29 - 30

Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge XIV

Name: Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge XIV
Start: 2023-11-29T09:00:00
Location: Bristol Watershed

Bristol Watershed, Bristol

29 November 2023 - 30 November 2023
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View the Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge XIV Flash Poster Presentations pre-event!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqsai3fnPH2HUh-Gz2JH82iEAcGUkhzum

Overview

The 14th biennial Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge conference aims to inform, encourage and inspire those keen to improve technology for diagnosing, treating, or managing urinary or faecal incontinence.

Previous iterations have been highly multidisciplinary, with delegates typically comprising ~50% research and development colleagues in industry; ~15% clinicians; ~15% academic researchers; ~10% colleagues from government and not-for-profit organisations; and ~10% people who live with incontinence. A diverse range of speakers and attendees has given rise to rich and stimulating discussion, collaboration across sectors and ultimately improvements for those using continence products and caregivers.

This year, the conference programme will be themed sessions of presentations, posters, workshops and a product user panel.

Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge XIV programme update

The programme for our Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge conference is making good progress and we’d like to share some highlights with you which feature an exciting and timely mix of multidisciplinary topics:

Lived experience: Highlighting the needs of continence product users is a key aim of the conference:

Margaret Macaulay (Southampton University) and Jacq Emkes (patient advocate) will invite a panel of UK product users to share their experiences of their misbehaving bladders and / or bowels, explain how they manage the challenges, describe what does – and doesn’t - work well for them, and highlight unmet needs. You’ll also have the chance to ask your own questions.
We will complement this with recorded interviews from product users in other countries, to give an international perspective

Keynote lectures: We have asked a number of keynote speakers to inform, challenge and inspire us, confirmed speakers to date include:

Lessons from Origami
Origami - the art of paper folding - has been used for millennia to produce intriguing and decorative artifacts, but in recent years it also has inspired novel design approaches for such items as deployable space arrays, foldable safety barriers and expandable surgical devices. Are there any lessons here for incontinence technology? Might principles imbedded in origami suggest ways of enabling a product to flip easily between one configuration optimized for ease of deployment, and another designed to optimize its function when in place? How best can you fold planar sheets of material to achieve close and comfortable fits to curved body surfaces? In this presentation, Spencer Magleby – a professor of mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University, Utah, USA - will draw on examples of origami-inspired designs from a diversity of fields to provoke fresh thinking among the designers of incontinence technology among us.

Incontinence products in nursing homes: what are the special challenges?
It is well-documented that most nursing home residents suffer from incontinence and that a considerable proportion of care staff is spent on continence management. So, how well do existing continence products deliver in nursing home settings? What are the particular challenges? Where are improvements most needed? Joan Ostaszkiewicz - Professor and Director of Aged Care Research at the National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia – will enlighten us.

Incontinence in the young: The Engineering Challenge
The archetypal person with incontinence is frail and elderly but many with misbehaving bladders or bowels are young. In this talk, Davina Richardson - children’s nurse specialist in the Bladder & Bowel UK team at Disabled Living – will explain the particular needs and priorities for children and adolescents who rely on technology to manage their incontinence and identify some urgent challenges for engineers keen to help.

Lessons from stoma care
Chris Bray is the Lead Design Engineer at Welland Medical Limited, UK and he works primarily on products for stoma care. The technology and materials used in stoma care are often very similar to those found in incontinence products and both areas suffer from associated stigma. With this overlap, what can the incontinence market learn from the stoma market? Chris has agreed to share his knowledge and experience.

Continence technology in low resource settings: Our 2021 conference – which was delivered entirely online – included a much-appreciated session on the challenges of managing incontinence in low resource settings, featuring work in countries including India, Papua New Guinea, and Romania. We will revisit the theme for the 2023 event and will have a mix of recorded and invited presentations that include contributions from the WHO, Unicef and Norwegian Church Aid, reporting experiences from across the world.

Sustainable solutions for incontinence products: In recent years, the environmental impact of incontinence products has been of increasing concern to both to users and the organisations that work to meet their needs and there are now considerable efforts to develop sustainable solutions. In this session we will ask our expert speakers to outline the current situation for us, explain the needs and desires of users and inspire the audience with what continence care can be with product developments of today and tomorrow.

