Pervasive Intelligence and Bio-digital Systems (PIBioS) Lab
Prof. Luigi G. Occhipinti
Principal Investigator
Chair Professor of Digital Transformation and Engineering,
Associate Dean (Research and Innovation),
Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Email: L.G.Occhipinti@lboro.ac.uk
Luigi G. Occhipinti joined Loughborough University in April 2026 as Chair Professor of Digital Transformation and Engineering in the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering. He brings more than 30 years of research and innovation experience across academia and industry, connecting advanced materials, intelligent electronics and artificial intelligence to applications in healthcare and wellbeing.
He leads the Occhipinti Group and the Pervasive Intelligence and Bio-digital Systems (PIBioS) Lab. His research spans wearable sensors, smart textiles, biomedical technologies, neuromorphic computing and digital twins. Current activities include advanced functional materials, scalable manufacturing of flexible electronics, and intelligent systems for health monitoring, rehabilitation and assistive robotics.
Before joining Loughborough, he was Director of Research and Professor of Smart Electronics, Biosystems and AI at the University of Cambridge, where he also directed facilities across Electrical Engineering, the Nanoscience Centre and the Cambridge Graphene Centre. He maintains a visiting position at Cambridge, supporting ongoing research and student supervision. Earlier in his career, he held senior R&D management and technical leadership positions at STMicroelectronics, leading Corporate and Central R&D teams in Italy, France and Singapore.
Dr Shahab Akhavan
Research Associate in Innovative Advanced Materials and Manufacturing
Email: S.Akhavan@lboro.ac.uk
Shahab Akhavan is currently a Research Associate in the Occhipinti Group, PIBioS Lab, within the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering at Loughborough University. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2020, where he worked on graphene and layered materials, optoelectronic devices, fibre-based photodetectors, and wearable electronics. He subsequently continued his research at Cambridge as a Postdoctoral Research Associate before joining University College London, where he worked as a Lecturer (teaching) in advanced materials and materials characterisation. His research interests span graphene and two-dimensional materials, nanomaterial-enabled optoelectronics, fibre and textile electronics, wearable and bio-integrated sensors, and advanced manufacturing. He has extensive experience in nanomaterial synthesis, device fabrication, printing and microfabrication, and structural, optical and electrical characterisation.
His current research in the Occhipinti Group focuses on the development of advanced nanomaterial-based devices and scalable manufacturing approaches for intelligent sensing systems, fibre-based devices, wearable electronics, and AI-assisted smart textile technologies.
Wentian Yi
Research Associate in Bio-Digital Intelligent Systems
Email: W.Yi1@lboro.ac.uk
Wentian Yi is currently a Research Associate (part-time) in the Occhipinti Group, PIBioS Lab within the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering at Loughborough University. He has been developing his PhD at Cambridge University, under the supervision of Prof. Luigi G. Occhipinti, since October 2022. After receiving his BSc degree in Chemistry from Renmin University of China in 2021, he finished his MRes course in soft electronic materials at Imperial College London. During this time, he grew interested in fibre electronics and focused on polymer fibre embedding in two-dimensional materials.
His current research in Occhipinti group focuses on the synthesis of polymer composite embedding nanomaterials and scalable fabrication of intelligent biosystems, quantum dot-based detectors, and AI-powered textile-based wearable electronics.
Liam Ryan
PhD Candidate, Perceptive Sensors and AI-Embodied Wearables
Email: L.Ryan@lboro.ac.uk
Liam Ryan is a PhD candidate in the Occhipinti Group at Loughborough University within the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering. He holds a First-Class Honours BSc in Sport and Exercise Science from Anglia Ruskin University, where he earned the Outstanding Research Project Award for achieving the highest dissertation mark (92%).
His transition into doctoral-level research is built upon an exceptionally diverse foundation as a research assistant, with extensive laboratory experience spanning clinical nutrition, exercise physiology, and biomechanical metrology. In addition to engineering fully automated MATLAB pipelines for his award-winning in vitro mechanical validation dissertation, Liamhas executed rigorous data collection across numerous complex human trials. His assistantship work ranges from conducting metabolic gas analysis for fat oxidation and Omega-3 studies to executing neuromuscular assessments for physiological fatigue and managing isokinetic dynamometry, as well as statistical analysis for grant funding for the I-STEP diabetic foot health intervention.
Today, his PhD research leverages this multidisciplinary background to engineer intelligent wearable electronics. Specifically, he is developing flexible Shear Load Inductive Plantar Sensing (SLIPS) multi-modal arrays to map tri-axial foot kinetics and trigger autonomous, real-time tissue offloading to prevent diabetic foot ulcerations and athletic injuries.
Matteo Bermond
PhD Candidate, Perceptive Sensors and AI-Embodied Wearables
Email: M.Bermond@lboro.ac.uk
Matteo Bermond is a Part-Time PhD researcher. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and an MSc in Mechatronic Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, and completed his MSc research project at Imperial College London. He then spent two years in Imperial's Communications and Signal Processing Group, designing and prototyping a multimodal in-ear wearable device for simultaneous EEG, ECG and PPG acquisition.
Since 2024 he has worked in agri-tech R&D at B-Hive Innovations Ltd, where he is now Senior Mechatronic Engineer, leading multidisciplinary teams and UKRI-funded projects.
A lifelong sportsman, Matteo is a certified ski instructor (Collegio Maestri di Sci Regione Piemonte), a FISI ski coach, a Level 2 personal trainer and a sports nutrition advisor (EQF Level 3).
His coaching experience directly informs his research on wearable technology for athletes.
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