Dr Davide Piaggio, Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick, has been elected as Councilor and appointed Secretary General of the European Alliance of Medical and Biological Engineering and Science (EAMBES). He will align these new roles with his ongoing work at the IFMBE, BMEI, and the Society and Culture Spotlight.
Prof Leandro Pecchia, Full Professor at the University of Warwick and University Campus Biomedico of Rome, already with a rich history of leadership roles in EAMBES, was elected as Vice President.

ABSPIE Lab participated in the EPIG (European Parliament Interest Group) event, which focused on revisions to the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) to address regulatory bottlenecks. Key themes included medical innovation, sustainability, digital transformation (EHDS and AI), and patient safety, emphasizing the sector’s impact with 2 million technologies, 37,000 companies (90% SMEs), and 880,000 jobs. The event echoed the message: "No health, no wealth; no medical technologies, no healthcare."

The 7th East Africa Regional Healthcare Engineering Conference (EARC) 2024 in Mwanza, Tanzania, brought together scholars and professionals to address critical challenges in biomedical engineering. Representing a collaborative international team, our intern Mr Ernest Bwogi presented research on oxygen concentrator failures in low-resource settings, exploring the impact of dust and humidity. The experience was transformative, offering valuable feedback, inspiring discussions, and fostering meaningful connections. This milestone highlighted the importance of collaboration, persistence, and knowledge-sharing in driving innovation.

Dr. Davide Piaggio from the University of Warwick played a key role in the "IoT and AI for Frugal Innovation 2024" bootcamp, hosted by Università Campus Bio-Medico of Rome. Dr. Piaggio, along with PhD student James Wallace, led sessions on frugal innovation, 3D printing design, and blood pressure estimation using PPG signals. The bootcamp, supported by the Biomedical Engineering Institute and the Society & Culture Spotlight, provided students with hands-on learning in resource-constrained environments, with special recognition for scholarship recipient Dr. Gamal Abdulnaser Yahya Al-Kawsi.

The fourth-year MEng group, supervised by Dr Davide Piaggio, has just been awarded the School of Engineering Group Innovation Award for their project on a device for screening for and monitoring neurodegeneration in the elderly, for which they scored a high first class.

"This project was initially proposed by one of the students, Ben Hoskings, and I decided to embark on the adventure of supervising my first fourth-year project. Since when I met the team, I had no doubt in their skills and I thought that this could really go somewhere. We have now applied for the Eutopia PhD Co-tutelle with VUB, to see whether we can take this forward. Congratulations to all the awardees, it was a pleasure working with you!" Davide Piaggio