Short podium presentations on recent / ongoing work: The conference will provide excellent opportunities for you to hear about recent and ongoing work relating to continence technology and to engage with those doing it. A series of themed sessions will each comprise a group of short podium presentations focusing on a common topic. Speakers will outline the key features and findings of their work and invite you to contact them later if you’d like to know more.

Poster presentations: Posters will complement podium presentations in painting a picture of ongoing work in continence technology. Authors will record brief poster presentations on their work which will be made available online ahead of the conference and will also be broadcast as part of the programme. Either way, you are invited to contact authors “offline” if you’d like to discuss their work with them.

Workshops: You will be invited to join one of two multi-disciplinary workshops that will run in parallel:

The first, will focus on understanding the particular challenges of managing incontinence in nursing homes and similar residential settings, and identifying unmet needs where improved technology could make a real difference.

In the second, Alan Cottenden (Professor of incontinence technology, University College London) will facilitate a discussion on the continence technology chapter in the recently published 7th international Consultation on Incontinence. We will use its findings to highlight opportunities to better meet the needs of continence product users through new products.

Building on the success of previous years, key features for 2023 include:

Patient Panel: an interactive session with people who manage their incontinence using continence products, asking them to share their experiences and explain how they would like products to be improved.
Thought-provoking talks: speakers from outside the continence world bringing expertise from their specialist areas to the problem of incontinence and challenging us to think differently about what we do.
International Speakers: regular conference presentations from across academia, healthcare, industry and elsewhere, present the latest work around incontinence.
Interactive Events: A research poster competition and a series of discussion groups, together with plenty of time to network and meet the wider community. As ever, the whole event will be very multi-disciplinary and international.

