Flinders University is throwing its support behind World Cerebral Palsy Day this Wednesday (October 2) – a global push to improve the lives of people living with cerebral palsy (CP).

As an official participating organisation, Flinders staff and students will join forces for the “Change My World in 1 Minute” initiative.

The challenge involves collecting ideas from people living with CP and/or their families from around the world, with three ideas shortlisted following a review by an international panel later this year.

From January 2014 until June 2014, inventors, researchers, students and creators will have the opportunity to develop a design or prototype for one of the three shortlisted ideas, with the winners sharing in a $50,000 prize pool.

Flinders University lecturer and PhD candidate David Hobbs is currently investigating whether children with CP can improve their sense of touch by playing a purpose-built, interactive computer gaming system, while researchers from the Medical Device Research Institute at Flinders are also working on projects with a disability and rehabilitation focus.

Mr Hobbs said Change My World was a fantastic initiative and that the University was delighted to be a participating organisation.

“I will be encouraging our Engineering students to take on the task of developing solutions that address the top three user-driven ideas,” Mr Hobbs said.

“This is a great way to have students working on meaningful projects; it is a chance for them to work on something relevant and real, and a good opportunity for them to use their knowledge and skills to make a difference for other members of the community,” he said.

There are 17 million people across the world living with cerebral palsy and another 350 million people who are closely connected to someone with CP.

To submit an idea or work on one of the shortlisted concepts, click here.