A Kingston University PhD student who is researching how smart materials could be used to replace damaged bones within the human body has been named winner of this year's national Vitae Three Minute Thesis competition. Sadaf Akbari took home the prestigious academic trophy –.
Healthcare worker checks PPE before treating patients. Image: Simon Davis/DFID A study published by researchers at Kingston University (KU) uncovered major shortfalls in the government s sourcing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers on the frontlines of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK last year. The research used mathematical models linked with predictive game theory , and showed that implementing alternative sourcing models developed in the research could have saved the government billions of pounds and increased their storage capacity for the essential protective gear tenfold . The open-access study witnessed KU academics partner with researchers from Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar in the application of game theory to group decision making when it came to PPE sourcing during the first wave.