High Performance Low Cost Ventilators in Brazil
STEM subjects can be a very complicated topic to understand. Jargon can be misconstrued which dehumanises topics such as medical inventions and make it difficult to understand its importance, thus preventing the empathy that is needed to strike innovation in a targeted audience of budding engineers and scientists aged sixteen to eighteen.
There are many reasons as to why a percentage of young people are disinterested in science. For instance, lack of exposure and personal relevancy, have been shown to affect young people’s motivational behaviour. However, exposure to science that has a direct impact on young people's lives such as the pandemic is often filled with complex jargon, making interesting topics difficult to understand.
To engage young people in science there is a need to inspire the targeted audience with science that has a direct implication to their lives. For instance, a topic that is relevant to the audience is medical technology that is used to help prevent death by coronavirus universally. An example of this is the innovative High-Performance Low-Cost ventilator created by the STFC (UKRI, 2020). The ventilator was created in response to coronavirus, which is being trialled in Brazil where healthcare is unevenly spread and will be distributed to developing countries. The topic will be considered inspiring to young people due to the effect it can have universally on a virus that has implicated many lives globally.
The main intention of the initial proposal is to answer the question as to why it is important to use specialised skills such as science and engineering in developing countries. This is completed by using the HPLV project as a case study into what the HPLV ventilator is and why it was created.
Therefore, by explaining what the STFC’s High-Performance Low-Cost ventilator is, why it is important and where it will be used it will encourage students to become more involved in inspiring STEM projects.
Skills Used-
Campaign Work
In partnership with the STFC
Design- Sophie Hague
Project Year- 2020
Phase 1
Phase 1 includes working with the initial data to outline of the background information of the proposal. This sets the foundation of explaining what the High-Performance Low-Cost ventilator is and where it will be used in a risographic style. The 3d printed hospital will be placed in the middle of the posters to add an interactive element.
Phase 2
Engaging an audience of young STEM students aged sixteen to eighteen to become involved in the innovation of medical technology in developing countries starts with outlining the intended proposal.
Phase two of the initial test starts with a small scale repurposed spirit level which is a small prop in a wider exhibition. The idea is whatever surface the spirit level is placed on it will never be even. This will then metaphorically tackle the uneven distribution of healthcare in developing countries
This focusses on the concept of collective responsibility and how science and technology can shape the quality of life for other countries, inspiring the targeted audience of scientists and engineers
Phase 3
A pop-up exhibition will take place in schools, therefore reaching the target audience directly. This is where the spirit level will be used. The spirit-level is a way of physically witnessing flaws on a large scale through a small object.
Uneven healthcare is not something physically visible when living in a privileged country such as the UK, however, by being able to read the imbalance through a piece of technological equipment that measures even surfaces, it is intended to provoke thought into the topic and inspire new generative thinking. This then ties back to the initial research that the HPLV ventilator was built on original designs for a different ventilator, the High Energy Physics Ventilator, showing that an innovation does not always need to be a new idea, just a developed one.
Once the spirit level is distributed throughout the exhibition, the audience can then place it on the walls and apply it to the 3d model of Brazil created which shows why the country will benefit from the new ventilator. By focussing heavily on Brazil it shows that innovation is not only needed in low-income countries, but also countries that are more economically developed but still isn’t widespread.
The STFC can use this exhibition primarily to inspire the next generation of STEM enthusiasts but also to show the inspiring work that the organisation have been developing to help with the grievance of the coronavirus pandemic universally.
used
3D Model of Brazil which will be placed in the Exhibition
Phase 4
Phase 4 consists of a video explaining the HPLV ventilators.