Booking multiple tickets or on behalf of someone else? Email us

Day 1

09:00 - Conference Programme

Wednesday, 29 November 2023
09:00	Registration and Refreshments
09:45	Chair’s Opening Remarks Peter Culmer, Professor in Healthcare Engineering, University of Leeds Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
	Keynote Session Chair: Angie Rantell, Lead Nurse Urogynaecology/Nurse Cystoscopist, King's College Hospital, London
10:00	Keynote: Incontinence in the young - The Engineering Challenge Davina Richardson, Children’s Nurse Specialist, Bladder and Bowel UK Team, Disabled Living The archetypal person with incontinence is frail and elderly but many with misbehaving bladders or bowels are young. In this talk, Davina Richardson - children’s nurse specialist in the Bladder & Bowel UK team at Disabled Living – will explain the particular needs and priorities for children and adolescents who rely on technology to manage their incontinence and identify some urgent challenges for engineers keen to help.
10:25	Question and Answer Session
10:30	Keynote: Incontinence products in nursing homes: what are the special challenges? Joan Ostaszkiewicz, Professor and Director of Aged Care Research, National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia It is well-documented that most nursing home residents suffer from incontinence and that a considerable proportion of care staff is spent on continence management. So, how well do existing continence products deliver in nursing home settings? What are the particular challenges? Where are improvements most needed? Joan Ostaszkiewicz - Professor and Director of Aged Care Research at the National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia – will enlighten us.
10:55	Question and Answer Session
	Posters and Flash Presentations Chairs: Peter Culmer, Professor in Healthcare Engineering, University of Leeds Matt Carre, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield
11:00	Posters will complement podium presentations in painting a picture of ongoing work in continence technology. Authors will record brief poster presentations on their work which will be made available online ahead of the conference and will also be broadcast as part of the programme. The titles and presenters for this year can be found at the end of the programme.
11:20	Networking refreshment break
11:45	Posters and Flash Presentations (Continuation)
12:05	Panel: Personal life experience of product users Chair: Margaret Macaulay, Senior Research Nurse, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton Jacq Emkes, Patient Advocate A panel of product users will share their experiences of managing bladder and bowel incontinence using a range of products. They will share their stories, challenges, and priorities in product design and usability. This session is an opportunity for delegates to ask questions to really understand what people need from products, where they fall short and how they can be improved.
13:05	Networking lunch
	Exploration – improving sustainability for incontinence technology Chair: Jens Hellmold, Head Global Product Development Digital Solutions, Ontex, Germany
14:00	Current challenges in managing disposable waste - a call for a complete redesign of the industrial sustainability strategy Julie Atlaga, Senior Engineer, Scientific Affairs Manager, Ontex, Belgium
14:15	Holistically sustainable continence care: A working definition, the case of single-used absorbent hygiene products (AHPs), and the need for ecosystems thinking Tiina Vaittinen, Senior Research Fellow and PI of the Pad Project, Tampere University, Finland
14:30	Sustainability: a systematic approach to cross-industry learning Mathieu Mottrie, CEO, CREAX, Belgium Cies Vanneste, International Business Developer, CREAX, Belgium
14:45	Question and Answer Session
	Incontinence and skin health Chair: Matt Carre, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield
15:00	Observed and perceptual changes in skin health over a loaded incontinence pad Pete Worsley, Professor, School of Health Science, University of Southampton
15:10	Comparison of the friction at the interface between the skin and a range of incontinence products in dry and wet conditions Kate Tomlinson, Lecturer in Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield
15:20	Development of a model for understanding enzymatic mechanisms of skin damage in incontinence associated dermatitis Emily Owen, PhD Student, Department of Chemistry University of Bath Toby Jenkins, Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Bath
15:30	Question and Answer Session
15:40	Networking refreshment break
	Urinary indwelling and intermittent catheter developments Chair: Lesley Orme, New Product Development Manager, CliniMed Limited
16:10	Development and first-in-human testing of FLUME urinary catheter with protected tip and relocated drainage holes Marcus Drake, Professor, Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London
16:20	Evaluating the use of the Nanovibronix Uroshield device on preventing catheter-associated infections and blockage Sandra Wilks, Associate Professor, Director of Programmes Health, University of Southampton
16:30	Multicentre trial of a novel urinary catheter design in reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infection compared with the traditional Foley design for adults (CADET): a protocol Alex Cowan, Research Fellow, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton Mandy Fader, Professor, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton
16:40	Testing intermittent catheter reuse: why would anybody volunteer? Mandy Fader, Professor, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton
16:50	Can wearable technology be used to track patient behaviour and provide insights together with patient reported outcomes? Angie Rantell, Lead Nurse Urogynaecology/Nurse Cystoscopist, King's College Hospital, London
17:00	Question and Answer Session
	Workshop 1 Chairs: Matt Carre, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield Andrew Gammie, Clinical Scientist, Bristol Urological Institute	Workshop 2 Chair: Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
17:10	Managing incontinence in nursing homes and similar residential settings: where are the technology needs and challenges? This workshop will focus on understanding the particular challenges of managing incontinence in nursing homes and similar residential settings, and identifying unmet needs where improved technology could make a real difference.	Incontinence product needs from the 7th International Consultation on Incontinence This workshop will be a facilitated discussion on the continence technology chapter in the recently published 7th international Consultation on Incontinence. Its findings will aid the discussion and highlight opportunities to better meet the needs of continence product users through new products.
18:10	Chair’s Closing Remarks Peter Culmer, Professor in Healthcare Engineering, University of Leeds Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
18:20	End of Day One
18:30	Drinks Reception

