People

Prof. Manohar Bance is the Professor of Otology and Skull Base Surgery at the Universty of Cambridge since 2017. Prior to that he was Prof. and Chair of Otolarynology at Dalhousie University in Canada. His research interests include optimizing cochlear implants, technology development, surgical outcomes, automated image analysis, new diagnostics, wearable technologies, inner ear pharmokinetics, and developing new hearing and balance therapies. He is clinically and surgically active at in otologic and skull base surgery, vestibular disorders and implants at Cambridge University Hospitals Trust (Addenbrookes) and runs a basic science lab at the Clifford Albutt Building, Biomedical Campus. The Sensory Encoding and Neurosensory Engineering Lab he directs is very multidisciplinary, with cell biologists, physcists, engineers and medical graduates working together on translational problems in hearing, balance and neuroscience topics. He collaborates closely with the other researchers and surgeons in Cambridge, and with Engineering Faculty members, as well as nationally and internationally. Currently, he is the President-Elect of the Royal Society of Medicine Section of Otology, and also of the British Cochlear Implant Group. Email

Dr. Iwan Roberts is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge. With a multidisciplinary background, Iwan completed a MPhys Physics degree at Durham University followed by a PhD in the EPSRC MRC CDT for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Manchester focusing on tissue engineering of contractile tissues. His current cochlear implant research focuses on the development of 3D printed artificial cochlea to study the electrical properties of cochlear implant stimulation as well as the mechanical properties of insertion to improve cochlear implant machine-neural interfacing and reduce insertion trauma, respectively. Furthermore, his research also involves finite element modelling, neural cell culture on microelectrode arrays and study of fibrosis on electrode implants. Currently, Iwan is developing the Earables project with other members of the lab focusing on the development of the on-ear wearable device for electrophysiology and movement monitoring in a wearable format. Iwan founded a start-up company with a SENSE lab alum Filip Hrncirik, COSA LTD, which looks to use additive manufacturing techniques to create advanced anatomical models for R&D, surgical training, and medical education.  Email

Dr. Paul Charlesworth is a PDRA in Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge. He has a biochemistry degree from Oxford and a PhD in physiology, UCL. He is an electrophysiologist and cell biologist, using both patch clamp and electrode arrays to study primary and stem cell derived neurons. He has worked in physiology and neuroscience departments at UCL, Edinburgh and Cambridge Universities and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. He is currently growing and recording from sensory neurones with the goal of building an in vitro model of the cochlea with which to improve CI technology. Email

Yi-Lin Yu is a PhD student in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. Under Prof. Manohar Bance’s supervision, he is doing researches on biohybrid neural interface for the restoration sensorineural hearing loss in collaboration with Prof. George Malliaras. Before his PhD, he received his medical degree (M.D.) from the National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. He completed the training course of residency and chief residency in the Department of Neurological Surgery in Tri-Service General Hospital, Taiwan in 2017. He worked for Tri-Service General Hospital Penghu branch as an attending neurosurgeon from 2017 to 2019. Email

Chloe Swords is a Specialist Registrar in ENT surgery and PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Her PhD examines the influence of cochlea anatomy and pathology on cochlear implant current spread, using both cadaveric and 3D-printed models. She is jointly supervised by Professor Manohar Bance (Clinical Neurosciences) and Dr Cecilia Brassett (Physiology, Development and Neuroscience). Email

Terry Fawden is a PhD student supervised by Prof. Manohar Bance, Dr. Thomas Stone and Prof. George Malliaras, with a background in Electronic and Computer Systems Engineering. Working as part of the SENSE Lab's earables team, his research aims to integrate information from ear-worn sensors to develop an overarching understanding of the wearer’s body movement, intention and brain state during day-to-day activities, gathering a more complete picture of their health. His work is funded by the EPSRC Sensor CDT. Email

Dr. Sita Tarini Clark is a junior doctor and PhD student in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Professor Manohar Bance. Her PhD investigates the electrical properties of pathological and malformed cochlea following cochlear implantation, through the development of 3D printed, computational, and cochlea-on-a-chip models. Her PhD is funded by the Woolf Fisher Cambridge Scholarship. Prior to her PhD, Sita completed her MBChB and BMedSc(Hons) First Class degrees at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She subsequently worked as a junior doctor at Auckland City Hospital and Middlemore Hospital from 2022 to 2024. Sita intends to pursue ENT specialty training following her PhD.

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Yash Sharma is an MPhil candidate pursuing a project in collaboration with the Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Cambridge University Hospitals, focusing on the interplay between hearing disorders and balance. Under Dr. Manohar Bance and Dr. Thomas Stone, he works as a clinical graduate student testing patient gait through complex movement analysis and wearable-assisted technology. Before joining the Sense Lab, Yash completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto, specializing in Neurodegenerative Disorders and Speech-Language Pathology. He convocated with the William McMurtry Fund as well as being a Dean’s List and Trinity College Scholar. Yash intends to pursue a medical degree following his studies.

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