(October 11^th 2025) The School of Enterprise Computing & Digital Transformation at the TU Dublin Tallaght Campus was a hive of activity this weekend as a record number of students took part in the 2025 Transforming Health event, hosted in partnership with Tallaght University Hospital (TUH) and supported by Amazon. Now in its fourth year, the event has grown steadily in scale and popularity, reflecting a strong and growing interest among students in gaining hands-on experience solving real-world healthcare challenges. Previous years have seen winning projects evolve into ongoing innovative initiatives, further strengthening the link between academia and healthcare innovation.

In the course of 24 hours, over 100 students received briefings directly from TUH clinicians who designed the challenges, gaining first hand insights into pressing healthcare issues. AWS experts then delivered technical presentations on pitching and prototyping, equipping participants with the tools to develop impactful solutions.

Working overnight, student teams created prototypes and posters outlining their approach to solving one of five challenges. These included:

·        Hidden phosphate finder

·        Adapted call bell

·        Sample Status for the Emergency Department

·        Scheduling system for Outpatient Device Clinic appointments

·        Referral & triaging system for Echocardiography requests on inpatients

Solutions were presented to a panel of judges including the Head of Innovation at TUH, Dr. Natalie Cole; Professor Patrick Mitchell, Consultant Respiratory & General Internal Medicine; Dr. Nicole Fagan, TUH Registrar; Dr. Ann Leonard, Chief Medical Scientist in the TUH Laboratory Medicine Innovation Hub; John Dwyer, Amazon HealthTech Account Manager; Mr. Maurice Martin, Lecturer; Clare Harney; Industry Collaborator. The judges evaluated entries based on the context of the idea, the proposed feasibility of the solution the prototype developed and how they presented their solution to the judges.

Mr Seán McHugh, Head of Digital Transformation, TU Dublin commented “The Transforming Healthcare Innovation Challenge enable our students to apply their knowledge and fresh perspectives in real time, working directly with clinicians and industry experts to solve real-world healthcare challenges. TU Dublin prides itself on facilitating this model of active, industry-engaged collaboration, which also prepares graduates who can think critically, ideate, innovate and make a tangible impact in their fields. Well done to all involved today.”

 

Five awards were presented:

·        Best Future Solution

·        Most Innovative

·        Best Use of Technology

·        Greatest Patient Benefit

·        Best Overall Project

 

Dr. Natalie Cole, Head of Innovation, commented: “Events like this empower students to apply their skills to real-world problems, fostering collaboration between healthcare and academia that can lead to transformative change.”

 

Award Winners – 2025 Health Innovation Challenge

Best Future Solution Team: Miracle Oshafi; Andrew Rickerby; Nwayobuije Ohadike and  Ian-David Bacinschi

Challenge: Referral & triaging system for Echocardiography requests on inpatients

Judges’ Comments: The use of personalised wearable real time ‘vitals’ digital technology shall be transformative for the acute care & management of patients in hospitals and enable better care and safer practices. This team provided an excellent grasp of the challenge and developing a solution for it.

 

Most Innovative Solution Team: Tharun Kumar Reddy; Snehdeep Kaur; Kruthi Veena Prabhakar; Jatin Assudani

Challenge: Sample Status for the Emergency Department

Judges’ Comments: The Sample status and turnaround times with live data captured and displayed that was validated and secured in a most innovative way with a very clear dashboard with live status updates

 

Best Use of Technology Team: Lauren O’Brien Farrelly, Michael Murphy, Dillon Adamson & Collin Adeyinka Macauley

Challenge: Adapted Call Bell

Judges’ Comments: The Care Call solution demonstrated excellent integration of hardware and software to develop a fully accessible and very well thought out call bell system.

 

Greatest Patient Benefit Team: Leah Gilmore; Marco Nocerino; Aaron Farrelly and Illia Lysennyi

Challenge: Adapted Call Bell

Judges’ Comments: A great solution that addressed the challenge statement and included inclusivity for all patients including language translation.

 

Best Overall Project Team: Kishaylin Reddy, Ayan Abedin, Raghav Bansal, Kartik Kanchan and Lisha Mehta

Challenge: Hidden Phosphate Finder

Judges’ Comments: A comprehensive well-designed solution with strong consideration of human computer interaction, the solution went above and beyond the brief incorporating gamification, aesthetically pleasing prototype, and strong use of technology with a clear future roadmap.

 

Participating TU Dublin schools included: School of Enterprise Computing & Digital Transformation; School Of Biological, Health & Sports Sciences; School of Computer Science; School of Informatics & Cybersecurity and School Of Business Technology, Retail & Supply Chain

 

Best Future Solution

 

Most Innovation

 

 Greatest Patient Benefit

 

Best Use of Technology

 

 Overall Winners

A comprehensive well-designed solution with strong consideration of human computer interaction, the solution went above and beyond the brief incorporating gamification, aesthetically pleasing prototype, strong use of technology with a clear future roadmap.