Lucy Cavendish College Research Day 2022
Research Day was a huge success with fascinating presentations across a range of disciplines.
Lucy Cavendish Student, Devmalya Sarkar discusses his research passion for identifying and solving unmet healthcare needs
Devmalya Sarkar is a 1st year Lucy Cavendish PhD student at the University’s Engineering Department—Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), researching ways to improve user-centric mobile health (“mHealth”) innovation utilising user engagement. Dev is also a Cambridge Trust, RADMA, and Trinity-Henry Barlow (honorary) scholar.
“Promising healthcare innovations—such as mHealth apps—often fail because they fail to effectively identify users’ needs early in the innovation process—which is challenging, reflective of the uncertainty or “fuzziness” in the front end of innovation. Our research interfaces open innovation, innovation management, and design to explore the role of early-stage user engagement in reducing uncertainty in mHealth app development and investigate key issues in engaging users in innovation.”
Based at the IfM’s Centre for Technology Management, this research, guided by Prof Tim Minshall, seeks to improve the understanding of user engagement and user need identification to enhance firms’ user-centric digital health innovation ability.
About the researcher
Devmalya completed his foundational training in biomedical engineering at India’s Manipal University, followed by a master’s degree in biomechanics from the University of Manchester, UK, where he graduated summa cum laude. Over the last decade, his work has focussed on designing and delivering user-centred products, services, and ecosystem initiatives spanning diverse clinical needs for global corporations, start-ups, innovation labs, and venture acceleration groups across India, the US, and the UK. Dev invented India’s first preventive solution addressing cumulative stress disorders in clinicians whilst his work on business model innovation in diabetes was integrated into India’s largest home healthcare firm’s service delivery model. He was inducted into the Government of India Department of Biotechnology’s flagship Stanford-India Biodesign program in 2014 to train in frugal innovation and is a certified bio-designer.
Dev also contributes to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) USA’s India Chapter as a board member and joint secretary and co-chairs their India Innovation & Start-ups Committee. He loves engaging with budding and seasoned scientists, engineers, and innovators through various innovation advancement forums—including sectoral advisory for the United States-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund—and serves performing arts-based poverty alleviation initiatives for underprivileged children across Karnataka, India.
If you would like to learn more and participate in this research, please contact Dev on LinkedIn or via email at ds764@cam.ac.uk.