Engineering the Upper Limb
A conference on the latest engineering developments informing upper limb rehabilitation.
Recently, I had the pleasure of organising a scientific conference entitled “Engineering the Upper Limb”, together with colleagues from Imperial College and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. We held the meeting at the lovely headquarters of the Institution in central London, among displays of planes, trains and automobiles, and portraits going back to the Institution’s founding in 1847. Conferences like this take a considerable amount of effort to organise, and of course some time to attend. You have to invite keynote speakers, schedule an engaging programme of talks and posters, arrange travel and accommodation, review submissions, as well as prepare your own talk and spend time away from home. So why do we do it?
Meeting, sharing, and learning
Academics attend conferences for a variety of reasons, but one of the most important is to share knowledge and to hear about the latest work of our colleagues. Scientific research advances by the publication of rigorously conducted studies in scientific journals, but it can take some time from completion of work to its appearance in print (or online). In the case of our latest paper, this was over a year. Meeting other people in the field regularly allows you to hear about work much faster than this. Sometimes discussions with others at the meetings lead to new ideas, improvements that result in better studies, or to new partnerships.
Where are the patients?
This meeting did a great job bringing together colleagues old and new, clinicians as well as engineers, but two groups were notable by their absence. There were no patients at this conference, and no members of the public. Our research is (often) funded by the public, through scientific research councils, and is done for the benefit of patients. But neither of these groups were there. There are some conferences, particularly those focusing on a single clinical condition, that do make an effort to include patients and the public, but in biomedical engineering this is still quite rare.
I understand the difficulties of including people in a meaningful way, but it shouldn’t be impossible. Could we include dedicated sessions where we hear a patient’s perspective on a particular topic? Can we embed an outreach activity into the conference that engages members of the public? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but if you do, I’d like to hear from you! If you have any ideas or experience to share, please leave a response.
