News





Orthopaedic Research Society Conference, Long Beach California 2024

Dr David Williams and Professor Cathy Holt from the Cardiff University team and Dr. Michael Ward from the Exeter team visited the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) which was held in Long Beach in February 2024.

David had the opportunity to present a poster focussing on the in-vivo protocol element of the project as well as the opportunity to discuss the project and its potential outcomes with other interested biomechanists.





PPI Event Held to Celebrate World Spine Day 2023

A participant and public impact event was held to engage the public in aspects of the IDSSSM project and to provide their feedback on a range of questions posed by the research team with the support of Exeter Science Centre.

The event specifically focussed on asking the participants to review project communications, to consider any concerns they might have regarding the research protocol and the personal data it gathers, uses and stores, and consider how to improve these aspects of the project.

Held at Exeter Central Library on Monday 16th October – World Spine Day – the event attracted 12 participants who actively engaged with the research team. We are very grateful to all of our research participants and are committed to acting on their feedback to improve our research methods and research communication.


September 2023 – We are now recruiting for research participants!

We are now recruiting for research participants to take part in the in vivo laboratory data collection part of our study. Our permission to commence this work is following a successful IRAS / NHS Ethics application during which the study went through a thorough review.

Potential participants who meet the study requirements – aged between 18 and 60 years of age with no history of back problems or surgery – can contact us for more details about the study. Each potential participant is provided with a Participant Information Sheet detailing the requirements of the study. Both of the data collection procedures take place in Cardiff at Cardiff University premises. Potential participants are free to contact us to confirm that they are willing to take part.

Anyone interested in the study can contact us at mskbrf@cardiff.ac.uk for more information.





3-5 May 2023 – IDSSSM Project at CMBBE 2023 SYMPOSIUM

The 18th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering was held in Paris in May 2023 and was attended by IDSSSM Project PDRA Dr Emily Kelly. Emily’s poster ‘Comparison of two machine learning methods to predict intervertebral disc properties’ is available below:





18-20 April 2023 – IDSSSM Project represented at BritSpine 2023

Associate Professor Dr Jude Meakin attended Britspine 2023, the leading multi-disciplinary scientific conference and exhibition for spinal experts, both clinical and in research held in Glasgow. The IDSSSM team was pleased to have the following poster representing the project: