossed my mind whether the added value of the trip would be reflective of the effort put in.

The team, all weary eyed from deadlines, begin their journey from Coventry to Sarajevo

Some months earlier we had been contacted through the teams Facebook page with an invite to attend the first conference being held in Bosnia and Herzegovina's history on biomedical engineering, CMBEBIH 2015. It would be decided that it would provide a perfect platform for the team to spread our message to a country looking to make biomedical engineering a leading research stream, as well as gain feedback on our project from the wider academic community and our peers. After sourcing sponsorship from the School of Engineering, the Science and Technology for Health GRP and the Innovative Manufacture GRP, we began the preparation of the logistics and material required to professionally represent our project, the University and the UK.

Upon arriving in Sarajevo however, having experienced the wonderful hospitality of the incredibly friendly members of the organising committee and with a stomach full of ćevapi, the team were fully looking forward to running our workshop. And what a success that would turn out to be. After attending the opening ceremony and first round of student workshops on Friday, Saturday was our chance to show off what we’d been working on for the past 5 months. After delivering a measured and carefully considered presentation confidently the team’s demonstrations were swamped by those attending, all of whom gave resoundingly positive feedback.

Conference attendees, all eager to get hands on, gathered around the team’s prototypes to the point you can’t even make us out.

The team had proven our flexibility by adapting the message of our work to a new audience, presented our ideas in a culturally intelligent and adaptive way improving our communication skills and raised the profile of our brand. It was a fantastic experience to meet with other cultures to share knowledge and I know the team all developed personally as a result. We hope to have highlighted to Bosnian students the importance of outreach and inspired them to conduct their own. Moreover we hope next year’s team will build upon the foundations we’ve laid and attend CMBEBIH 2016 with an even stronger promotion of outreach and its importance.

More photos can be found at this link by liking our page (photo album CMBEBIH 2015):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.612309552246885.1073741835.528959573915217&type=3

The team in front of the Sebilj in Baščaršija square

The team ready to present our workshop at the Medical Faculty of the University of Sarajevo