Three top UWI students will head to the UK for a cutting-edge surgical robotics research programme at the University of Leeds.

The newly launched CariSurg Summer Surgical Robotics Research Programme has been hailed as a bold step toward transforming healthcare innovation in the Caribbean through international collaboration and mentorship.

Founded by St. Lucian-born researcher Nikita Greenidge at the University of Leeds, in partnership with The UWI, the programme is designed to create direct pathways for Caribbean students to contribute to, and eventually lead the next generation of breakthroughs in surgical robotics and AI in medicine.

UWI says the students were selected from a pool of over 130 applicants across all The UWI campuses.

They are: Samiya Allen (Cave Hill), Justin Sooknanan (St. Augustine) and Abishua Johnson (Mona).

They will spend two months immersed in the internationally renowned Science and Technology of Robotics in Medicine (STORM) Lab led by Professor Pietro Valdastri.

While there, they will conduct research in areas such as robotic-assisted surgery and the development of low-cost AI-driven technologies for cancer detection.