InterPore Foundation Competition: Student Research on Face Masks

Interpore Foundation

Student Face Mask Competition

InterPore Foundation invites proposals from graduate students on Innovative Ideas to Design and/or Improve Facemasks against Airborne Bacteria and Viruses. The proposals will be reviewed by a panel of experts who will rate them on the basis of 1) Intellectual novelty, 2) Functionality, 3) Practicality, and 4) Cost effectiveness. The winner of the best proposal will receive €1500 and they will be invited to present their PhD research at the next Interpore conference in Edinburgh, UK, 31 May till 03 June 2021. In addition to the price money, InterPore Foundation will cover their registration fee and accommodation.

The proposals should be limited to three pages in length, and they should be accompanied by a 2-min video prepared by the proposer describing the proposed idea. The abstracts of all worthy proposals and videos received by the committee will be posted on a designated website by InterPore Foundation for public access. The deadline for proposal submission is August 1, 2020.

And the winner is

Seyyed Ali Ghoreishy, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Calgary

The task force which evaluated all submitted proposals gave the following verdict:

Ghoreishy’s proposal, entitled “Nature driven designs for the new generation of self-cleaning face masks” is novel. He has identified an actual issue that has been ignored by many. It is an area that has significant merit if implemented correctly.  With proper mentoring, his approach can be developed in order to produce something potentially worthwhile.

The proposal is available for viewing here.