Centres of excellence

  • Aberdeen University
  • Health Technology Assessment Group
    The HTA Group carries out independent health technology assessments (TARs) for the UK HTA Programme, which commissions TARs for NICE and other bodies, such as the National Screening Committee.
  • Dundee University
  • Health Informatics Centre (HIC)
    The Health Informatics Centre (HIC) is aims to build systems that can use information to solve the complex problems of health, and communicate the information in the right format to the right people at the time they need it
  • Institute for Medical Science & Technology
    Technologies include minimally invasive surgical techniques: emerging technologies such as Minimal Access Surgery, XNOTES, ultrasound imaging, radio-frequency devices, cryogenics and lasers are driving the potential for new state-of-the-art equipment
  • Cuschieri Skills Centre
    An enhanced, custom-built facility including interventional human anatomy, virtual reality simulations, microsurgery and a state of the art simulated operating environment combine to form one of the most innovative research and training facilities in Europe
  • Interdisciplinary Disability Research Institute 
    A programme within the institute is intended to help disabled people to increase independence and quality of life through advanced technology
  • Centre for Academic Clinical Practice
    The College of Medicine has numerous research centres related to medical technology, including CACP, who work closely with their colleagues on the NHS to provide a structure for discipline-based clinical academic practice. Various research includes foot pressure analysis to produce novel transducers for measuring pressure and we are currently developing shear sensors, and gait analysis which consists of an electronic motion analysis system, Vicon
  • School of Computing
    The Augmented Communication Systems group investigates how technology can help to compensate for the impairment and disability patterns of individuals with severe communication disorders.  Support for Dementia designs computer software, tools, and products that help older people benefit from technology. There are also groups in Healthcare Computing and Software Methods for Age and Disability
  • Heriot Watt
    Technical & Smart Textiles and Materials
    Research topics in textile science, technology and engineering has extended beyond traditional textiles to encompass the exciting developments provided by the rapid expansion of the technical textiles discipline, for applications such as smart materials, medical and health devices and nanotechnologies. The School's status in technical textiles research is recognised in its leading role in the TechniTex Knowledge Transfer Partnership
  • Heriot-Watt also have a number of research groups and institutes specialised in life sciences and engineering, albeit that they are not directly related to Wellness Technology
  • Edinburgh University
  • Institute for Micro and Nano Integrated Systems
    The Miniature Wireless Drug Implant to Revolutionise Medication Delivery Group has developed a prototype device to implant in the body that can deliver therapeutic drugs via a wireless link. Patients who need regular medication could have it delivered by this implant
  • Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation
    ISSTI has been formed to bring together an interdisciplinary network of researchers, of which Edinburgh is a leading centre. One of the themes that the centre focuses on is e-health.
  • Edinburgh also have a number of research groups and institutes specialised in life sciences and engineering, albeit that they are not directly related to wellness technology
  • Strathclyde University
  • Rehabilitation Engineering
    Strengths exist in the development of advanced 3D  biomechanical models of joint function that incorporate MRI and mechanical testing of human tissue. Collaboration has been established with the National Golden Jubilee Hospital and funding has been secured to further develop wrist biomechanics related to Computer Navigated Surgery. Work is underway in the areas of occupational health and carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Medical Diagnostic Devices & Instrumentation
    There are three main areas of research: Minimally-invasive diagnostics, sensors for cell and tissue engineering/implanted devices, and point of care (POC) patient monitors. They are concentrating on a portfolio of projects that allow minimally invasive patient monitoring or rapid POC diagnosis
  • Cell, Tissue and Organ Engineering
    Within Cell, Tissue and Organ Engineering there are four main areas of research: cellular interactions with material/chemicals, cell/tissue engineering, hybrid artificial organs and modelling of artifical organs
  • Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) in Medical Devices
    The DTC works in partnership with the DTI-funded Health Technologies Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and is supported by a core group of departments across the Faculties of Science and Engineering
  • Strathclyde Institute of Medical Devices
    The Institute was launched in October 2006 in response to the recognition that effective innovation in medicine and healthcare technology is required to address the world's healthcare problems in the 21st Century 
  • Glasgow University/St Andrews University
    Research centres at Glasgow do not specifically focus on technologies related to wellness. However, there are numerous centres that are focused on general research within the wellness sphere.

    • Life sciences

    • Biomedicine

    • Human Nutrition

    • Public Health

    • Healthy Working Lives

    • Nursing & Health Care and various other research groups within the University's departments

    Research centres at St Andrews do not specifically focus on technologies related to wellness. However, there are numerous centres that are focused on general research within the wellness sphere. This includes:

      • Medicine
      • Physics
      • Geoscience, and various other research groups within the university's departments

    Edinburgh Napier

    • Institute for Science and Health Innovation
      The Institute works with businesses on a broad remit of commercial activity, including nanomaterials safety, healthcare policy and delivery modernisation, biofuels development and athlete performance monitoring
    • Robert Gordon
      CBR for Remote Patient Care
      Case-Based Reasoning technology is being applied in the health-care domain as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) between RGU and AxSys TechnologyThis includes the Institute for Health and Welfare Research.

    Stirling University

    • Care Technology research group (CARET)
      The Care Technology research group (CARET) focuses on software technologies that support delivery of health and social care. This includes a wide range of approaches including ambient monitoring, decision support for health care, hearing aid development, and services and platforms for care delivery
    • Home Care Technologies and Telecare research is focused on techniques to support delivery of health and social care in the home. The MATCH project is developing and integrating a range of approaches to this. Stirling's contribution is in the fields of home networks, medical device interfacing, policy-based (rule-based) management of care delivery and flexible service discovery in a home care environment
    • Medical Informatics Group
      The Medical Informatics Group was formed primarily with the intent of providing researchers working in a similar field with the opportunity to present, discuss and evaluate research projects and ideas. It is a multi-disciplinary research group spanning the Departments of Nursing and Midwifery, Psychology, Management and Organisation, and Computing Science and Mathematics
    • Queen Margaret University
    • Centre for Integrated Healthcare Research (CIHR)
    • The CIHR involves a collaboration between three higher education institutions in Edinburgh, Queen Margaret University, The University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University and three NHS organisations NHS Lothian, Border and Lanarkshire
    • Speech Science Research Centre
      The multi-disciplinary Speech Science Research Centre promotes both pure and applied research into speech and non-verbal communication in normal speakers and those with a variety of speech and language disorders
    • Glasgow Caledonian University/UHI Institute
      Glasgow Caledonian university is a leading institution for healthcare training and research. Although not specifically focussing on technologies, this includes the Institute for Health and Wellbeing, Social History of Health & Healthcare Centre, Institute for Applied Health Research, supported by a world leading School of Health
    • Abertay University
      Telehealth
      Telehealth and telecare is the application of intelligent technology to helping people live independently in their own homes. Ccurrent work is focussing both on the technology itself and also the collection of the huge range of data needed to make the right technological choices for future development
    • University of Aberdeen
    • Centre for Rural Health and Centre for Health Science, Inverness
    • East Central Scotland ART Network Centre
    • Based in the Medical School in Ninewells Hospial, Dundee and is one of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust’s 15 centres of excellence for Alzheimer’s research in the UK.