The 2013 Helmet Performance and Design conference provided scientific insight into the critical area of head injury and protection systems.

The landmark Helmet Performance and Design conference brought together engineers, scientists, and industrialists from North America, Europe and Asia.  World-leading experts from the diverse fields of brain injury, biomechanics, forensic analysis, computational mechanics, materials science and design attended, demonstrating the truly inter-disciplinary nature of this field and it's wide applicability within areas such as sport, motorcycle and bicycle equipment, military helmets, and other fields including clinical treatment.

Helmet performance and design are intimately related with technical functional aspects providing protection and safety and non-technical functional aspects determining usability and commercial viability.  Helmet performance cannot be separated from an understanding of head, neck and brain injury due to impact, penetration, or shock, yet designers are also focused on other technical aspects such as aerodynamics and reliability.

The keynote lectures were confirmation as to the breadth of contribution needed to make significant advances in this field.  The papers presented revealed the significant current works which are incorporating the medical, scientific, engineering and design contributions to effect momentous change in protection today.

It is the hope of the conference organisers that this collection of papers will act as a catalyst to improved helmet design bringing universal benefits in terms of injury reduction.  The collection of papers within this volume of the proceedings also shows that there is much work still to be done, but by developing a common language and a dialogue there is hope that significant advances will be made.   

The conference ended with a commitment by the organisers to pursue this common goal.  A second volume of proceedings will be produced for the second Helmet Protection and Design conference due to take place in India at the end of 2013.

Proceedings of the Helmet Performance and Design Conference, 15^th February 2013.