̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - James Moultrie

Teaching celebrated across the ̽��ֱ��

ta385 — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 23:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��winners include a veterinary anaesthetist praised for developing an acclaimed Clinical Skills Centre, a pioneer of interdisciplinary Gender Studies programmes, and a Classicist as passionate about outreach as Ovid.

While the prizes reveal the diversity of teaching at Cambridge, certain themes emerge, in particular a focus on the individual student, the value of research-led teaching, the continuing importance of one-to-one teaching, innovation in teaching practice, interdisciplinary approaches, and above all, dedication to students.

̽��ֱ��Pilkington Prizes were initiated by Sir Alastair Pilkington – graduate of Trinity College, engineer, businessman and the first Chairman of the Cambridge Foundation – who passionately believed that teaching excellence was crucial to Cambridge’s future success.

̽��ֱ��Pilkington Prizes are organised by ̽��ֱ��Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning, which supports staff by providing training, developing networks, hosting events and encouraging and funding innovation. ̽��ֱ��Centre also provides a focus for strategic priorities within Cambridge and for engaging with national and international developments in higher education.

New films about teaching at Cambridge

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� has produced a series of films about five of this year’s Pilkington Prize winners. These films go behind the scenes to show Cambridge teaching in action as well as inviting winners to explain their passion for teaching and reveal some of their trade secrets. ̽��ֱ��films feature Lecturer in German Thought, Martin Ruehl; Physics Lecturer Lisa Jardine-Wright; Sociologist Mónica Moreno Figueroa; Zoologist Andrew Balmford; and Design Engineer James Moultrie. Watch the films.

Dr Martin Ruehl said:

"I was an undergraduate here myself so I want to give back some of what I received. I had a number of very charismatic teachers who inspired me back then. I think the trick is always to find something that’s growing out of your own research."

Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright said:

"It is only when you start teaching a subject that you really start to understand it and all of its nuances. ̽��ֱ��most important thing for me is that my students are willing to make mistakes, and learn from them."

This year’s winners in full are:

Dr Anthony Ashton (Department of Mathematics)
Dr Jackie Brearley (Department of Veterinary Medicine)
Dr Jude Browne (Department of Politics and International Studies)
Dr Menna Clatworthy (School of Clinical Medicine)
Dr Richard Davies (School of Clinical Medicine)
Dr Ingo Gildenhard (Faculty of Classics)
Dr Nigel Kettley (Institute of Continuing Education)
Professor Jochen Runde (Judge Business School)
Dr Martin Ruehl (Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages)
Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright (Department of Physics)
Dr Mónica Moreno Figueroa (Department of Sociology)
Professor Andrew Balmford (Department of Zoology)
Dr James Moultrie (Department of Engineering)

Read more about the 2017 Pilkington Prize winners here.

Thirteen Cambridge academics have been recognised for their outstanding teaching in the ̽��ֱ��'s Pilkington Prizes.

"I was an undergraduate here myself so I want to give back some of what I received. I think the trick is always to find something that’s growing out of your own research."

Dr Martin Ruehl, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages

Teaching celebrated across the ̽��ֱ��

Dr Martin Ruehl, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Commercialising medical device innovation

amb206 — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:30:52 +0000

Biotechnology and healthcare developments require huge financial and resource investment, in-depth research and clinical trials. Consequently, these developments involve a complex multidisciplinary structure, which is inherently full of risks and uncertainty. Jon Johnson, a researcher in the Institute for Manufacturing, is looking at the process by which medical devices are taken from early concept through to commercialisation, including technology confidence, early testing, investment implications, and regulatory compliance.

̽��ֱ��feasibility stage of medical device design is critical, and there is currently little guidance for practitioners to navigate this inherently complex set of activities. In a similar fashion to high-tech industries, the medical sector has huge incentives to increase development efficiency, reduce time to market and increase profits. ̽��ֱ��medical industry has unique requirements, including extensive science and technology management, considerable testing, clinical trials and regulatory control. When addressing scientific and technical innovation within this industry, it is critical to have a clear understanding of the clinical need, market potential and technical risks.

A major challenge lies in the process of determining technical feasibility without demonstrating preliminary function and early test data. These requirements mean that the development of medical devices is often extremely expensive, with project schedules taking between four and ten years. There is genuine pressure on industry to reduce these costs and improve time to market by reducing the inherent risks at the feasibility stage of development. Therefore it is necessary to gain confidence within the technology as soon as possible and preferably before investing excessively.

