Laura Diment

Lecturer in Engineering and Digital Technologies

College of Science and Engineering

place Tonsley
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Laura is a John Monash Scholar and Topic Coordinator/Lecturer for the Digital Design course, with a passion for sustainable design and improving quality of life for people with disabilities or from low socioeconomic backgrounds. She currently researches prosthetic design and service provision, in collaboration with Salford University, UK. This research focuses on using sensors, 3D scans and big-data analytics to improve prosthetics services for prosthesis-users, clinicians and service providers.

Laura worked for the Medical Device Partnering Program at Flinders University, to prototype and clinically evaluate novel medical and assistive devices, then undertook her doctorate at the University of Oxford, monitoring and developing a bioheat model of the heat-load on prosthesis-users during exercise and rest, and then worked as a postdoc at Southampton University, training Cambodian student-prosthetists to use accelerometers and 3D scanners to monitor physical activity, community participation and prosthetic socket fit. She developed software to classify activity-type from accelerometers, worked on machine-learning for understanding good prosthetic socket fit, and developed a respirator for clinicians in the COVID-19 pandemic. She has worked in a research and teaching capacity with engineers, technicians, prosthetists and assistive-device-users in Australia, UK, Cambodia, India and Papua New Guinea.

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosphy in Engineering Science (Prosthetics, University of Oxford)

Bachelor of Engineering (Biomedical, 1st class honours, Flinders University)

New Venture Institute - Business Enterprise graduate

Honours, awards and grants
  • Royal Academy of Engineering: The President's Special Awards for Pandemic Service - developing a personal respirator in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020)
  • University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor's Award: COVID-19 pandemic response (2020)
  • EPSRC IAA Doctoral Impact Scheme Grant, UK (2019)
  • Brasenose College DPhil Completion Grant (2018)
  • Global Young Scientists Summit - University of Oxford representative (2018)
  • Brasenose College Senior Hulme Scholarship (2017)
  • RECOUP International Conference on Ergonomics, India: Best Oral Presentation (2016)
  • Newton-Bhabha PhD Placement Grant, UK/India (2016)
  • General Sir John Monash Scholarship, Australia (2015)
  • Best Oral Presentation - Australian Biomedical Engineering Conference (2014)
  • Flinders University's Best Business Plan (postgraduate) and People's Choice Award (2014)
  • 3rd place - International Convention on Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology's Student Design Challenge (2013)
  • Flinders University Most Outstanding Engineering Honours Project (2012)
  • Society for Medical and Biological Engineering Outstanding Honours Project (2012)
  • Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Rex Johns Student Presentation award (2012)
  • Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology (DFEEST) Scholarship (2012)
Teaching interests
  • Biomedical Instrumentation
  • Engineering Design
  • Biomechanics
  • Professional Skills for Engineers
Topic coordinator
ENGR1031 Digital Design
Topic lecturer
ENGR2742 Biomedical Instrumentation