A handheld device to speed up diagnosis of skin cancer, an instrument to improve monitoring of water quality in rivers and oceans and a swimming aid for the visually impaired.

Just three of the creations on display at Bournemouth University’s Festival of Design and Engineering next month as young engineers, designers and entrepreneurs present their solutions to global issues.

125 students will be demonstrating designs and prototypes developed for their final year projects.

Many address global issues such as environmental sustainability, improving people’s lives and healthcare.

Design Engineering student Eleanor Webb’s product, SK-Insight, uses machine learning technology to carry out a fast assessment of skin lesions.

It can then provide advice on when to seek medical attention.

The design uses LED lights to analyse skin lesions.

Eleanor Webb.

Eleanor said: “One in 36 men and one in 47 women will be diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer in the UK.

“Early diagnosis is key.

“SK-Insight uses 20 lights to capture high quality images of someone’s skin lesions.

“These are then compared to a database of over 30,000 lesions to produce a predicted diagnosis.”

Millie Hanlon’s product uses violet light to measure the density of vital phytoplankton in waters

The product design student is hoping to make it easier for scientists and conservationists to monitor the health of the world’s oceans and freshwater habitats.

Millie has developed Ocean-Insight – a handheld device that can measure populations of phytoplankton.

She said: “Phytoplankton produce half of the oxygen in the atmosphere and form the base of almost every food chain.

“Without them, sustaining life on Earth would be almost impossible but alarming estimates reveal a 50 per cent decline in their populations over the past 60 years.”

Millie Hanlon.

Monitoring the population changes in phytoplankton is difficult and requires specialist equipment.

Ocean-Insight, on the other hand, can measure this much more quickly.

The product uses violet light to take advantage of the fluorescent properties of a pigment found in plankton called chlorophyll.

The light illuminates the chlorophyll which can then be used to measure the density of plankton in the water.

Product Design student Robin Boyden is aiming to give swimmers with visual impairments more independence in the pool.

His Swim Vision product lets visually impaired swimmers know when they are approaching the end of the lane.

He said: “Currently, visually impaired swimmers don’t have a safe, independent way to identify the ends of the pool.

“For decades they have relied on the ‘tapping method’ – where someone taps them as they approach the end of their lane – in training, and all the way to the Paralympics.”

Swim Vision works by using an infrared sensor to detect when the swimmer is approaching the end of the pool.

It then alerts them via a speaker when they reach a reference point.

Robin Boyden.

Other innovative products on display at the festival include:

• A device that cyclists in towns and cities can attach to their bikes which tells them how much air pollution there is around them.
• A routine organiser light, specifically designed to help teenagers with dyspraxia.
• Portable apparatus that can store medicine and keep it refrigerated for use in disaster zones with long periods of power loss.
• A portable menstrual cup cleaner. Making sustainable sanitary products more accessible by allowing them to be discreetly cleaned outside of the home.
• A outside planter for gardeners which also collects rainwater and has a high-pressure pump to connect to a garden hose.
• A clean energy solution to generate power from the river flowing through an old watermill site.
• Sustainable surfboard design made from biodegradable materials.

Introduced in 1992, the Festival of Design and Engineering is one of the longest running annual events in the Bournemouth University calendar.

The free festival is open to the public, local businesses and industry representatives.

It will take place at the University’s Talbot Campus between Friday June 23 and Monday June 26.

Tickets can be booked by clicking here.