Johnson is particularly interested in the early stages of medical device development – the early feasibility studies which determine whether a technology is viable years down the line – and how designers, engineers and scientists work closely with medical practitioners, healthcare providers and patients. He believes that this stage offers the biggest potential to test concept viability, establish whether the technology will function sufficiently, meet critical user needs, identify genuine health benefits and determine regulatory viability.

“According to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), a vast majority of investigational products never make it through clinical approval and market adoption. This failure represents a huge loss of time and investment,” said Johnson.

What is needed is better evaluation at the early stages of development. In order to understand how a product makes the journey from first concept to commercial adoption, Johnson has been working with eight leading medical organisations to track this complex process. ̽��ֱ��output from this study includes an original approach by which companies can better analyse, manage and measure the success of early technology innovation within the healthcare sector. Such studies would also improve regulatory viability, provide significant cost savings and maximise benefits to the healthcare industry.

Jon Johnson is a PhD candidate in the Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge. He is supervised by Dr James Moultrie.

New medical devices take a long time to reach the market – and many never make it. Jon Johnson, a researcher at Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing, is looking at ways of making the process of commercialisation more efficient.

According to the FDA, a vast majority of investigational products never make it through clinical approval and market adoption.

Jon Johnson

Institute for Manufacturing

Medical technology in action

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̽��ֱ��hidden power of moss

amb206 — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:03:47 +0000

Moss is regarded as a menace by gardeners who seek to eradicate it from their lawns. Now researchers all over the world are exploring how moss, algae and plants could be used as a source of renewable energy in the future.

A team of designers and scientists at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� will be exhibiting a novel moss table at the London Design Festival later this week. ̽��ֱ��prototype table will showcase an emerging technology called biophotovoltaics (BPV) which uses the natural process of photosynthesis to generate electrical energy.

Featuring biological fuel cells made from moss, the table has been created as a vision of the future by Alex Driver and Carlos Peralta from Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing and Paolo Bombelli from the ̽��ֱ��’s Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology Department.

Still at early stages, BPV has the potential to power small devices such as digital clocks. Low cost BPV devices may become competitive alternatives to conventional renewable technologies such as bio-fuels in the next ten years.

̽��ֱ��appeal of BPV lies in its ability to harness a natural process that takes place all around us. Photosynthesis occurs when plants convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into organic compounds using energy from sunlight. Plants use these organic compounds – carbohydrates, proteins and lipids – to grow.

When the moss photosynthesises it releases some of these organic compounds into the soil which contains symbiotic bacteria. ̽��ֱ��bacteria break down the compounds, which they need to survive, liberating by-products that include electrons. ̽��ֱ��table designed by the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� team captures these electrons to produce an electrical current.

̽��ֱ��table is based on research into biophotovoltaics funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This pioneering work involves collaboration between the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Plant Sciences at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��, and the Chemistry Department at Bath ̽��ֱ��. ̽��ֱ��research is led jointly byDr Adrain Fisher, Professor Christopher Howe and Professor Alison Smith at Cambridge, and Dr Petra Cameron at Bath.

Carlos Peralta said: “ ̽��ֱ��moss table provides us with a vision of the future. It suggests a world in which self-sustaining organic-synthetic hybrid objects surround us, and supply us with our daily needs in a clean and environmentally friendly manner.”

Looking into the future, possible applications for BPV include solar panels, power stations and generators. Currently at concept stage, these are envisaged as sustainable solutions to pressing problems across the world – including the growing need for energy and fresh water from vulnerable communities.

“A modular system of biological solar panels would be mounted on to the roof of a building to supply it with a portion of its energy requirements,” explained Alex Driver “A biophotovoltaic power station would comprise giant algae-coated lily-pads floating on the surface of the ocean near the coastline, generating energy for local communities. A biophotovoltaic generator would feature algae solar collectors mounted on floating buoys and anchored just offshore to generate energy and harvest desalinated water, which is a waste product of one of the chemical reactions occurring in the device.”

̽��ֱ��Cambridge team emphasised that the technology was at very early stages. “It will be a long time before a product powered by this technology will be commercially available,” said Dr James Moutrie, Head of the Design Management Group at the Institute for Manufacturing. “ ̽��ֱ��table we are exhibiting this week demonstrates the ways in which designers can play a valuable role in early stage scientific research by identifying commercial potential and is one of the outcomes from our Design in Science research project.”

Scientists at Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� are exhibiting a prototype table that demonstrates how biological fuel cells can harness energy from plants.

̽��ֱ��moss table provides us with a vision of the future. It suggests a world in which self-sustaining organic-synthetic hybrid objects surround us, and supply us with our daily needs in a clean and environmentally friendly manner.

Carlos Peralta

Institute for Manufacturing, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

Close-up of the moss pots incorporated into a novel table developed at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.

Yes