Biomedical Engineering Division: How we are governed

Reader, Director of the Engineering for Health Research Centre, Aston University

Antonio is a Bioengineer with a vocation of improving clinical outcomes and patient participation to a more efficient, informed, and inclusive healthcare. He graduated in 2005 with an MSc in Electronics Engineering from University of Naples Federico II (with a specialisation in Medical Instrumentation), followed by a PhD at the University of Bologna in Bioengineering in 2009 (and a further PhD in healthcare systems management in 2016).

Antonio’s research interests lie in the areas of biomedical data processing (imaging, segmentation, modelling and AI), medical devices (biosensing and diagnostics) and healthcare processes (workflow, technology assessment and management). Through the years Antonio has contributed to the design, development and testing of cutting-edge medical devices in collaboration with leading national and international Academic institutions and SMEs.

Dr Tom Allen is a Reader in Mechanical Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University. He specialises in Sports Engineering, particularly sports safety. Tom is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He holds various external positions, including Editor-in-Chief of the journal of the International Sports Engineering Association, Chair of the IMechE Sports Engineering group, Vice-President of the International Society for Snowsports Safety and Deputy-Chair of the British Standards Institution committee Protective Equipment for Sports Players. Tom advocates inclusivity in sport and recently co-authored an IMechE policy report on sports engineering, outlining recommendations for the development of inclusive and sustainable sports technology. His media appearances span TV, radio, online and print, including the BBC, Sky News, the Guardian, and the Telegraph.

David has a background in Engineering, Manufacturing, NPD and R&D. His experience includes a cross-sector portfolio of roles in the private sector leading to his current role as Knowledge Transfer Manger in support of UK Innovation. He joined IUKBC in 2014 where he is lead for health and care, this includes digital health and population health and healthy ageing / independent living agendas. He also participates in cross-sector activity mainly through his experience of managing technical and business consultancy projects.

 Regulatory Lead, Oxehealth

Professor of Incontinence Technology, University College London.

Alan Cottenden is Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology in the Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at University College London. He sits on the Editorial Board of the Institution's Journal of Engineering in Medicine and cochairs the organising committee for Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge, the Institution's long-running series of multi-disciplinary conferences aimed at encouraging the development of more effective technology for diagnosing, treating and managing incontinence.

Lecturer in Medical Engineering, University of Hull.
Sarah graduated with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Leeds in biotribology with a focus on diabetic foot ulceration. Prior to this she studied both Physics and Prosthetics and Orthotics, which lead to her working as an honorary Orthotist within Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. Her clinical experience directly feeds into her research focus, where her interests lie in orthopaedics, biotribology, diabetic and pressure ulceration and biomechanics.

Following her PhD, she undertook a Postdoctoral position in Diabetic Foot Biomechanics at Manchester Metropolitan University before moving to her current position at the University of Hull where she is a Lecturer in Medical Engineering. She joined the IMechE Biomedical Engineering Division in 2023 where she supports the Orthopaedic division.

Peter Culmer is Professor of Healthcare Engineering at the University of Leeds, leading the Healthcare Mechatronics Group. He brings research expertise in the development of medical devices with a focus on sustainability and global healthcare. He leads research into sustainable materials for Circular Medical Devices (EPSRC ReMed project, with Loughborough University) and leads the Sustainability theme of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Accelerated Surgical Care. He sits on the UK IMechE Biomedical Engineering Division (BMeD) committee and Innovations in Global Surgery organisation, working as an advocate for sustainable, global healthcare engineering.

Knowledge Transfer Manager, Innovate UK Business Connect

James began his career as a Medical Physicist with a focus on Ultrasound, Ionising and non-ionising radiation. He later moved into Research Commercialisation for the NHS and raised £1.5M for a spin-out from the NHS and two universities in orthopaedic product development. After working for the spin-out he then moved into consultancy with a range of experience in IP, technical and market research, business planning, grants and tenders. He has significant experience of both UK and European grants having written, managed and delivered on nearly 200 grants and been a judge on several regional and national programmes. Prior to joining InnovateUK Business Connect he was responsible for due diligence and equity investment for a UK research charity.    

James has an MPhys in Physics with Medical Appplications, an MSc in Medical Physics and an MSc in Science Entrepreneurship.

