HEADS — Head protection: a European training network for Advanced Designs in Safety

Results in brief

Head protection: a European training network for Advanced Designs in Safety

The HEADS ITN aimed to incorporate the effects of angular kinematics both in determining injury thresholds and in certifying helmet safety standards. The Network aspired to train Early Stage Researchers to be experts in this multidisciplinary intersectoral field. To date, it is linear acceleration that has been used most to determine head injury risk, although brain injury is influenced by angular kinematics. The scientific goal of the HEADS Network was to improve our understanding of head impact injury by taking account of rotational kinematics. This would result in improved helmets and a reduction in fatalities and the severity of injuries. This scientific objective was achieved through computer simulations and experimental reconstructions of real-life accidents, combined with new tests to determine injury thresholds and to certify new helmets. The Network’s industry partners manufacture high quality helmets for equestrian sports, cyclist and F1 motorcyclists; our 3rd level partners already provide international leadership in this field of research. The mix of industry and academia in this project was ambitious, comprehensive and goal oriented. The Network also intended to train a group of highly specialised PhD graduates who were cognisant of head impact biomechanics, helmet design technologies, and were aware of commercial market opportunities. The ESRs worked with world class facilities and highly qualified experts; they benefited from a training scheme which will draw on the expertise of academic and industrial partners. This research from this project provides a new level of understanding of head injury and its prevention, with directly applicable results for European industry. It's objective was to develop a well networked group of young engineers and scientists into world class researchers and innovators with numerous career paths open to them. These professionals will advance technology for the benefit of society to maintain Europe as a global leader in industrial development. In summary, the Network’s objectives were to: • develop new understanding of head impact injury and injury thresholds for rotational kinematics • design new helmet standards test methods that recognise the importance of head rotational kinematics in head injury • train an elite cohort of ESRs in the multidisciplinary field of head impact protection, who will have a unique blend of commercial and industrial market awareness The Network consortium consists of 6 partners, each of them leaders in their fields. • University College Dublin, Ireland (NUID UCD) • Kunliga Tekniska Hoegskolan, Stockholm, Sweden (KTH) • Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (KU Leuven) • Charles Owen & Company Ltd, Wrexham, UK (Charles Owen) • Lazer Sport NV, Belgium (Lazer Sport) • AGV SPA, Italy (AGV) The blend of partners ensured that ESRs received a multidisciplinary approach to their training, and experience of academia and industry, thereby ensuring that their research was relevant to real world solutions.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Head injury is the most severe injury caused by motorcycling, bicycling, snowsports and equestrian activities, and it is the leading cause of death within these activities. Linear acceleration has been used extensively to determine head injury risk, but it has been found that brain injury is actually influenced by angular kinematics. This is ignored by current injury criteria and product certification tests. To date, there is no consensus in terms of head injury due to angular kinematics and this represents a significant gap in the state of the art. The scientific goal of HEADS is to improve the understanding of head impact injury and to design new helmet standard test methods that recognise the influence of rotational kinematics. This will lead to improved helmets and a reduction in the severity of injuries and the numbers of fatalities. This objective will be achieved through a combination of computational simulations of real-life accidents, experimental and computational investigation of injury thresholds, and design of new helmet certification tests. Another major objective of the network is to train a group of highly specialised doctoral graduates who are equally cognisant of head impact biomechanics and helmet design technologies as well as being aware of commercialisable market opportunities. The ESRs will work in world-class facilities with highly qualified experts, and will benefit from the training scheme developed based on the expertise of academic and industrial partners. This project will reach a new level of understanding of head injury and how head injury should be prevented, with directly applicable results to European industry. It will develop a well-networked group of young engineers and scientists into world class researchers and innovators with numerous career paths open to them, who will advance technology for the benefit of society and maintain Europe as a global leader in industrial development.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · DublinCoordinatorIreland
AGV SPA · MolvenaItaly
CHARLES OWEN & COMPANY (BOW) LIMITED · RhostyllenUnited Kingdom
KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenBelgium
KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN · StockholmSweden
LAZER SPORT NV · MECHELENBelgium

HEADS · Head protection: a European training network for Advanced Designs in Safety

Results in brief

Head protection: a European training network for Advanced Designs in Safety

Project objective

Participants

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