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A former student of The University of Western Australia whose not-for-profit company builds special equipment to help people with disabilities water ski, surf, ride motorbikes and climb cliff faces has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship.

Under the Fellowship, Mr Darren Lomman will spend eight weeks travelling across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Italy visiting some of the world's leading engineering facilities in the disability, rehabilitation and automotive industries.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson congratulated Mr Lomman, who finished his Bachelor of Engineering (with Honours in Mechanical Engineering) in 2005.

"Dreamfit is a world-class endeavour and the University is proud of the support and assistance it has given Darren over the years," Professor Robson said.

"He is using his mechanical engineering skills to make a difference to people's lives, to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the same recreational activities that many of us take for granted."

Mr Lomman plans to use the fellowship to research successful business models that can be applied to his work in Western Australia and to examine opportunities for international collaboration.

"I particularly want to use this as an opportunity to develop a proposal to build a ‘Centre for Rehabilitation Engineering' here in Perth," he said.

Darren Lomman was motivated to set up the Dreamfit Foundation after a chance meeting in a hospital carpark in 2003, with a man with paraplegia, led him to create a hand-controlled motorbike.

Dreamfit modifies recreation equipment for use by people with disabilities. The equipment is designed and modified by final year engineering students, who are guided by volunteer industry mentors and funded by industry sponsorships.

Incorporated last year on the International Day of People with Disabilities, it has a board chaired by former Minister Kay Hallahan and including Professor Robson and Head of UWAs School of Mechanical Engineering Professor Brett Kirk.

Media references

Darren Lomman  (+61 4) 13 866 221
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 5563  /  (+61 4) 32 637 716