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Our Team

Dr Andrew Taylor

Dr Andrew Taylor is the managing director of Aurora and has a PhD in Material Science and degree in Mechanical Engineering CNAA from Portsmouth University. Andy is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers; he has extensive project management and research experience in aerospace, space and bioengineering disciplines. After 10 years at Rolls Royce and 10 years Matra Marconi, Andy joined Finsbury Development of which he became the Managing Director, with a portfolio of more than 50 R&D projects, including various European and innovate UK funded projects.


Dr Andy Taylor (AT) formed Aurora Medical Ltd in 2011 where he is managing director. After graduating from University of Portsmouth in 1979, during which he won an EITB scholarship at Westland Aircraft; his first professional appointment was with Rolls Royce aero-engines in Bristol, progressing from Technical Engineer to Senior, then Principal, before becoming the company’s Advanced Material Senior Specialist in 1989. Matra Marconi Space approached him a year later; and he accepted a post of Engineering Manager with the Composite technology group. He was recognised as the company specialist across 5 sites in England and France progressing to Portsmouth Materials Site Manager in 1997. In this capacity AT was also appointed Project Manager of a bioengineering project with the University of Southampton in a new initiative entitled ‘Space Engineering in Medicine’. In 1998 AT formed his own advanced materials company ‘Medical Innovations’ which was subsequently incorporated into Eco-Coverage Technologies Ltd in 2004 where he is Operations Director. He joined Finsbury Development Ltd, an Orthopaedic Company, in 1999 in the capacity of Research and Development Manager. AT is a committee member of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers representing the British space industry on the Aerospace Materials and Structures Technical Activity Committee. AT successfully completed his PhD research in 2000 at the University of Portsmouth and was appointed Managing Director of Finsbury Development Ltd 2007 bringing innovative orthopaedic products to the market, with products such as the Saiph Knee™, the DeltaMotion® cup and DeltaSurf® head. Upon Finsbury’s acquisition by DePuy in 2010, AT set up Aurora Medical Ltd, a World Class Innovate, Research and Development Company now based in Goodwood near Chichester and in the same year was appointed a Fellow at the IMechE. AT is also Visiting Associate Professor within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton. AT has extensive experience in managing and being a partner in collaborative R&D projects (UK and European). AT has built a wide network of contacts in the orthopaedics community, with manufacturers, researchers and surgeons and is continuing to collaborate on new orthopaedic implant designs. AT possesses a strong track record in intellectual property protection and to date has filled over thirty patents in the bioengineering field.

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Mrs N Taylor BA QTS (HONS)

Mrs Nicola Taylor : Formally a fully qualified school Teacher and now a Director of AM and a civil engineering company Eco-coverage Technologies Ltd (ECT). Nicola has extensive experience in personnel management, planning, organisation, training, presenting, resource management, account keeping and sales and marketing. In addition Nicola has project management/ design and testing experience within European and DTI grants as a director of both ECT and AM. Nicola has successfully managed Interreg, Innovate UK and EU FP7 grants and successfully brought new products to market growing and developing the company’s positive reputation within the field. Nicola was invited to present as a guest speaker at the DTI headquarters in London speaking on the Barriers to Commercialisation of Innovation Environmental Technologies in the UK, using one of the companies product’s as a case study. Nicola has attended British standards institution meetings regarding the review of the Kite Mark scheme as a technical advisor. In addition Nicola was invited to present to a number of MPs at the Houses of Parliament on the successful knowledge transfer between SME’s and institutes of Higher Education using a group project within the civil engineering field as a case study.

Mr Tim Bird

Mr Tim Bird is a multi-discipline engineer with over 30 years’ experience has been developing instruments and implants for the orthopaedic industry for over 20 years and has 5 patents. Tim has managed projects developing rapid Laser sintering of patient specific 3D-structured implants incorporating external porous interconnected scaffolds with tailored mechanical properties leading to Aurora medical publications in this area. His manufacturing and design expertise have been demonstrated in a number of grant funded European FP7 projects, on which Tim was the lead mechanical design engineer. These projects include D2Eye and ImpAmp. He was also the senior engineer on a cross channel European funded (INTEREG) project, IonPlastOr.

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Dr Alex Dickinson

 

Dr Alex Dickinson is a consultant Research and Development Engineer to Aurora Medical Ltd, and a Chartered Engineer with the IMechE. He has 15 years' experience in biomechanical engineering, between academia and industry, and is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Southampton.

 

Alex undertakes structural preclinical analysis of medical devices, using numerical modelling (Finite Element Analysis) and experimental testing to ISO standards with post-test failure investigations. He uses these methods with Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA), alongside Design Engineers, to contribute to Aurora's iterative development process.

 

He graduated in 2006 with an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from University of Southampton with a semester on computer aided engineering at ESTACA, Paris. He completed a PhD in 2010 whilst working in the Research and Development team at Finsbury Orthopaedics Ltd, on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. This industry-academia collaboration focussed on the development of hip replacement implants employing ceramic bearing materials, and the computational and experimental tests to verify them. This work contributed to the development and certification of the DeltaMotion(r) and DeltaSurf(r) hip implant systems. The team won KTP Awards for Engineering Excellence in 2011.

 

Alex sits on the IMechE's Biomedical Engineering Division Board, and is Reviews Editor for the IPEM journal Medical Engineering & Physics.

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