UC BIOMED offers students a wide range of opportunities including attending biomedical engineering conferences within NZ and abroad, hosting field trips to biomedical engineering companies and research groups, building medical diagnostic kits and children’s prosthetic hands (and designing solutions) for Engineering World Health, eNable, HACKBerry, and other organisations, and participating in international design competitions, such as Heart Hackathon to design a total artificial heart. The club also proactively develops research and summer work opportunities for engineering students interested in the medical field.
Networking Events
UC BIOMED has almost 200 members and likes to participate in UC Open Days, club days, academic events and anniversaries (including the UC 150th Anniversary alumni event), and outreach events, such as National Biomechanics Week, and Decide Your Discipline.
In collaboration with IEEE, TronSoc, and MECHSoc, UC BIOMED hosts industry panel Q&A evenings featuring invited guests from many engineering companies, including Taska, Enztec, MedSalv, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. Each year, at least 60 students attend each of these events.
The club also hosts annual BBQs outside UCSA Herea-Roa, which serve as networking opportunities for engineering students to meet and discuss biomedical engineering.
Heart Hackathon
Heart Hackathon is UC BIOMED’s flagship event. Heart Hackathon is an annual international design competition that runs from February to November, during which teams from universities design, prototype, and manufacture a total artificial heart. Since 2023, UC BIOMED has competed in the annual competition as a club project and FYP, successfully meeting all deadlines and developing a prototype. Previous years' teams have travelled to Tokyo and Vienna for the final presentation to share their concepts. The 2026 competition will be held in Suzhou, China, a city the team is excited to visit.
