Quick Facts
Biography
Sir Mir Saeed Zahedi, OBE FREng RDI FIMechE PhD (born 23 May 1957) is a British-Iranian biomedical engineer and innovator who is currently the Technical Director at Chas A Blatchford & Sons. He was named Royal Designer for Industry in 2014 and knighted "for services to Engineering and Innovation" in 2017. He is one of the leading designers of prosthetics, best known for his work in the development of the world's first fully integrated, microprocessor controlled, lower limb system, Linx.
Early life and education
Zahedi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1957 and moved to the UK as a teenager to attend the London Academy. He went on to read mechanical engineering at university and subsequently completed a PhD in bioengineering at the University of Strathclyde where he specialised in lower limb prosthesis.
Working life
Having previously worked for the National Health Service (NHS) and Chas A Blatchford & Sons in his early career, Zahedi was the Head of Technology at PDD Group Ltd in 1999.
In 2003, he returned to Chas A Blatchford & Sons in the research and development unit and was later appointed as Technical Director.
He is currently a visiting professor at Bournemouth University's Design Simulation Research Centre and, until recently, the University of Surrey.
Honours and awards
Zahedi is author of over 125 publications related to prosthesis research and has patented over 35 inventions. In 2011 he was nominated for the Prince Philip Designers Prize for which he received a Special Commendation. In 2013 he was recipient of Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) for engineering design. He and his team were finalists in the 2010 MacRobert Award for work on the Echelon hydraulic ankle-foot, the world's first self-aligning ankle-foot prosthesis.
Along with four other colleagues, Zahedi went on to win the 2016 MacRobert Award for their development of Linx, the first ever prosthetic limb system with integrated robotic control of the knee and foot, dubbed as the world's most 'intelligent' prosthetic limb. This system uses a network of sensors across the knee and foot to collect data on the user's activity which is subsequently used to adapt to the specific movements of the user and their respective environment. In August 2016, he answered questions in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit's IAmA subreddit, where notable people engage in Q&A sessions with the Reddit community.
As a member of ISO, CEN and IEC Working Groups, Zahedi has won several other prizes for scientific papers, including 5 BLESMA awards, IMechE Special Needs, ISPO Forchheimer as far back in 1989, for his PhD work conducted at Strathclyde University.
In the 2000 New Year Honours, he was awarded an O.B.E. for "services to the Prosthetics Industry".
Recently, Zahedi received a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2017 "for services to Engineering and Innovation".
Personal life
Zahedi married Shirin Zahedi (née Sadeghian) in 1988. The couple have two children. He currently resides in South West London.