Day 2

08:30 - Conference Programme

Thursday, 30 November 2023
08:30	Registration and Refreshments
09:00	Chair’s Opening Remarks Peter Culmer, Professor in Healthcare Engineering, University of Leeds Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
	Incontinence technology in low resource settings Chairs: Peter Culmer, Professor in Healthcare Engineering, University of Leeds Margaret Macaulay, Senior Research Nurse, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton
09:10	Addressing the needs of people living with incontinence in humanitarian contexts – Experience and lessons learned from the field Ioannis Georgiadis, Senior WASH Advisor, Norwegian Church Aid
09:25	Understanding people’s experiences of using washable absorbent continence products and related service provision: A qualitative study in India, Papua New Guinea and Romania Cathy Murphy, Principal Research Fellow, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton
09:35	Enhancing Access to quality affordable Incontinence Products in LMICs: The Role of UNICEF Muhidin Abdulla, Innovation Specialist (Assistive Technology and Disability), UNICEF
09:50	Challenges in one clinical environment in Nepal Shirley Heywood, Fistula Surgeon, Karnali Provincial Hospital, Surkhet, Nepal
10:00	Question and Answer Session
	Keynote Session Chair: Lesley Orme, New Product Development Manager, CliniMed Limited
10:20	Keynote: Lessons from stoma care Chris Bray, Lead Design Engineer, Welland Medical Limited Chris Bray is the Lead Design Engineer at Welland Medical Limited, UK and he works primarily on products for stoma care. The technology and materials used in stoma care are often very similar to those found in incontinence products and both areas suffer from associated stigma. With this overlap, what can the incontinence market learn from the stoma market? Chris has agreed to share his knowledge and experience.
10:45	Question and Answer Session
10:50	Keynote: Your amazing bladder and its hidden potential Jenny Southgate, Professor of Molecular Carcinogenesis and Director of the Jack Birch Unit, University of York No-one thinks about their bladder until it goes wrong, confronting them with an eroded quality of life and limited treatment options. Urinary incontinence is socially disabling, tackled using burdensome devices, therapies that treat only the symptoms, and with major surgery as a final resort. Congenital bladder defects, interstitial cystitis and recurrent infections all bring their own particular challenges. In this lecture, Jenny Southgate, Professor and Director of the Jack Birch Unit at the University of York will share research observations on how bladder tissues have evolved to a "fit-for-purpose" pinnacle. Using data-driven, biological, and medical engineering research approaches, she will explore how – in the future - these might be tailored to an individual’s urinary tract life needs.
11:15	Question and Answer Session
11:20	Networking refreshment break
11:50	Panel: Personal life experience of product users (International Patients) Chair: Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
Session in conjunction with INSPIRE	Bowel and Bladder in Spinal Cord Injury Chair: Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
12:20	Optimisation of transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation in modulation of micturition reflexes following spinal cord injury Lynsey Duffell, Dept of Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering, University College London
12:30	Pilot study of dorsal genital nerve stimulation for management of bladder overactivity following spinal cord injury Sean Doherty, Research Fellow, University College London
12:40	The Bionic Bladder: towards complete electrical control of continence and micturition Benjamin Metcalfe, Associate Professor and Head of Department, University of Bath
12:50	Abdominal Functional Electrical Stimulation for Bowel Management in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) (BOWMAN) Tamsyn Street, Research Fellow, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust
13:00	Question and Answer Session
13:10	Poster Prize announcement Peter Culmer, Professor in Healthcare Engineering, University of Leeds
13:20	Networking lunch
	Keynote Session Chair: Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
14:20 Keynote Presentation in conjunction with the International Continence Society	Conditional Neuromodulation for Incontinence: a Possibility with Wireless Catheter-free Monitoring of Bladder Pressure Margot Damaser, Senior Rehabilitation Career Scientist, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs, USA Sacral neuromodulation is standard of care for overactive bladder but does not well serve spinal cord injured individuals and those with neurogenic bladder. Conditional neuromodulation may provide improved outcomes but requires a signal of when to stimulate to prevent an unwanted bladder contraction and associated urine leakage. An algorithm is also required to review the data in real time and decide when to stimulate and when to stop stimulating. It is interesting to note that cardiac pacemakers are equipped with several sensed modalities as well as real time algorithms to adjust the pacing rate to current metabolic demands of the body. Nerve signals from the dorsal root ganglion have been tested to indicate an impending bladder contraction but require a chronically implanted electrode whose recorded signal will not deteriorate with time. We have developed a catheter-free, wireless, intravesical sensor which is inserted transurethral into the bladder and wirelessly transmits bladder pressure data. We have also developed the Context Aware Thresholding (CAT) algorithm to input this pressure data, determine when bladder contraction events occur, and decide when to stimulate and when to stop stimulating. We have tested this system with sacral neuromodulation in sheep and with dorsal genital nerve stimulation in spinal cord injured subjects. We have found that the system can trigger stimulation fast enough to stop an unwanted bladder contraction and that conditional stimulation significantly increases bladder capacity. This method has great potential to improve bladder control in those with neurogenic bladder.
14:45	Question and Answer Session
14:50	Keynote: Lessons from Origami Spencer Magleby, Professor of mechanical engineering, Brigham Young University, Utah, USA Origami - the art of paper folding - has been used for millennia to produce intriguing and decorative artifacts, but in recent years it also has inspired novel design approaches for such items as deployable space arrays, foldable safety barriers and expandable surgical devices. Are there any lessons here for incontinence technology? Might principles imbedded in origami suggest ways of enabling a product to flip easily between one configuration optimized for ease of deployment, and another designed to optimize its function when in place? How best can you fold planar sheets of material to achieve close and comfortable fits to curved body surfaces? In this presentation, Spencer Magleby – a professor of mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University, Utah, USA - will draw on examples of origami-inspired designs from a diversity of fields to provoke fresh thinking among the designers of incontinence technology among us.
15:15	Question and Answer Session
	Closing cornucopia Chair: Andrew Gammie, Clinical Scientist, Bristol Urological Institute
15:20	Modelling vs. lab experimentation: a chicken and egg dilemma? Thomas Daniel, Vice President Digitalization, BASF SE, Germany
15:30	Natural Homologous Biomaterials for Surgical Reconstructive Engineering of the Urinary Tract Jenny Southgate, Professor of Molecular Carcinogenesis and Director of the Jack Birch Unit, University of York
15:40	Conditional Neuromodulation for Incontinence: a Possibility with Wireless Catheter-free Monitoring of Bladder Pressure Margot Damaser, Senior Rehabilitation Career Scientist, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs, USA
15:50	Urodynamics without borders Michael Jeffryes, Clinical Scientist, St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
16:00	Test Protocol for Reusable Male Absorbent Undergarments Asiru Nonis, Consumer & Product Innovation Lead, MAS Holdings Asel Fernando, Tech Innovation Lead, MAS Holdings
16:10	Question and Answer Session
16:25	Chair's Closing Remarks Peter Culmer, Professor in Healthcare Engineering, University of Leeds Alan Cottenden, Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London
16:35	End of Conference