Senior Consultant, Medical Technology, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Medical devices development for surgical, drug delivery and diagnostics applications

Head of Research, ADL Smartcare Ltd, Newcastle University
Research Interests:  Assistive Technology with particular application to the needs of an ageing population.

Assistive technology and rehabilitation engineering, rehabilitation robotics, upper limb bio-mechanics, neurological impairment

Lecturer in Biometrology, within the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough UniversityRebecca Grant is a Lecturer in Biometrology within the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering at Loughborough University. She obtained her MEng (Hons) in Product Design Engineering, then her PhD explored measurement of operators within healthcare and cell therapy manufacturing. Rebecca’s current research focuses on developing measurement methods for people in manufacturing, health and sporting scenarios, quantifying measurement uncertainty of human movement, workload and performance.

Her research and teaching focuses on human factors methods for improved human-product interaction. Rebecca joined the IMechE Biomedical Engineering Committee in 2016 as a Young Member following her award as the 2015 IMechE Postgraduate Scholar, to help raise the profile of Biomedical Engineering.

Professor of Biophysical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton

Prof. Georges Limbert is a Professor of Biophysical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton, UK and an Honorary Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Human Biology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

His current research focus is on unravelling and quantifying the links between skin microstructure and its macroscopic biophysical behaviour. The goal of this research is to develop a mechanistic understanding of how the biophysical properties of skin mediate its physical interactions  with engineered devices.  Prof. Limbert’s group is developing the next generation of mathematical and computational biophysical models of skin to tackle some of the current and future grand societal challenges such as ageing of populations, whilst also addressing related topics in the consumer goods and pharmaceutical/medical device sectors.  This research aims to address these questions in the wider and inclusive context of ethnically-diverse ageing populations.

Prof. Limbert’s research has been supported by world-leading industrial organisations operating in the consumer goods, cosmetic, pharmaceutic, software and military sectors. He acts as a consultant for Fortune 100/FTSE 100 and SME companies. Some of his mathematical and computational models are used in industry, academia and the US Army. He has published over 130 refereed scientific papers, edited the Springer book “Skin Biophysics – From Experimental Characterisation to Advanced Modelling”, and sits on the Editorial Board of several biomedical engineering journals. Prof. Limbert has been acting as a reviewer for 87 interdisciplinary and specialised journals (PNAS, Nature Communications, Skin Research and Technology, Soft Matter, etc) and grant reviewer for 25 national/international funding agencies (Africa, North/South America, Asia, Europe, Middle-East, Oceania). He has a Master in Engineering Mechanics (University of Toulouse, France), a Research Master in Solid Mechanics (University of Bordeaux, France) and a PhD in Computational Biomechanics from the University of Southampton, and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), UK. He sits on the Board of the Biomedical Engineering Division of the IMechE since 2004.

Diogo is a Director for Regulatory Strategy at Veeva Systems, specialising in the EU MedTech market. Before this role, Diogo was the UKCA certification manager and a principal technical assessor at DNV, ensuring the safety and compliance of medical devices for the EU and UK markets. Diogo's career also includes work as a designer at Stryker/Stanmore Implants, where he contributed to the development of over 250 patient-specific implants, particularly focusing on complex cases in limb salvage and paediatric oncology. With a background in Biomechanics, Diogo earned his PhD at Imperial College London, where he focused on computational modelling of bone adaptation in the femur. He followed this with a Post-Doctorate at Imperial, where he developed and patented a novel glenoid implant. Diogo combines academic rigour with design, research, modelling and clinical experience in orthopaedic implants and regulatory affairs.

Professor in Biomedical Engineer & Biomaterials, Queen Mary, University of London

Self-assembling biomaterials, hierarchical mineralization, biofabrication, tissue engineering, regenerative medicine.

Founder & CEO, The Care Machine Ltd

Prof. Helen Meese is an award-winning chartered mechanical engineer with over 20 years’ experience in industry and academia. She is CEO of The Care Machine, an engineering consultancy that works with early-stage innovators to develop medical technology and services; accelerating collaboration and creating positive engagement.

