(April 11, 2017) - The CAD WALK project received good news today as it was awarded over €160,000 in research funding. The funding was awarded as part of the EU's Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, specifically in the form of an individual fellowship to project lead Dr. Brian G. Booth.
The CAD WALK project proposal was met with encouraging reviews from experts in the field and was given a score of 95.8% during the evaluation phase. This high score placed CAD WALK in the top 5% of submitted proposals. Roughly 15% of proposals went on to receive funding. "It is a tremendous honour to receive such a highly-competitive award", said Booth. "At the same time, it is a real challenge. We want to live up to the expectations that we created when we proposed this research".
The Marie Curie Individual Fellowships were created with the goal of enhancing the innovative potential of experienced researchers by diversifying their skill set through advanced training. A high emphasis is placed on skill development, public engagement, and translating knowledge and ideas into products and services. CAD WALK intends to address these goals by partnering with rs scan, a world leader in plantar pressure measurement, to deliver the first computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) software package for plantar pressure data. At the same time, CAD WALK will also work with end users at Sint Maartenskliniek (Nijmegen, NL) to ensure that the developed CAD system meets the needs of clinicians.
"This project will be a learning experience for me" says Booth. "It will be my first time partnering with industry and the first time I will be involved in [the] collection [of plantar pressure measurements]. That said, I am looking forward to building those relationships with industry and with the medical sector. It is vital for the success of medical image computing research to have those networks set up."
The CAD WALK project is expected to begin in October 2017 and run for two years.
CAD WALK Funding Announcement (European Commission)