Poster and Flash Presentations

Long term efficacy and safety of PTNS

Angela Rantell, Lead Nurse Urogynaecology/ Nurse Cystoscopist, Kings College London, Convatec Ltd.

Protocol for ImPRESS: Improving Pelvic Rehabilitation using Epidural Stimulation after SCI

Lynsey Duffell, Associate Professor, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH USA

Patient Experience and Opinions of Treatment Interventions for Bowel Management in Spinal Cord Injury

Tamsyn Street, Research Fellow, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust

In vivo 3D printed anorectal probe for early detection of age-related bowel dysfunction

Khalil Hussain, PhD Student, University of Brighton

Prevention of iad/nappy rash by urease inhibition and ammonia sequestration

Krystal Le Doare, Department of Chemistry, University of Bath

An anatomically relevant ex vivo porcine rectum model: parameters to control and their influence

Alexandra Løvdal, Senior Scientist, Coloplast

The treatment of chronic constipation with Abdominal Functional Electrical Stimulation (AbdoFES) in patients with neurological conditions: A retrospective analysis

Christine Singleton, Consultant Therapist (MSc), Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Widening the horizon: Technologies in inclusive urban design to support people with faecal incontinence

Anna Rajala, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tampere University

Design and validation of wireless catheter- free bladder pressure measurement device

Sumaiya Jahan, Researcher, Cleveland Clinic

Pudendal Nerve Injury and Its Implications for Stress Urinary Incontinence in a Male Rat Model

Shaimaa Maher, Researcher, Cleveland Clinic

Catheter-free Ambulatory Urodynamic Monitoring of Bladder Volume

Mohamed Elazab, Researcher, Cleveland Clinic

Targeting bacterial urease using a watercress extract to prevent Incontinence Associated Dermatitis (IAD)