Helen is an accomplished public affairs and policy specialist; providing consultation and thought leadership to Government, industry, and the public sector on engineering and its contribution to health & care. She is passionate about all aspects of STEM and provides mentoring and coaching to young engineers as well as being the host of the IMechE’s engineering podcast, Impulse to Innovation for 4 years. She is Immediate Past Chair of the IMechE’s Biomedical Engineering Division and a past Trustee, an Entrepreneur in Residence at Durham University Business School, and a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Healthcare Policy Topic Group.

Clinical Scientist at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Principal Engineer, TWI Ltd

Tom graduated with an MEng(Hons) in Biomedical Engineering from University of Birmingham in 2006. His first job was within the Research Team at an orthopaedic manufacturer, Biomet UK Ltd. He then joined TWI Ltd. where he managed a £1.94m collaborative project in orthopaedics. He gained CEng from IMechE in 2012.

In 2020, Tom gained an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) developing a novel surface modification technology; the title of the thesis was ‘Development of novel applications for the electron beam texturing (EBT) and Surfi-Sculpt^® processes’. One of the two case studies within Tom’s EngD was novel uncemented acetabular cups for orthopaedic implants. Tom is also the Radiation Protection Supervisor for the Power Beam Processing Section at TWI.

Tom initially joined the IMechE’s BmED Board as Young Member representative in 2013. He was a judge on the BmED student competition that year. He delivered a Young Member engagement study to the Division Board and was involved in setting up the question for the Global Engineering Debate (GED) in 2017. Since 2021 he has been the Chair of the BmED Cambridge Centre for the Division. In 2025 he was a Judge on the BBC Gladiators micro:bit competition (in partnership with the IMechE) to design a fitness gadget for the Gladiators.

Lecturer (assistant professor), Department of Materials, Design & Manufacturing Engineering, University of Liverpool

Dr Rosti Readioff is the chair of the Orthopaedic Engineering committee within the IMechE’s Biomedical Engineering Division. She is currently a lecturer (assistant professor) in the Department of Materials, Design & Manufacturing Engineering, University of Liverpool. Her role involves research in orthopaedic and biomedical engineering, and teaching higher education engineering students.

Before joining the University of Liverpool, Dr Readioff was a lecturer (Teaching and Research) at the Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Bath. She gained leadership and management experience when coordinating students and staff to teach the Group Business Design Project units for the third and fourth-year mechanical engineering students. During this time, she continued collaborating with surgeons and academics interested in orthopaedic and dental bioengineering research.

Prior to her first lectureship, Dr Readioff completed several postdoctoral research positions focusing on bioengineering at various UK institutes, including the University of Leeds and Keele University.

Bonfield Professor of Biomedical Materials, Queen Mary University of London, QMUL

Liz Tanner did her undergraduate degree in Engineering Science at University of Oxford and stayed on for a DPhil based in the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre,. Liz joined Queen Mary College, University of London as a post doc, eventually becoming Professor of Biomedical Materials.

After QMUL Liz then spent 11 years at the University of Glasgow, where she continued her research and developed and ran the first BEng and MEng degrees in Biomedical Engineering in Scotland. She returned to QMUL in 2018. In parallel she was a Visiting Professor of Biomechanics and Biomaterials at Lund University, Sweden from 1998-2017 working with the Department of Orthopaedics.

Her research concentrates on developing materials to replace or to augment bone. One of such materials is HAPEX™, which has been used in over 1 million middle ear implants. Her other research area is the failure mechanisms in bone and the effect of pathology on the mechanical properties of bone from diseases through to spinal cord injury.

Liz Tanner was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2006 and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2015. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the European Society for Biomaterials 2001-2009 and Secretary 2005-2009. She was a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering 2016-2020. She become Editor in Chief of Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Journal of Engineering in Medicine in 2021. Liz is on the Editorial Boards of range of other journals in the Materials and Biomaterials area including International Materials Reviews and Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine.

She was awarded a PhD(Hon Caus) by Lund University in June 2017. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2016. 

Professor Emeritus, Department of Engineering, Durham University.
Editor in Chief, Proceedings of IMechE Part H Journal of Engineering in Medicine.

Research interests Bio-tribology.

Lecturer, Imperial College London

Biomechanical Engineer Research Fellow at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust