The Centre for Health Technologies (CHT) is a distinctive interdisciplinary hub based in the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton. It was established in 2018 to facilitate coordination between ECS academics and practitioners in the health domain, such as the fields of e-health, healthcare technologies, wellbeing and rehabilitation. ECS has significant expertise spanning many areas in the health domain.
Impact is delivered by the CHT through:
“Working closely with University Hospital Southampton, CHT brings together researchers in electronic engineering, computer science, medicine and the life sciences to promote the development of practical, clinically relevant technologies. Its integrated approach enables academics, clinicians and students to co-create solutions to real-world healthcare challenges.
CHT supports early-stage innovation through student design projects, seed funding, and collaborative research. Its annual event, Clinicians Meet Engineers, has sparked partnerships that have led to novel diagnostic tools, digital health platforms and AI-based predictive models. ECS is central to this work, contributing expertise in sensors, machine learning, human–computer interaction and health data systems. With a strong culture of applied research and direct links to clinical services, ECS is ideally positioned to drive innovation in healthcare through the CHT.’’
Professor Neil White and Dr Adriana Wilde, Directors.
At the start of the pandemic, Professor Hywel Morgan and his group designed, prototyped and tested a new protective respirator, “PeRSo”. which now HSE approval. The PeRSo project united experts in ECS, engineering and medicine with industry partners. The respirator can be worn throughout a worker’s shift, is reusable and manufactured in the UK. The concept was published open-source and made available to other manufacturers and organisations around the world, facilitating an international response.
As the pandemic progressed, Professor Michael Boniface and his team worked closely with NHS Trusts across the region to track and curate ‘suspected COVID’ and ‘positive COVID’ from first presentation to pre and post hospital admission. This included trajectory events, physiological observations and drug interventions, alongside baseline demographics and risk factors. This data characterised the full disease trajectory and treatment, through to medical stabilisation at discharge.
Moving forward, the team is working with clinicians, public health experts, and the Wessex Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) and Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on Long Covid.