Kyle Stewart, Doctor, Watercress Research

Continence product provision and wastage in an English District: looking at ways to improve sustainability and tackle ‘pad poverty’

Chris Chatterton, Academic researcher, Pad Project UK

Understanding the meaning of dignity in the context of Incontinence

Chris Chatterton, Academic researcher, Clinisupplies

A proteomic analysis of the age-related changes of mucosal proteins in the murine anorectum

Ryan Hopkins, PhD, Centre for Stress and Age-Related Disease, University of Brighton

Title to be announced

Matt Carre, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield

Developing a Test Standard for Reusable Male Absorbent Undergarments

Asiru Nonis, Consumer & Product Innovation Lead, MAS Holdings

Asel Fernando, Tech Innovation Lead, MAS Holdings

Sinoba is an independent Swedish interest association for people with urinary incontinence and bladder problems

Helena Engqvist, representative for Sinoba, Engqvist Consulting

Anna Martinsson, Sinoba Chair Person, (Urotherapist)

Keynote Session

Angie Rantell: Lead Nurse Urogynaecology/Nurse Cystoscopist, King's College Hospital, London

Angie gained a BSc (Hons) in Nursing Studies from King’s College London in 2003. She started working in the field of women’s health, first as a staff nurse and then as a sister on a Gynaecology, breast care and early pregnancy ward.

Since 2007, Angie has been working in the Urogynaecology Department at King’s College Hospital and is currently a Consultant nurse / nurse cystoscopist. She is actively involved in research and was awarded a PhD in Urogynaecology in 2019 investigating sexual function in women with overactive bladder. In 2019 Angie was awarded RCN credentialing for advanced level nursing practice. She also works as a Senior lecturer in Professional Practice in Physiotherapy delivering a multidisciplinary master’s program in Pelvic health at Brunel University.

To date she has published over 60 articles in peer reviewed journals and has written book chapters and contributed to National guidelines. As well as her clinical and research activities she provides advice to governmental bodies including NHS England and ICS’s throughout the UK. She is currently the Deputy Chair for the ACA, the past chair of the Nursing and Midwifery special interest group within IUGA and a member of the Nursing and Education committee for ICS.

Asel Fernando: Technology Entrepreneur, MAS Innovation Pvt. Ltd.

Asel Fernando is a passionate Biomedical Engineer and an innovator focusing on product development in the healthcare and hygiene space, and currently works as the primary technology Lead for the pelvic floor space at Femography by MAS Holdings. Working together with different textile engineers, Asel has combined his expertise on Biomedical Engineering to develop apparel based innovative solutions in the pelvic floor space. Some of his patented pending solutions cater patients suffering from urinary incontinence, post micturition dribble. His end goal is to bring normalcy to all patients suffering from pelvic floor disorders.

Asiru Nonis: Business Entrepreneur, MAS Innovation Pvt. Ltd.

With a demonstrated history of working in the apparel and fashion industry for over 6 years, Asiru Nonis is an experienced product and innovation strategist who has been actively involved in all stages of innovation, product development and commercialization in the apparel industry. Currently working at Femography by MAS Holdings, Asiru specializes in the women’s and men’s hygiene and healthcare space, and focuses on creating innovative functional and lifestyle apparel solutions in spaces such as Urinary Incontinence, Menstruation and Menopause.

Benjamin Metcalfe: Associate Professor and Head of Department, University of Bath

Dr Benjamin Metcalfe is a biomedical engineer with over a decade’s experience of developing devices and technologies for interfacing with the peripheral nervous system. He is currently Head of the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath and Deputy Director of the Bath Institute for the Augmented Human. His research interests are in neural recording and closed-loop neuromodulation, with a range of applications including the restoration of bladder control and biomimetic interfacing for upper-limb prostheses.

He is also Vice-President (Academic) of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and a visiting Professor at the Centre for Neuroplasticity & Pain at the University of Aalborg in Denmark.

