February 26 2016, 13.32 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
The development of crash test dummies has played a vital role in terms of car safety. Two researchers into traffic safety are now being rewarded for their crucial work in the field of biomechanical research. The Håkan Frisinger Foundation for Transportation Research has awarded its 2015 scholarship of SEK 250,000 to Associate Professor Astrid Linder and Professor Mats Svensson.
Astrid Linder is Associate Professor of Injury Prevvention at Chalmers University of Technology and Research Director at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). She realized at an early stage of her research that women run a considerably higher risk than men of being affected by whiplash in the neck, and that there was no model for an average woman which could be used to test and develop car safety. Astrid Linder therefore developed a female crash dummy to improve the protection of all passengers in vehicles.
Mats Svensson is Professor of Injury Prevention at Chalmers and leader of SAFER’s (Vehicle and Traffic Safety Center at Chalmers) Competence Area for biomechanical and protection systems. His research into whiplash has led, for example, to the development of the BioRID whiplash crash test dummy, which has now become a global standard.
”Astrid Linder and Mats Svensson have contributed vital efforts to developing biomechanical research for the benefit of the Swedish automotive industry. Moreover, the implications of this research have led to a drastic reduction in human suffering”, the Scientific Council outlines in its motivation.
The scholarship will be awarded by the Håkan Frisinger Foundation at a seminar held in the afternoon on April 6, 2016 in the Virtual Development Laboratory at Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo Research & Educational Foundations (VREF), the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers will organize a seminar in connection with the scholarship award ceremony.
