Cardiff Metropolitan University’s design and innovation research institution, PDR, is celebrating a landmark achievement, having won two prestigious accolades at the 2025 iF Design Awards – one of the most internationally recognised honours in the design world.
This year’s winners are Tidal – Personal Prosthetic Design Service in the service design category, and Me. – Personalised Monitoring Device in the product concept category.
Tidal represents a collaborative project with Swansea Bay University Health Board, focused on transforming how assistive technology is delivered. The service places users at the heart of the design process, supporting device co-creation alongside healthcare professionals to improve user satisfaction. By involving both the end-user and healthcare professionals in device co-creation, Tidal enhances satisfaction and reduces premature abandonment of prosthetics – an issue affecting thousands of patients globally.
Me. is a pioneering personalised monitoring system designed to support women experiencing menopausal symptoms. Through real-time hormonal monitoring, the device enables users to better understand and manage their health. This targeted approach not only improves self-care but also informs more accurate treatment decisions, addressing a critical gap in female healthcare.
Jarred Evans, Director at PDR, shared his excitement at adding another two iF Design Awards to the institute’s impressive roster of awards: “I’m absolutely buzzing that PDR has bagged another two iF Awards! It’s always an honour, but this year feels extra special – one of the awards shines a light on much-needed innovation in overlooked areas of female health. Plus, we finally landed our first iF Design Award in the service design category for Tidal, which spun out of our researcrh and some solid teamwork with our NHS partners. Not to brag, but 90 plus major design awards now for what is effectively a small but highly talented and professional team – we are doing something right!”
The iF Design Awards continue to be one of the most sought-after recognitions in the field, with thousands of entries from around the globe judged by an international panel of independent experts. The accolades reinforce PDR’s status as a global leader in applied design research, having proved itself as the country’s best and consistently named among the top 25 design studios globally since its founding in 1994.