Davina Richardson: Children’s Nurse Specialist, Bladder and Bowel UK Team, Disabled Living

Having nursed children with acute conditions, and with disabilities or complex needs Davina set up an NHS community children’s bladder and bowel before joining the team at the charity Bladder & Bowel UK.

the role includes providing general advice and information to anyone affected by a bladder or bowel condition in children, training professionals, educating families, involvement in research, sitting on national groups, supporting innovation and promoting best practice.

Davina is keen to reduce the taboos around bladder and bowel health, to promote early attainment of continence and, where this is not possible, to ensure provision of effective containment.

Joan Ostaszkiewicz: Professor and Director of Aged Care Research, National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia

Professor Joan Ostaszkiewicz is the Principal Director of Aged Care Research at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI), Honorary Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne, and Adjunct Professor of Health and Innovation Transformation Centre at Federation University.

Joan leads a program of research that aims to improve older peoples’ quality of care and quality of life and support family and formal caregivers. The program encompasses research on dementia care, continence care, catheter care, loneliness and social isolation, and carer support.

Emily Owen: PhD Student, Department of Chemistry, University of Bath

Emily Owen is a final year Biophysical Chemistry PhD student at the University of Bath, supervised by Professor Toby Jenkins. Her research focuses on exploring the links between incontinence, incontinence associated dermatitis (IAD) and pressure ulcers.

The electrical properties of skin can be monitored using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Primary skin models used in her work include in vivo healthy human participants and ex vivo porcine skin. Her project particular focuses on developing novel therapeutic strategies to manage IAD.

Toby Jenkins: Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Bath

Professor Toby Jenkins obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1996 before going on to work in the Department of Molecular Physics at Leeds University.
He was then awarded an Alexander-von-Humboldt fellowship and work at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer research in Mainz Germany before starting work as a lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Bath in 2000.

In 2005 he became interested in applying physical chemistry methodologies to study bacterial infection, both for the rapid diagnosis and treatment of wound and skin infection. He was made a full professor in 2016 and runs an active research group on wound, skin and bladder infections.

Ioannis Georgiadis: Senior WASH Advisor, Norwegian Church Aid

Ioannis Georgiadis is a humanitarian Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) professional with nine years of experience, particularly from the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq), European Refugee crisis (Greece) and Ukraine. Ioannis currently holds the position of Senior Technical Advisor in the humanitarian division of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), based in Oslo, with main responsibilities to quality assure and support NCA’s global WASH programs and emergency responses. Among other, Ioannis is also a WASH focal point for humanitarian-development-peacebuilding nexus programming, integrated programming with other sectors and for environmental sustainability and innovation within NCA.

Jenny Southgate: Professor of Molecular Carcinogenesis and Director of the Jack Birch Unit, University of York

Professor Jenny Southgate trained at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) in London and has a PhD from the Department of Medicine, University of Leeds. In 1992, she established the Biology of Normal and Malignant Epithelial Cells group based at the ICRF Cancer Medicine Research Unit at St James's University Hospital in Leeds. She moved to the University of York in 1999 as Professor of Molecular Carcinogenesis and Director of the Jack Birch Unit, the flagship research unit for York Against Cancer. Her research interests focus on the cell/molecular biology of human urothelium and its diseases, including cancer and in the applications of biomaterials and tissue engineering.

Julie Atlaga: Senior Engineer, Scientific Affairs Manager, Ontex, Belgium

Julie Atlaga is currently working within Ontex as Group Scientific Affairs Manager. She is French and is settled since 2009 in Brussels, Belgium. She worked for a decade within the cosmetic industry in product development area to lead to innovative and sustainable product concept. With a master degree in chemistry, she has completed her educational background in Brussels European University and obtain a diploma in Safety Assessment. She joined absorbent hygienic product industry 4 years ago to support Ontex defining a reliable, sustainable and safe supplier sourcing strategy and defining requirements on those topics toward internal and external stakeholders.

