Nick Donaldson studied engineering at Cambridge University in the 1970s. He then became an
apprentice at Marconi and GEC and in 1976 joined the Medical Research Council in the Neurological
Prostheses Unit, under Director Giles Brindley, a pioneer of implanted devices. Nick was tasked with
developing multi-channel motor nerve stimulators to restore leg function in paraplegia and several
of his devices were tested in volunteers in the 1980s. On Brindley’s retirement in 1992, the
engineers from the MRC moved to University College London (UCL) and became the Implanted
Devices Group (IDG), which has maintained a strong association with spinal cord injury research,
working with London Spinal Cord Injuries Centre at RNOH Stanmore and the Salisbury Spinal Injuries
Unit. The implant technology was later extended to detect natural nerve signals as well as nerve
stimulation. The IDG has worked on materials and technology for implants, electronic design,
feedback control of stimulated muscles and trialled stimulation of the lumbar anterior roots as an
alternative to peripheral nerve stimulation. In the late 1990s, the IDG developed ‘functional
electrical stimulation’ or FES-cycling as a recreational exercise for better health. In 2010 it made a
landmark discovery involving one SCI volunteer with an incomplete-lesion, whose paralysis seemed
to be reduced by the combination of FES during voluntary effort to cycle. This discovery led to the
development of the INSPIRE Cycle or iCYCLE.
Nick Donaldson is Professor of Neuroprosthesis Engineering at UCL. Since 1992 he has acted as Principal Investigator on 42 funded projects. In addition to various implanted devices, he has designed several novel machines and pieces of apparatus. He is author or co-author of 147 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has taught 22 PhD students. He has worked on several projects with the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council and previously, served on INSPIRE’s National Scientific Committee from 1999-2018. After a four year break, he assumed the chair from Professor Laurence Kenney in June 2022.

After a first degree in Materials Science at Cambridge University, Alan studied for a PhD in the mechanical properties of machine tool materials, sharing his time between Cambridge and the National Physical Laboratory.  He then switched his attention to Biomedical Engineering, exploring a range of topics before settling on technology for managing intractable incontinence in 1980. He spent most of his career at University College London where he is now Emeritus Professor of Incontinence Technology.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of the US Simon Foundation for continence, and the British Standards Institute and International Standards Organisation committees on incontinence technology. He co-directs the Continence Product Advisor (www.continenceproductadvisor.org) which aims to help people with incontinence and caregivers identify suitable products and use them effectively. As a member of the Biomedical Engineering Division Board of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, he co-chairs the two-yearly Incontinence: The Engineering Challenge conferences , highly multidisciplinary gatherings that aim to inform, inspire and encourage those working in the field, and provoke interest in addressing problems in urgent need of attention.

Michael J Grey is a Reader in Rehabilitation Neuroscience. He obtained a BSc (Physics) at the University of British Columbia, Canada and an MSc (Biomechanics) at Simon Fraser University, Canada. He was awarded his PhD in 2002 from Aalborg University, Denmark where he studied Biomedical Science and Engineering.

Dr Grey has held research appointments at Aalborg University (Denmark), University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), University of Birmingham (UK) and University of East Anglia (UEA). He joined Loughborough University in 2023 as a Reader in Rehabilitation Neuroscience.

Professor Jarvis is a muscle physiologist with long-standing interests in the adaptive response of muscle to voluntary exercise and to applied stimulation. He has BSc (Physics with Physiology) and PhD (Biochemistry) degrees from the University of London and is now Professor in Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moores University. His own published research in experimental stimulation with miniature muscle stimulators is therefore surrounded by projects in whole human physiology and biomechanics. He tries to translate understanding of the fundamental physiology and cell biology of muscle and nerve into practical training and rehabilitation strategies.
Current research includes transcriptional analysis of stimulated, inactive and denervated muscles, to understand more completely how patterns of activation and loading of muscles relate to immediate and long-term cellular responses. These cellular responses are the determinants of force, speed, power, and endurance. Jonathan has worked for many years with the Medical University of Vienna to refine miniature implantable neuromodulators into fully remotely programmable devices that can produce any conceivable pattern of activity and is interested in the limits to training: the threshold of activity above which slowing of muscle occurs, the internal signals for muscle hypertrophy, and the threshold above which muscle becomes damaged. These are important in functional electrical stimulation to influence breathing and control of the airway (laryngeal pacing) and the use of skeletal muscle to assist the heart or to provide neosphincter function, as well as the more common application of electrical stimulation for reanimation of limbs.

Dr Henry Lancashire is Lecturer in Active Implantable Devices at University College London (UCL). He holds a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Materials Science from the University of Nottingham, awarded in 2010. After moving to UCL he completed MRes and EngD degrees in Molecular Modelling & Materials Science in 2011 and 2015 respectively. Henry joined the Implanted Devices Group at UCL as an EPSRC* Doctoral Prize Fellow in 2015 to develop multichannel neural interfaces. After post-doctoral research in the Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology at UCL, Henry joined the UCL Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering as a lecturer. His research focusses on the design and longevity of active implantable medical devices. Henry joined the INSPIRE National Scientific Committee in 2022.

*Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Sue Paddison, Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist and Team Lead at The London Spinal Cord Injury Centre/Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital.  Sue has many years’ experience as a specialist physiotherapist and has seen the excellent results of early intervention in treatment of spinal cord injured patients.  Sue qualified as a Physiotherapist in 1986 and developed her career in Acute Trauma and Orthopaedics. She became a Superintendent Physiotherapist in the NHS specialising in Trauma and Orthopaedics in 1993. She moved to her current post as Superintendent/ Lead Clinical Specialist physiotherapist in the London Spinal Cord Injuries Centre at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust, Stanmore in 1993.

Dr Eimear Smith MB BCh BAO MSc MD FRCPI FFSEM Pg Dip

Dr Eimear Smith is currently Consultant in Rehabilitation Medicine, National Rehabilitation & Mater Misericordiae University Hospitals, Dublin.

Her clinical remit concerns patients with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic and non-traumatic, throughout the continuum of care from acute to community.

Amongst the services which she has had a substantial role in developing over the past 12 years, are the following:

1. Management of the ventilator dependent spinal cord injured patient at the NRH – a collaboration between the NRH & MMUH critical care medicine
2. Specialist upper limb tendon transfer service for cervical level spinal cord injured patients – a collaboration between MMUH upper limb surgeons and NRH SCI rehabilitation team
3. Specialist paediatric SCI service: inpatient consultation service & out-patient clinic

John Spensley has spent his entire career in the hi-tech manufacturing operations environment and has gained considerable knowhow from working in small to medium sized medical, aerospace and telecom businesses.  As a Chartered Manager, John is educated and experienced in the principles necessary to run manufacturing operations.

He started working life in 1970 as an indentured engineering apprentice under the EITB 5-year training scheme.  In the late 1970’s a passion for managing and coordinating factory resources to deliver complex products began.  Attending Nene College, Cranfield and Putteridge-Bury he graduated with an MSc in Technology Management.  For most of John’s working life he has been responsible for delivering demanding new product introduction schedules to meet customer and business needs.  These include handheld Gas Spectrometers, Micro–Optical Spectrum Analysers and surgically implanted Neurostimulators. Furthermore, John has been directly involved with the CE approval for a new implanted device as well as the Competent Authority requirements to trial 2 further class 3 active implanted devices.

John has led on numerous improvement or implementation programs such as Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) systems to Quality Management Systems (QMS) and Total Quality Management programs (TQM).

John has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to learning, engaging with, and coaching all willing colleagues.