Why the HSE is conducting this initiative
How to apply for the scholarship
Selecting students for the scholarship
Concept
- A total of 12 scholarships offered to 6 different design schools in the country - 2 per school.
- Promotion of collaboration between designers and healthcare professionals to solve clinical problems in the healthcare service. Successful candidates will receive a €1,000 scholarship bursary prior to commencing their project in support of costs. The HSE spark team will offer their support in gaining access to healthcare staff and facilities. The student will retain all their existing project ownership rights as set out by their college.
- 12 students will have their work displayed at a national showcase on 26 May 2023.
Why the HSE is conducting this initiative
The HSE is a challenging environment for patients and healthcare professionals alike; we feel through collaboration with designers that we can alleviate or improve the challenges which currently exist in our healthcare system.
The Spark Innovation Programme is keen to support innovations and changes in all forms. We are happy to bring forward an initiative which supports young designers who may have an impact on the future of our healthcare system.
Our hope is that your project may be supported, scaled and implemented to impact patients or staff on a local, regional or national level.
The HSE will not claim ownership over your project.
Schools included:
- Maynooth University
- NCAD
- University of Limerick
- TU Dublin
- Carlow IT
- Atlantic Technological University Sligo
Scholarship specifics
- Scholarships are offered to students of design programmes for the academic year of 2022-2023 – this includes Bachelor, Masters and PhD students.
- Head of programme/course/module will assign scholarships appropriately post application (external assessors may be used if the college wishes to do so).
- Scholarships are worth 1,000 euros each
- the school itself is in control of the bursary
- receipts for materials should be presented to be reimbursed from the bursary
- If a school does not have two students to participate, these scholarships may be passed to other schools that have students interested – deadline for schools to select students is 10 February 2023.
- Students selected will sign an agreement stating they are happy to participant in the above and to showcase their work (in person or online) and via social media channels.
- Collaborations with hospitals or healthcare workers should be recognised and documented.
Project criteria
Design a solution/product that demonstrates a measurable benefit to any element of the Irish healthcare eco-system, for example:
- satisfaction (user experience before and after)
- cost benefit
- quality of Life (QoL)
- length of hospital stay
- reduction in patients attending acute hospital services
Have you identified an aspect of Irish health care that demonstrates poor patient satisfaction?
Can you spot an unnecessarily expensive aspect of healthcare?
Do you know of a particular patient group that has an unnecessarily poor quality of life due to their health circumstance?
Are some patients spending unnecessary and unproductive time in hospitals that would be better served at home with supporting technology?
Have you identified another pinch point that some clever design can save money, improve patient welfare or save exchequer monies?
Suggested project topics
While we are interested to hear about any solutions that address the above criteria, you may take some inspiration from these 3 areas.
- How might we shift patients and users of the healthcare services from acute hospital settings to primary and home care settings?
- How might we improve patient and/or healthcare professional workers experience in a hospital setting?
- How might we improve healthcare services in a hospital setting?
How to apply for the scholarship
Selecting students for the scholarship
Your college/university will review submitted applications and select candidates who are the most suitable for the scholarship based on the above criteria.
If your college/university prefers for an external reviewer to be used for selection, we will try to facilitate this. The same criteria will be used as above.
Judging projects
Judging is carried out by an expert panel of designers; industry and healthcare professionals
How the projects will be judged:
- defining and elaborating the clinical problem
- the solution – relevance and usefulness
- impact – how could your solution impact the clinical problem
- scalability – can this solution be implemented locally, nationally or internationally
- validation – demonstrate some measurable improvement
- design for manufacture – value engineering and manufacturability (if a product solution)
- presentation – quality and effectiveness of communication
If the solution produced is of a regulatory nature (requiring CE marking), a non-regulatory solution produced in tandem would gain additional marking from our expert panel. The HSE is a public entity and would prefer solutions of a non-regulatory nature which could be more easily implemented.
How we can help you
We have the support of national HSE Library services in which 5 makerspaces are being put in place. These are areas that students can use to produce prototype products.
Locations include:
- Connolly Hospital Dublin
- Our Lady of Lourdes Drogheda
- Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore
- University Hospital Galway
- Cork University Hospital
We have librarians in locations across Ireland who are happy to speak to design students and support them in research and offer spaces to work if required.
Selected students may have connections of their own in order to gain access to healthcare sites or patients; however if you require help in gaining access, we are happy to help in any way possible.
Terms and conditions
- Solution must be healthcare related.
- There must be a solution or physical product to display at the National showcase for the problem that you have found. This may be supported by service and digital elements.
- Student must be willing to showcase their work in person and/or via social media channels.
- Spark Innovation Programme will not own the proprietary rights of the project.
- Must be completed by 26 May 2023 for National Showcase.
- Video pitch (maximum of 4 minutes) should be prepared and for the showcase and the scholar must be available to attend online on the day.
- If there are issues gaining access to a clinical site – we can try to help in securing access.
- Agreement must be signed by the student to receive the scholarship bursary.