Engaging the public with biomechanical engineering – researcher coffee morning series
13 April 2023
A postgraduate researcher from the University of Southampton’s School of Engineering is researching how patients and public contributors could work with biomechanical engineers to design tools that might improve quality of life for people affected by osteoarthritis of the hand.
Tinashe Munyebvu shared information about her PhD project entitled ‘Human and biomechanical considerations of hand joint disease’ during one of the People in Health West of England’s researcher coffee mornings. She spoke to public contributors about the value of public involvement in the design and delivery of biomechanical engineering research.
Biomechanical engineers analyse how joints and muscles work. They look at both individual muscle and joint function as well as assessing how these elements work together. Researchers then apply this knowledge, among others, to orthopaedics, prosthetics and orthotics.
Tinashe’s PhD project aims to evaluate how patient and public involvement and engagement could be incorporated in biomechanical engineering research projects. Her work focuses on a condition called osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint condition which can affect any joint in your body, including the hand. It affects movement and function, which has an impact on the daily life of a patient. In 2013 more than 1.5 million people in the UK needed treatment for hand or wrist osteoarthritis.
Tinashe Munyebvu, PhD student, said:
“Firstly, I’m interested in seeing what impact public involvement and engagement have on the design, implementation and dissemination of research findings. My second aim is to create guidelines that could be applied by other engineers working on different health conditions.”
Watch the full session here:
This talk was part of our regular researcher coffee mornings, where members of the public can hear about local research projects and give researchers feedback on their work. Coffee mornings are informal and designed to give researchers and public contributors a chance to interact. Public contributors are encouraged to ask questions, learn about, and get involved in projects in their area.
Coffee mornings will usually take place on Thursdays between 10.00-11.00am.