King's Fellow Laksham Sanassee discusses the early impact of the King's Commonwealth Fellowship Programme in this case study.
Laksham Sanassee
PhD in Materials Engineering at the University of Mauritius 2024–2030
Author: Evelina Vardanyan, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer, The Association of Commonwealth Universities
In Mauritius, an engineering lecturer is turning waste from the fishing industry into the raw material for a more sustainable prosthetic limb liner, designed for hot, humid climates where existing products can fail. Supported through the King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme (KCFP), Laksham Sanassee’s PhD illustrates the potential of the programme’s distinctive model even at an early stage of a Fellow’s journey: providing access to specialist facilities and expertise at the University of Bath that are not available at home, generating a scientific finding with potential applications well beyond his original project, and contributing to Mauritius’s ambitions for its ‘blue economy’.
The challenge
Mauritius has a significant need for prosthetic care, with high rates of diabetes contributing to hundreds of lower-limb amputations each year. WHO recorded 403 new lower-limb amputations among patients with diabetes in 2022, and people may also experience limb loss through trauma and other medical conditions. For prosthetic users, the country’s hot and humid climate creates an additional challenge, as conventional liners can trap heat and moisture against the residual limb, causing discomfort and skin problems.
Laksham’s research responds to this wider climate and sustainability challenge by exploring whether renewable resources, including waste from Mauritius’s fishing industry, could be used to develop a more sustainable alternative to conventional synthetic liner materials. The proposed material aims to improve moisture management, thermal comfort and hygiene while turning local waste streams into valuable resources and reducing reliance on imported materials. In this way, the research could support both the needs of prosthetic users in tropical conditions and Mauritius’s wider efforts to strengthen its circular bioeconomy, sustainable manufacturing and economic resilience as a small island developing state. Laksham’s work could therefore create a product better suited to local conditions while turning a local waste stream into a valuable resource and reducing reliance on conventional synthetic materials.
The Fellow
Laksham Sanassee is a lecturer in the Mechanical and Production Engineering Department at the University of Mauritius, where he teaches materials science and engineering, supervises final-year projects, develops and delivers continuing professional development courses, and conducts research on sustainable development. Since beginning his PhD in 2024, he has supervised five students in related areas, contributing to four publications. He also sits on national technical committees spanning standards, occupational health and safety, and environmental regulation. Through the KCFP, he is linked with the University of Bath’s Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change. His work sits at the intersection of mechanical, materials and chemical engineering - a deliberately multidisciplinary challenge that no single department could tackle alone.
What the fellowship made possible
Laksham believes that the KCFP has enabled him to undertake his PhD while remaining in his role at the University of Mauritius, combining locally based research with joint supervision and research visits to the University of Bath. This gives him access to specialist expertise and facilities that are not available in Mauritius, while ensuring that the knowledge and capability developed through the PhD remain rooted in his home institution.
During a research visit from 10 April to 15 June 2026, the first of three planned under the Fellowship, Laksham gained access to specialist equipment for analysing material properties and to technical expertise unavailable in Mauritius. This allowed him to progress work that had previously stalled because the necessary facilities were not available locally. Jointly supervised by Professor Haree Ramasawmy at the University of Mauritius and Professor Matthew Jones at Bath, whose chemical-engineering expertise complemented Laksham’s mechanical and materials background, he was able to approach the problem from both directions at once. ‘The knowledge was complementary,’ he explains; this combination makes it possible to extract a usable material from fish scales and engineer it for a specific application.
The visit also produced a genuine discovery. After analysing fish scales from several species, Laksham found that their inorganic content consisted largely of hydroxyapatite, the valuable bioceramic at the heart of his work, irrespective of the species, shape or diet of the fish. This means that the waste stream does not need to be sorted by fish type, which is a significant practical simplification, and opens up applications well beyond prosthetics: tissue-engineering scaffolds, dental materials, biomedical coatings, water-treatment adsorbents, slow-release fertilisers and reinforcing fillers for high-performance composite materials. Presenting these results at Bath and receiving feedback from supervisors and other researchers demonstrated the wider potential of the discovery, extending well beyond the original focus on prosthetic liners and opening up opportunities for further research and application across multiple sectors in Mauritius.
The KCFP model in action
Laksham continues to teach and hold his post at the University of Mauritius while completing his PhD part-time, with the programme funding replacement cover to release him for his research. Alongside joint supervision from his home university and the University of Bath, he undertakes research visits to Bath, has access to its facilities and expertise, and is part of a Commonwealth-wide network of King’s Fellows, with professional development support.
‘It’s a very unique opportunity to be able to manage your work as well as your research work together, while staying in the country, and having the opportunity to visit those institutions from time to time, to have exposure to high-end equipment, interact with international researchers and become part of a wider research network through the University of Bath’s Institute of Sustainability and Climate Change.’
A national contribution taking shape
As an island nation, Mauritius’s economic territory extends far beyond its land. Its exclusive economic zone covers an area of the surrounding ocean many times larger than the island itself, where Mauritius holds special rights to use marine resources, from fisheries to energy and other ocean-based activities. Developing this ‘blue economy’ is a stated government priority, and Laksham’s fellowship is beginning to feed into that agenda. The government has approved a multidisciplinary marine-resources research centre at the University of Mauritius, and a multidisciplinary team is now being established. Laksham’s particular contribution is to turn marine resources into functional materials and products. He sees potential longer-term benefits for Mauritius, including new manufacturing activity, skilled jobs, additional income opportunities for fishing families vulnerable to increasingly rough seas, and reduced reliance on imports. Closer to home, his research also has the potential to benefit people with amputations through collaboration with a local NGO supporting mobility and independence.
The Commonwealth dimension
During Commonwealth Week in London, Laksham met His Majesty The King and attended a debate in Parliament, experiences he describes as beyond anything he had expected. For him the value of the programme extends past the technical part: building networks, developing communication and soft skills, and joining a community of researchers across the Commonwealth working on related challenges. ‘If we collaborate together,’ he notes, ‘we should be able to share information that will definitely be useful, instead of starting something from scratch.'
‘It’s a very unique programme, where you are able to blend your current activity with your research. Without that support, it would be very difficult.’
Looking ahead
Laksham is early in his fellowship, and the most tangible outcomes are still to come - combining his materials into a working prototype and testing it clinically as a prosthetic liner. A potential patent for the eco-friendly extraction method developed with his supervisors is under discussion, while the team is preparing an article for publication. What is already clear is the direction of a locally rooted researcher, remaining based in his own country and institution, while using Commonwealth partnership to build knowledge and capability with the potential to reach from people with amputations in Mauritius to the wider global community of prosthetic users, and from one PhD to a broader national research agenda.
In doing so, the fellowship is beginning to contribute to several Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those focused on innovation, responsible production, health, climate resilience, and sustainable use of marine resources.
Learn more about the King's Commonwealth Fellowship Programme.