Anglia Ruskin University

In 1993 I was introduced to an orthopaedic surgeon who was having difficulty in drilling human bone and together we decided to investigate the problem. We found that the cutting angle of the drill bit was incorrect for that purpose and after numerous trials we were able to publish our findings. This led to us investigating other difficulties that orthopaedic surgeons were having in maintaining the stability of orthopaedic implants which led to further publications of our results. Our success in orthopaedic research began to attract funding from industry and local hospitals which allowed us to offer Ph.D. bursaries to research students broadening our research base into the stability of hip replacements, wear in the replacement knee joint, stability of the shoulder, defects in the spine and the merging of CT and MRI scans. Our expertise was built around Finite Element Analysis of human tissue and this research is still ongoing. Because of the number of research students working in this area and the funding we were attracting, the University decided to form a research group called the Bioengineering Research Group with me as the Leader. The group now have over 50 publications/conference presentations throughout Europe and as far afield as the USA and Australia.

After 25 years working in Higher Education in the U.K. teaching Metallurgy and Material Science to a range of undergraduate courses in engineering and product design at Anglia Ruskin University, I decided to take early retirement.

Due to my efforts at the University in developing an active research group in bioengineering I was awarded a personal Chair in Biomedical Engineering in 2006. Since leaving the University I was awarded an Emeritus Professorship of the University and now I am the Head of Department of Engineering at the London School of Engineering and Technology.