Associate Professor David Hobbs

David has bachelor degrees in Physics (1992-1994) and Biomedical Engineering (1996-2000), with First Class Honours, and a PhD (2010-2018, in Rehabilitation Engineering) from Flinders University. He has extensive experience as a Rehabilitation Engineer in the field of disability, rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies, and is currently an Associate Professor and academic staff member within the College of Science and Engineering and a researcher within the Medical Device Research Institute (MDRI) at Flinders University. David also has an Executive Diploma in Business Planning from the Enterprise Development Institute in Adelaide. 

David's professional honours to date include being awarded a Churchill Fellowship in the field of rehabilitation engineering and Universal Design (2003); Engineers Australia's Young Professional Engineer of the Year (2004); Engineers Australia's Top 100 Most Influential Engineers (2005); and a Fulbright Professional Scholarship in the field of paediatric rehabilitation engineering (2008).

David has experience working in rehabilitation engineering research and industry institutions in Australia, England, Canada and the United States, holds a patent for his PhD work, and has twice won first prize in the College of Biomedical Engineers' Better Technology Awards for novel assistive technologies. He is an invited TEDx speaker, has delivered numerous invited and keynote presentations, and he has represented Australia at the Global Research, Innovation, and Education in Assistive Technology Summit at the WHO in Geneva. 

View my ORCID ID, LinkedIn, ResearchGate and Google Scholar profiles via the above links and please connect with me via LinkedIn via the above links as well!

• Rehabilitation Engineering, Assistive Technology and cerebral palsy related research
• Universal Design
• Commercialisation and technology transfer of medical devices and Assistive Technologies

Churchill Fellowship in paediatric Rehabilitation Engineering - 2003 

Fulbright Professional Scholar in Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) - 2008 

Fellow, Engineers Australia - 2021 

Life Member, the Australian Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Association (ARATA) - 2023 

Dr Meseret Teferra; thesis title: "Dressing heart smart: an e-textile based garment for home-based ECG monitoring" 

Dr Robert (Robbie) Trott: "Novel Control for a Post-Stroke Gait Rehabilitation Exoskeleton" 

My Supervision Philosophy is to work alongside and guide my students (from Honours through to PhD) so they can achieve their project outcome, providing expertise in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies, as well as professional development and training. In 2023 I was awarded the FUSA Student-Led Teaching Awards 'Most Supportive Supervisor Award' in recognition of my supervision.