The development of neuroscience alongside advancements in technology in the 21st century has enabled engineers to consider the potential neurotechnology could have in reshaping our lives. This conversation’s focus on ‘Brain Engineering’ questions the future of the emerging technology, with specific consideration on the treatment of neurological disorders, current challenges, and the ethical issues surrounding neurotechnology including questions around agency. We will also discuss the creation of the KTN ‘Transformative Roadmap for Neurotechnology in the UK’, and what the desired consequences of its creation are.
Professors Denison and Mathieson are both Royal Academy of Engineering Chairs in Emerging Technologies. The ten-year programme, funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy aims to identify global research visionaries, such as Denison and Mathieson, and provide them with support to lead on developing emerging technology areas with high potential to deliver economic and social benefits to the UK.
The deadline for the upcoming round of the programme is 11 April 2023. You can find out more information about applying here.
If you have any questions about this event, please email Beth Hagen Events Coordinator, Royal Academy of Engineering.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CBE
Hayaatun is CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation. She co-chairs with the Science Minister the government’s Business Innovation Forum and co-chaired with Sir Lewis Hamilton his Commission on improving Black representation in motorsport. She is a trustee of various charities, member of the government’s Levelling Up Advisory Council and Digital Skills Council and NXD at construction company Laing O’Rourke. She has been named as one of the ‘Inspiring 50’ women in tech in Europe and one of the most influential women in both UK engineering and UK tech. She has a Masters in Biochemistry (MBiochem) from Oxford and a PhD from Cancer Research UK/UCL. She is a Fellow of the IET, Honorary Professor at UCL and Honorary Fellow at The Queen’s College, Oxford. She has received honorary doctorates from UCL, Imperial College London, Newcastle, Brunel, Huddersfield and Southampton, as well as a Science Suffrage Award and the Engineering Professor’s Council President’s Medal. She was a finalist for the Veuve Clicquot Bold Woman Award and was made a CBE for services to International Engineering in 2019. Prior to her current roles, she was Deputy CEO at the Academy and served as Committee Specialist and later Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Science & Technology Committee.
Professor Keith Mathieson
Professor Keith Mathieson is Chair in Emerging Technologies and Director at the Institute of Photonics at the University of Strathclyde. Professor Mathieson’s research focuses on brain-interfacing technologies that could further our understanding of brain circuits and how they are affected by neurological disorders. Using these findings, Professor Mathieson will develop neurotechnologies to treat a number of conditions, including brain disorders, dementia and systems for restoring functional vision to blind people.
Professor Timothy Denison
Professor Denison is the Chair in Emerging Technologies and Professor of Neurotechnology at the University of Oxford. He is working to improve treatments for diseases of the nervous system. For invasive devices that are implanted in the body, Professor Denison’s team has collaborated with UK-based Bioinduction Ltd (Bristol) to create the “Picostim DyNeuMo” research platform based on their Picostim neurostimulator. Professor Denison hopes to bring new solutions for the treatment of mental health disorders through advanced power electronics, machine learning, and feedback control. These technologies should provide a more patient-specific therapy for diseases poorly served with existing treatments.
Speakers
Professor Denison is working to improve treatments for diseases of the nervous system. For invasive devices that are implanted in the body, Professor Denison’s team has collaborated with UK-based Bioinduction Ltd (Bristol) to create the “Picostim DyNeuMo” research platform based on their Picostim neurostimulator. The Picostim DyNeuMo research platform is exploring advanced therapy concepts to the research clinic; the first motion-adaptive system, which works like a programmable bioengineered reflex, was implanted in early 2022 as part of a research protocol developing treatments for autonomic disorders. For minimally invasive systems, Professor Denison is working to advance transcranial magnetic stimulation for brain disorders such as anxiety in collaboration with UK-based Magstim Ltd (Whitland, Wales). Professor Denison hopes to bring new solutions for the treatment of mental health disorders through advanced power electronics, machine learning, and feedback control. These technologies should provide a more patient-specific therapy for diseases poorly served with existing treatments.
Professor Mathieson’s research focuses on developing optoelectronic devices to interface with neural systems in an effort to understand aspects of neural processing. He collaborates closely with leading neuroscientists and develops high-end technology using advanced semiconductor processing techniques. Current research focuses on devices that function as implants to restore lost function (for example, retinal prosthetics) and brain-interfacing technologies that could further our understanding of brain circuits and how they are affected in neurodegenerative disorders.
In 2021 KTN published ‘A Transformative Roadmap for Neurotechnology in the UK’ which was co-authored by: Professor Keith Mathieson, Professor Timothy Denison and Dr Charlie Winkworth-Smith.