IASTED International Conference
on Biomedical Engineering
16-18 February 2005, Innsbruck,
Austria
Report by Messel Bursar Robin Kumar
I am grateful for receiving a £350 Messel Fund travel
award from the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). This sizeable
amount was used to supplement the expenses in attending the
IASTED (International Association of Science and Technology
for Development ) International Conference on Biomedical Engineering
in Innsbruck, Austria (BioMED 2005; 16-18 February 2005).
IASTED is a globally recognised non-profit organization with
the aim to promote economic development through science and
technology. The IASTED committee has recently recognised the
fast emerging area of Biomedical Engineering and thus the
inclusion of Biomedical Engineering as one of the main theme
in its conference set up. The recent conference on Biomedical
Engineering is the third of its kind hosted by IASTED.
To exemplify the diversity and inter-disciplinary nature
of IASTED conferences, in conjunction with BioMED 2005, there
were also: Artificial Intelligence and Applications (AIA 2005),
Software Engineering (SE 2005), Databases and Applications
(DBA 2005), Parallel and Distributed Computing and Networks
(PDCN 2005), and Modelling, Identification, and Control (MIC
2005) sessions being held.
The nature of the BioMED symposium was multi-disciplinary,
and this year's proceedings had attracted numerous investigators
from Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine, Biology, and Information
Technology. All the papers accepted for this conference underwent
a thorough review process, with each paper scrutinised by
a minimum of two reviewers.
Their responses were highly encouraging and informative;
with each paper graded from 1 to 5 in originality, contribution,
references, presentation, and language. The exchanges of ideas
amongst the attendees were carried out through a 15 minutes
oral presentation supplemented by a five minute question period.
In addition, an excellent plenary talk was presented by Professor
P. Boesiger (Switzerland) on 'Magnetic Resonance Imaging for
the Assessment of Organ Functions'. The conference itself
was sub-divided into several sections, including: Biomechanics,
Biomedical Computing, Hemodynamics, Modelling, Simulation,
Systems and Control. Further details can be found on the IASTED
website: www.iasted.org.
 This
was to be my final opportunity to attend a major conference,
as I am now entering the final stages of my degree. Prior
to the conference (with the available information) it was
very useful to consider how to prepare and also how to get
the most out of the experience. The overall objective of attending
the conference was to improve my knowledge and skills.
BioMED 2005 symposium was highly gratifying and allowed me
to gain a unique experience and from this trip my horizons
has been broadened in fields near to my own (micro-circulation)
and also surrounding area of research. More specifically,
the plenary talk gave a useufl insight into developments of
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Although the focus of this presentation was more towards
macro-circulation as opposed to microcirculation, the future
is indeed promising. Advancement in micro-circulation MRI
offers the solution to a non-invasive method for the study
of human bone marrow.
I have benefited from the conference in several ways, but
here I focus on two key points: presentation and organisational
skills. Due to the short nature of the presentation, it was
imperative that the structure of the talk encompassed the
necessary details so that I would be able to convey my points
to the attendees justly. With several revisions of the talk,
the presentation was considered to be of a good standard.
The talk allowed me to further enhance my skills in answering
questions posed by experts who were present in the audience.
The size and the parallel sessions prevented me to attend
all the presentations, and so prior to my departure I had
prepared the talks within these two main headings: 'Subject
Related' and 'Round- Table Discussion'. The latter gave several
insights into emerging sub-domains of my field.
Although it was somewhat disappointing not to attend some
of the talks as they clashed on the timetable with others,
this did provide an opportunity to read the abstracts beforehand
and make an informed decision based on this. After the presentation,
there were numerous interests shown in my work, and these
attendees offered several suggestions that were highly useful
in furthering my present studies; such encouragement has offered
further motivation and extra belief to continue with my research.
Of great importance as well was the opportunity I had to
make social contacts and meet people with similar interests
with me. During my stay, I tried to create useful links with
people from other Universities and most significantly I made
some very good friends.
Last but not least, the few days I spent in Innsbruck gave
me a flavour of its history, culture, regional cuisine and
very pleasant way of life.
Robin Kumar
Department of Chemical Engineering and
Chemical Technology
Imperial College
London
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