School teams in finals of Innovation Competition 2017

Teams in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences and in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences are finalists in the Most Innovative Collaboration category of the Enterprising Birmingham Innovation Competition 2017.

The Showcase Event is being held in the Bramall Music Building on Wednesday 29 March 2017.

• In the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, the team of Dr Kieran Khamis, Dr Chris Bradley and Professor David Hannah are working with RS Hydro to develop an optical water quality sensor to enable real-time monitoring of organic pollution in natural and engineered freshwater systems. This sensor will facilitate optimisation of waste water treatment and provide early warning of harmful releases of pollution into natural river systems.
  
  Read more about the RS Hydro case study
   
• In the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, the team of Dr Jennifer Cumming, Dr Sam Cooley, Dr Mark Holland, Mary Quinton, and Benjamin Parry are working with St Basils to co-develop and co-implement the Mental Skills Training for Life™ intervention to prevent and reduce homelessness in young people.
  
  Find out more about Mental skills training project
   

The Enterprising Birmingham Innovation Competition serves not only to identify new ideas, but also to challenge the  academic community to consider how their innovations can translate to commercial impact. This Final Showcase demonstrates some of the University's most disruptive research as well as the entrepreneurial spirit of our academics. Three finalists will pitch their ideas to a Dragons' Den-style judging panel for the chance to win a £20,000 investment from the University and a £5,000 cash prize from sponsors HGF.

As one of the leading research institutions in the UK, the University of Birmingham is characterised by its ability to pioneer while remaining grounded in reality. Our partnerships, like all of our work, arise from intellectual curiosity and research power but are focused on creating innovative, practical and enduring solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing mankind today.