Kate Tomlinson: Lecturer in Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield

Dr Kate Tomlinson is a Lecturer in Tribology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She is a member of the Leonardo Centre for Tribology and the Rail Innovation and Technology Centre at the University of Sheffield. She graduated from the University of Derby with a first-class BSc in Mathematics and obtained her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Sheffield. Kate’s PhD was sponsored by Network Rail and concerned the life extension of railway track components through additive manufacturing. She has since conducted research in broader areas of Tribology, focusing on friction and biotribology.

Mandy Fader: Professor, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton

Mandy Fader is Professor of Continence Technology at the University of Southampton. Trained as a nurse Mandy began her academic career at University College London (UCL) followed by several years in clinical continence practice. Rejoining UCL she completed her PhD in 2001 and since 2008 has led the University of Southampton’s interdisciplinary Bladder and Bowel management research group focusing on research into improving quality of life through continence strategies, products and devices.

Mandy is co-founder of the user-focused evidence-based Continence Product Advisor website www.continenceproductadvisor.org. She is currently the Chief Investigator for the NIHR MultiCath programme which aims to develop and test the use of reusable intermittent catheters and has a particular interest in developing sustainable continence products.

Margot Damaser: Senior Rehabilitation Career Scientist, Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs, USA

Dr. Damaser leads a research lab focused on developing therapies for pelvic floor disorders, including stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence. She is an international expert on urodynamics, models for studying female pelvic floor disorders, and new technologies in female urology and pelvic floor disorders. She has 6 patents and nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications. She has had research funding from VA and NIH for over 20 years. In 2014, Dr. Damaser was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows. Dr. Damaser was recently inducted into the National Academy of Inventors.

Mathieu Mottrie: CEO, CREAX, Belgium

Mathieu is the CEO of the Creax Group (Creax, Innduce.me & Mynd). Under his leadership, Creax has become an international reference in innovation advisory. Mathieu is keynote speaker at international conferences and guest lecturer in various universities.

Mathieu started his career at Fortis Bank before joining a incubation centre for start-up companies. Before joining Creax in 2003, Mathieu joined Ernst & Young as a management consultant, where he gained a lot of valuable experience and further expanded his business network. In 2012, Mathieu en his business partner Jef Vandenberghe executed a management buy-out. In the meantime, they launched 2 spin-offs: Inndcue.me (2020) and Mynd-ware (2022). Mathieu received his Masters in Applied Economic Science from the University of Brussels.

Muhidin Abdulla: Innovation Specialist (Assistive Technology and Disability), UNICEF

Muhidin Abdulla, an Innovation Specialist in Disability and Assistive Technology at UNICEF SUPPLY DIVISION, plays an integral role in UNICEF's global mission to improve access to assistive technology in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). With 13 years of extensive humanitarian experience, Muhidin brings a diverse skill set in technical coordination, capacity building, and humanitarian service provision. His work spans across diverse contexts in Kenya, South Sudan, Bangladesh, and Somalia, with a distinct emphasis on the inclusion of persons with disabilities. Muhidin provides valuable support in expanding access to assistive technology, utilizing strategies such as supporting market shaping, global tendering, demand generation, piloting, training, and implementation

Spencer Magleby: Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, Utah, USA

Spencer Magleby is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University, former associate dean for the College of Engineering, University Honors Program director and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education. After 6 years designing military aircraft he came to BYU and has pursued research in areas of product design, technology development and engineering education. He has been especially active in developing new technologies and applications related to compliant mechanisms and the use of origami to inspire innovative product design resulting in numerous patents and publications. His work has been sponsored by NASA, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force, the State of Utah, Ford Motor Company and a variety of other industries, consortiums and entrepreneurs. He has taught design at the graduate and undergraduate level, and is a co-founder of the BYU Capstone Program and the engineering-business graduate program.

Tiina Vaittinen: Senior Research Fellow, Tampere University, Finland

Dr Tiina Vaittinen is Senior Research Fellow in Tampere University and the PI of the PadProject. She is an expert on political economies and ethics of care. Her work focuses on reducing the environmental impact incontinence products in socially just and affordable ways. The overall aim of her research is pave a way for a sustainable future, where the material care needs of humans could be met without harming the planet and non-human life.

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