Milbotix are delighted to announce the winners and runners-up of the SmartSocks®DISCOVERY Pioneers Competition, an initiative launched to support innovative research using the SmartSocks®DISCOVERY wearable platform.

The competition invited researchers, clinicians, and innovators to propose novel and impactful uses of SmartSocks® across five research categories, spanning health, wellbeing, and human behaviour.

Competition winners and runners-up

Following a rigorous review process, our expert judging panel has selected winning proposals in three categories.

Dementia and other neurological disorders

Winner: Tamlyn Watermeyer, Northumbria University – SmartSleep & Steps-DS Pilot: SmartSocks® Sleep and Gait Monitoring in Down Syndrome.

Runner-up: Tuğba Erdem, Koç University – SmartSocks-Based Pain Evaluation in Stroke Patients: A Comparative Study of Pressure Injury Impact.

Stress

Winner: Luigi Moretti, University of the West of England – Socks Over Stigma: Exploring SmartSocks as an Unobtrusive Alternative to Smartwatches for Emotion Monitoring in Anxiety Disorders – MEMoPAD.

Runner-up: Murat Erdem, Turkish Basketball Federation – Monitoring the Effects of Home–Away Conditions and Travel Mode (Air Travel vs Coach Travel) on Physiological Stress, Sleep, and Performance in Basketball Players Using SmartSocks: A Pilot Study.

Sleep

Winner: Ullrich Bartsch, University of Surrey – Evaluating Milbotix Smart Socks for Multi-Modal Sleep Monitoring in Down Syndrome.

Runner-up: Beatriz Venancio, Royal Holloway, University of London – A Pilot Study Exploring the Acceptability and Tolerability of the SmartSocks®DISCOVERY Kit for Monitoring Sleep Physiology in young people with Type 1 Diabetes.

Winning teams will receive a SmartSocks®DISCOVERY Kit, providing access to a research-ready wearable platform for continuous physiological and movement monitoring.

Runners-up will receive a SmartSocks®DISCOVERY Starter Kit.

Categories without awards this year

While we did not receive eligible submissions in the following categories on this occasion, they remain important areas of focus for future research:

  • Movement & Gait
  • Rehabilitation & Recovery

Milbotix remains keen to support work in these areas and welcomes future collaboration.

Judging panel

Milbotix would like to extend our sincere thanks to the judges who generously contributed their time, expertise, and insight to the competition:

Prof. Helen Dawes, University of Exeter

Prof. Kavita Vedhara, Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd

Dr Silvia Del Din, Newcastle University

Dr Lizzie Hill, University of the West of England

Adam Smith, University College London / Dementia Researcher

Their expertise spans digital health, sleep science, dementia research, psychology, rehabilitation, and wearable technology, and was central to the success of the competition.

Supporting the next wave of SmartSocks®-powered research

The SmartSocks®DISCOVERY Pioneers Competition reflects Milbotix’s commitment to enabling research that improves well-being, safety, and independence for people living with dementia and other long-term conditions.

We look forward to supporting the winning teams and sharing insights from their work as their projects progress.

Didn’t enter? You can still get SmartSocks®DISCOVERY

If you missed the competition but would like to start working with SmartSocks® immediately, our SmartSocks®DISCOVERY kits are available to order now from £499.00 + VAT.

The kits include SmartSocks®, a removable sensor module, and access to our cloud dashboard for physiological and movement data analysis.