Date of the exchange:
October 2023
Partners:
Sending Institution: Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand
Hosting Institution: University of Newcastle, Australia
Dr Soodkhet Pojprapai
Associate Professor
Scope of project:
- International collaboration
- Facilitating links with industry
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals:
#3 Good Health and Well-being
Summary of the visit:
Dr Soodkhet Pojprapai visited the University of Newcastle, Australia to share his research work and collaborate with researchers and industry partners. He had a meeting with Dr. Judie Marquez and Prof. Suzanne Snodgrass, professors at School of Health Science. They had a solid plan to collaborate on the research experiment using sensor-embedded insoles for rehabilitation. Dr Pojprapai also attended a workshop in the School of Health Sciences where he demonstrated his research work, which centres around sensor-embedded insoles. The workshop and demonstration led to an agreement that Dr Pojprapai, along with Dr Andrea Coda, Head of Podiatry, University of Newcastle and other researchers, would collaborate by using the sensor-embedded insoles for rehabilitation at the Podiatry Clinic at Wyong Hospital. The insoles are used to collect the gait patterns of the elderly, and using machine learning, assess their fall risk.
This visit allowed Dr Pojprapai to collaborate internationally to develop wearable sensors for applied fall risk assessment and fall prediction in the elderly. It also allowed him to share his ‘research-to-startup’ experience with Suratec Co. Ltd (Suranaree University of Technology) with the researchers at University of Newcastle, Australia.
Highlight of the Visit:
The visit allowed Dr Pojprapai to make connections which developed into a plan to utilise the sensor-embedded insoles at a Podiatry Clinic in Wyong Hospital.
Significant Outcomes:
- In the following months, Dr Pojprapai demonstrated the use of sensor-embedded insoles at the podiatry Clinic at Wyong Hospital and began developing a research plan focussed on fall prediction in elderly or stroke patients, beginning to take his work into real-world contexts.
- Dr Pojprapai established a collaborative network at University of Newcastle. He is utilising this network to send the insoles to researchers at University of Newcastle for experimentation and preliminary results. This collaboration is being expanded into further visits from Dr Pojprapai and a PhD student from Suranaree University of Technology to conduct experiments at University of Newcastle with supervision from Dr Pojprapai’s connections there.