A team of engineers and healthcare experts, led by the University of Nottingham, have been awarded by the Royal Academy of Engineering for the development of the Monica Novii ™ Wireless Patch System — a wearable monitor that accurately and continuously monitors the baby’s heartbeat in labour.

The team, who started their research in the early 1990s, includes Professor Barrie Hayes-Gill and Professor John Crowe from the University of Nottingham; Terence Martin from Monica Healthcare; Kanwaljit Bhogal; and Dr Jean-Francois Pieri; and Dr Carl Barratt from GE Healthcare.

This year’s Colin Campbell Mitchell Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering was presented to the team at the annual Research Forum in London on Tuesday 12 November. The award is given annually to an engineer or small team of engineers who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of any field of UK engineering.

From left to right: Professor Barrie Hayes-Gill (University of Nottingham); Dr Terence Martin (Monica Healthcare); Professor Karen Holford CBE FREng (Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair). © The Royal Academy of Engineering.

Professor Barrie Hayes-Gill, Professor of Electronic Systems and Medical Devices at the University of Nottingham, said: “We are highly delighted to have won this prestigious RAE Colin Campbell Mitchell Award that recognises the achievement of the whole team.

“It’s been a very long journey from the early funding of Action Medical Research, EPSRC and Innovate UK to the recent GEHC acquisition. To see our research of many years become a true commercial reality with devices now being sold around the world is a very proud moment for us all.”

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