Dr Sophie Williams awarded almost £1m EPSRC research grant at University of Leeds

November 15, 2017

Dr Sophie Williams, School of Mechanical Engineering at University of Leeds, is one of eight researchers awarded a grant to address long-term health challenges through the development of innovative healthcare technologies.

Dr Williams’ project, ‘Enhanced surgical treatments for hip osteoarthritis’, is designed to improve the understanding of factors leading to impingement – this can occur in the natural hip and replaced hip and in both cases leads to loss of function and pain for the patient.
By establishing an experimental anatomical hip simulator, that will include “artificial” bone and soft tissue models (to be developed with advanced manufacturing engineers at Leeds; Prof Russ Harris and Dr Rob Kay), Dr Williams will be able to provide better guidance to clinicians on how surgery should be performed –researchers will work with orthopaedic surgeons to integrate findings into clinical practice.
Dr Williams has been awarded £998,918, which was allocated by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the second Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards call.
EPSRC Chief Executive, Professor Philip Nelson, said: “EPSRC’s Healthcare Technologies Challenge Awards are designed to equip the next generation of research leaders with the tools they need to tackle current and emerging health challenges facing society.”