Living Systems Institute

School of Biomedical Engineering UBC

School of Biomedical Engineering UBC/LSI Exeter Partnership

We are pleased to continue to develop our collaboration between the University of Exeter’s Living Systems Institute (LSI) and the School of Biomedical Engineering (SBME) at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

We are looking forward to developing a deep and lasting research collaboration over the coming years. Initially we held a Virtual Seminar and Poster Session held in July 2025 between SBME and LSI, we launched the LSI/SBME PhD Exchange and accepted applications early 2026.

We offered LSI and SBME PhD students a unique opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary research with world-class scientists at our institutions. Through a joint PhD program and exchange, students from both organisations can gain access to cutting-edge facilities, broaden their research perspectives, and develop valuable international networks. Additionally, they will benefit from exposure to diverse research environments and methodologies, which will enrich their academic training and enhance their career prospects in the growing field of biomedical engineering.

In June 2026, a delegation from LSI went to Vancouver for a busy week of activities at SBME, UBC.  The delegation was made up of: Joanna Bird (LSI Manager), Benjamin Housden (Director of Business Engagement – LSI, CBS and UKHFGI), Koji Masuda (EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellow – LSI/Physics), Fabrice Gielen (Senior Lecturer – LSI/Physics) and Junning Chen (Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering  - LSI Affiliate).  

The partnership is further supported by the Global Engagement and International Relations teams at Exeter and SBME, UBC, who play a key role in enabling mobility, coordination, and long-term sustainability of the collaboration.

LSI visit SBME in Vancouver, Canada - June 2026

We started the week with meeting Govind Kaigala (Interim Director) at SBME's home - the Gordon B. Shrum Building, Canada’s first purpose-built biomedical engineering facility.  This forms part of a formal research partnership between LSI and SBME with a PhD exchange following later this summer and we look forward to a further PhD exchange in 2026/27. We also discussed SBME’s approach to industry interaction, in particular, their recruitment of an industry advisory board to support both education and research.

The Annual SBME Symposium was held on the 2nd June with the title ‘Engineering Health’ and guest speakers including Dr. Lola Eniola-Adefeso  (University of Illinois Chicago), delivering the Connie Eaves Memorial Lecture; Dean of the UIC College of Engineering  on: ‘Leveraging the Natural Cellular and Biomolecular Interactions in Blood for the Design of Targeted, Anti-Inflammatory Particle Therapeutics’. and Dr. Krystal Tsosie (Arizona State University) and Dr. Amin Emad (McGill University).  A busy and engaging poster session followed where Joanna and Ben met representatives of a key funder in Genomics which will lead to further discussions.

A Special Research Seminar was held on 3rd June featuring the visiting LSI researchers as well as short talks from the two successful PhD students who will be visiting LSI this summer – to Frank Vollmer and Austin Smiths’ groups.

Further meetings included Innovation UBC – the central innovation and entrepreneurship team as well as representatives from the Global Partnerships team and several from SBME leadership team.

LSI Delegation meet Professor Govind Kaigala and Melody Salehzadeh

LSI/SBME PhD Exchange

We are excited to announce a new research partnership between University of British Columbia's School of Biomedical Engineering and the University of Exeter’s Living Systems Institute (LSI): the SBME–Exeter LSI PhD Student Exchange Program!

This initiative aims to:

  • Foster international collaboration between SBME and University of Exeter LSI research communities
  • Provide PhD students with unique opportunities to engage in interdisciplinary research abroad
  • Strengthen global networks in biomedical engineering and life sciences

Through this funding opportunity, LSI PhD students will have the chance to spend up to 8 weeks at UBC's SBME in Vancouver, Canada, gaining access to world-class facilities and expertise. Faculty supervisors will also benefit from enhanced collaboration opportunities with leading researchers at SBME.

Applications for 2026/27 will open in Autumn 2026.

We look forward to seeing the exciting collaborations and research outcomes this partnership will bring!

If you have any questions, please contact Joanna Bird on infolsi@exeter.ac.uk or Melody Salehzadeh (melody.salehzadeh@ubc.ca).