A team of students from the University of Bath, competing to build a working total artificial heart, has been awarded ‘Most Advanced Design’ for their latest design at the global Heart Hackathon, marking the third year in a row that ‘Team Bath Heart’ have been recognised at the event.

One of just two teams from the UK competing in the finals of the annual Heart Hackathon held in Vienna, Austria on 1 December, Team Bath Heart were up against competition from around the world, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Egypt, New Zealand, Romania, Thailand, Sweden and the United States.

The team’s design built on the successes of previous years by decreasing the size of the actuation mechanism that pumps the heart and establishing the surgical compatibility of the device. Their latest iteration is tailored to female and smaller patients, reflecting a commitment to embedding sustainable EDI principles directly into engineering work.

Alabama Cawley, an MEng Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering student and the team lead for Team Bath Heart, said: “Being lead of Team Bath Heart has been rewarding in so many ways, and the recognition of having the ‘Most Advanced Design’ at the Heart Hackathon is a wonderful way to conclude the year. I am so proud of how far the team has come and I cannot wait to see the progress the team makes next year!”

Total artificial hearts are the only solution to end-stage biventricular heart failure while patients are waiting for a donor heart. The Heart Hackathon competition draws teams of students from across the world to design, build and test working artificial hearts that tackle some of the biggest challenges in the field.

As well as the engineering aspects, the interdisciplinary team of students from engineering, science and management courses set about tackling the challenge of how their heart could be accessible to underserved populations in lower-income countries.

Dr Katharine Fraser, senior lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, and one of the team's academic supervisors, said: "The whole team have worked incredibly hard over the last year to manufacture a working prototype. The rig data and other experimental testing they've done demonstrate the progress of the technology from design towards a functional artificial heart. Winning the "Most Advanced Design" award is a wonderful recognition of this progress."

Following their success at the Hackathon, the team presented their heart at the International Society for Mechanical Circulatory Support conference in Vienna. Two students, Josh Keenan, studying Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Morgan Reed, studying Biochemistry in the Department of Life Sciences, also delivered presentations on their findings at the conference.

Dr Melusine Pigeon, senior lecturer in Electronic and Electrical Engineering, and also an academic supervisor, added: "Once again, we are very proud of what the team has achieved. Winning the “Most Advanced Design” award is a testament to years of concept refinement and the dedication of successive generations of students from across the University. This truly represents a multidisciplinary effort, bringing together expertise from Electronic and Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering, as well as Biology, Computer Science, and many other fields.

"We look forward to next year’s competition in China, where we are confident our students will continue to showcase the outstanding work they are doing."

The Heart Hackathon was launched in 2023 to promote and support student innovation in the cardiovascular engineering space.

Every year, competing teams present their research and findings to a panel of judges, with prizes awarded to the top three performing teams, as well as bonus prizes for the most advanced design and most novel design.