Glasgow Caledonian University
SEBE PhD Research Project Portfolio
Project Reference Number
SEBE_ITT_LB_1
School/Institute/Research Group
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Research Discipline
Project Title
Research Project Summary
Supervisory Team
Staff Contact
School of Engineering and Built Environment
Interactive and Trustworthy Technologies Research Group
Human Computer Interaction, Mobile Interaction, Novel Interaction
Techniques
Using mobile phone app technology to improve diabetic wound treatments
Around 70% of people with diabetes develop neuropathy (damaged nerves)
and are often unaware they have suffered knocks or cuts. Wound healing in
diabetes is compromised, and failure to notice minor injuries can lead to
infection and ulcer development. 200,000 UK patients currently have chronic
wounds - developing new early interventions is vital.
The student will work with a biomedical student to develop a mobile app to
be run on a smart phone or tablet. The mobile app, which encourages users
to report small foot injuries and photograph them over time, will be delivered
via a Diabetes Clinic. Skin biopsies from these patients will be taken via the
health schools Research Tissue Bank; and cell, molecular and wound healing
assays used to examine skin repair capacity. Data will be related to ulcer
development to determine timely interventions delivered via the app. We will
carefully monitor the mobile application use to examine effects on user
behaviour in tracking wounds and requesting suitable assistance from
medical staff.
The students will benefit from collaboration with biomedical experts and
clinicians, and be involved in inter-Institute initiatives with strong interests in
diabetic foot disease and health technology. The outputs will yield valuable
data for parallel translational studies.
 Director of studies/1st Supervisor: Professor Lynne Baillie
 2nd Supervisor: Dr Catherine Wright (IAHR, SHLS)
http://www.gcu.ac.uk/hls/staff/drcatherineswright/
 3rd Supervisor and SHLS clinical link: Prof Andrew Collier (Diabetes
consultant, NHS A&A).
 Professor Lynne Baillie (l.baillie@gcu.ac.uk)