Newcastle University 2026 Engagement and Place Awards

Interactional AI work with Ufonia on their automated clinical assistant Dora has been shortlisted in the Engagement and Place Awards 2026 at Newcastle University, in the category Engaging for Economic Benefit. The recognition reflects the demonstrable economic impact of applying conversation analysis to a clinical AI assistant now in routine use across the NHS.

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The Engagement and Place Awards recognise university partnerships that produce measurable benefits beyond academia. The shortlisting follows a year in which Dora has been independently shown to release more than 1,150 clinical hours at Frimley Health, has driven a 167% productivity uplift in cataract follow-up at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, and has freed an estimated £750,000 of releasable surgical activity at University Hospitals of Leicester (orthopaedics).

“The language used [by Dora] is clinically accurate and aligned with how we expect our teams to communicate” - Dr Paul Rosen, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, Oxford Eye Hospital, and former President of ESCRS