SURGE II Partnerships Announced

We're pleased to announce the 3 successfully commissioned proposals for SURGE II: a collaborative and creative endeavour that will bring together scientists, artists, and the public to explore the complexities and application of technology in surgery.

Over the next 6 months, partnerships established between UAL’s Post-Grad Community and UCL’s Wellcome / EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS) centre, will design and deliver patient-focussed workshops, harnessing art and design as the medium to communicate patient-led findings in technological healthcare.

An overview of the propsals:

Iris Tsang (MA Fashion Cultures and Histories at London College of Fashion) and Peter He

Iris and Peter’s project will take a hosistic exploration into the journeys of infertile couples, more specifically, what new life means to forthcoming parents before it is visible or tangible.

Through the collection and narration of oral histories and lived experiences of a small but diverse cohort of infertile individuals and couples, they hope to unveil the personal and collective barriers related to infertility. Additionally, workshop findings hope to de-mythicise and de-stigmatise aspects of assisted reproduction technologies (ART), as well as showcase some of the most recent scientific work on the structure of preimplantation human embryos.

The importance and impact of ART will be highlighted through personal stories, raising awareness and a better understanding ART, as well as how one could possibly support someone they know who might be facing related experiences.

Maria Li (MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins) and Dr. Biswajoy Bagchi

Mutual learnings around Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) technology underpins Maria and Biswajoy’s proposal.

An interactive platform will be utilised by patient groups, the public and healthcare researchers to translate novel health technologies into interventional products that fit the needs of the intended users. Identified patient groups have centred around the musculoskeletal remit of healthcare such as Parkinsons sufferers.

As a data collecting endeavour that offers participants an engaging and personable insight into this burgeoning facet of health-related technology, this collective endeavour has got exciting potential to influence the uses of TENG in the near future.

Carla Fernández (MA in Data Viusalisation at London College of Communications) and Richard Colchester

Richard has dedicated his healthcare research to minimising the invasive nature of imaging used to identify and diagnose cardiology (heart), gastrointestinal (stomach and intestines) and pulmonary (lungs) diseases. With Carla Fernández, MA Data Visualisation student at LCC, they will leverage designs that humanise this vital technology by contextualising and personifying sonograms and the interpretation of algorithms for patients.

They hope to produce public installations and engagement works to create a dialogue between patients and researchers, raising patient awareness of the technology by placing them at the centre of this investigation. In turn, the project will also offer Richard different spaces and mediums to visualise his ideas and research.

Related links

• Wellcome / EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS)
• UAL Post-Grad Community
• SURGE I exhibition walkthrough

UAL Post-Grad Community

Established in 2013, Post-Grad Community is an inclusive platform for all UAL postgraduate students to share work, find opportunities and connect with other creatives within the UAL and beyond. Find out more

Post-Grad Stories

A thriving online magazine of our postgraduate student voices sharing thought-provoking experiences, practices, thoughts and articles about what matters to them.

Download the PDF Guide to writing articles for Post-Grad Stories

Want to write an article? Get in touch with the Post-Grad Community team PGCommunity@arts.ac.uk