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Stiliyana Minkovska is an alumnus of our Healthcare and Design MSc programme, and is now a full-time founder of Matrix, a 21st century replacement for the speculum that is digitally enabled and designed for patient comfort and self-use in a clinical setting.
Prior to this Stiliyana was a Service Designer at Acacium Group, and previously worked as an architect. In 2023, Matrix won the top prize in WE Innovate, Imperial’s competition for women-led startups.
“Matrix was born as part of my Master’s in Healthcare & Design with Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art (RCA). As part of the Master’s, I created a design methodology for applying systems and design thinking as a problem-solving lens in maternity. After a series of research and design exercises, I created Matrix.
"I received some micro grants then joined the WE Innovate programme in January 2023. WE Innovate was an incredible experience, which brought me closer to such phenomenal pool of expertise and knowledge. I couldn’t believe I went on to become becoming the First Prize winner!”
Read more about Stiliyana’s career, MSc and experiences
How did you find your way to your current role?
“Matrix was born as part of my Master’s in Healthcare & Design with Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art (RCA). I was an RCA alumni as I graduated with MA Architecture in 2016 and whilst on the programme I unexpectedly fell pregnant and graduated with my 6-month-old daughter. The experience of pregnancy and childbirth whilst completing a master’s degree changed me not only as a person becoming a mother, but also as a designer.
After I graduated with an MA Architecture in 2016, I went onto qualifying as an architect at the UCL whilst working in an architectural practice.
In 2019 I joined the Design Museum to become a Designer in Residence. During the time as a resident, I had the time and space away from my regular, full-time employment to focus on the passion and drive that never separated from me from the outset – pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery.
I designed, created and donated pieces to St Thomas’ hospital where my daughters were born, after which I felt a desperate urge to give more to the spaces where we make and break our births. Therefore, I left my role as an architect and joined the Master’s in Healthcare & Design.
As part of the Master’s, I created a design methodology for applying systems and design thinking as a problem-solving lens in maternity. I worked closely with experts across obstetrics, gynaecology, midwifery, and with MRI scientists, doulas, and birth activists. During my interview with Miss Jayne Terry, OBGYN consultant at St Mary’s, she said that ‘re-designing the speculum would be a game-changer’ – so after a series of research and design exercises, I created Matrix. I received some micro grants from Imperial such as the Discovery Fund with the ELab and Hackstarter which helped me create low fidelity porotypes.
Until September 2022, Matrix lived as a chapter in my thesis, when I joined the FemTech Lab accelerator, which resulted in £10k equity-free grant prior to me joining the WE Innovate programme in January 2023.
WE Innovate was an incredible experience, which brought me closer to such phenomenal pool of expertise and knowledge. I couldn’t believe I went into Phase 2, let alone Phase 3 and becoming the First Prize winner, it’s bonkers!
This warm experience continues through the Imperial Venture Mentoring Service (IVMS) and me going to the Bio Japan conference to represent the ELab.
I received an InnovateUK grant for Transforming Healthcare Technologies, which I am currently ‘exhausting’ together with the WE Innovate £15k prize. By the end of September 2023 Matrix will have its first fully functioning demonstrator, which we will use towards securing funding and acquiring customers.”
How did the healthcare and design MSc impact your career?
“I finished the MSc in healthcare and design with distinction in July 2022; this was the highest recognition I ever received for my work and dedication in the reproductive health and care sector as a passionate designer. It meant the world to me.
The support and encouragement I received from Imperial was beyond immense. I got to visit the maternity wards at three London hospitals, and was introduced to experts who generously shared their time and experience with me. The MSc made me think as both an empathetic designer, but as an entrepreneur too. I realised, thanks to Imperial, that ideas do indeed mean business.
The Master’s made me! It gave me confidence, concreted my passion and made me the change-making founder I aspired to always be.
WE Innovate took place after I finished the Master’s programme, but at the finals, of the five finalists three were graduates from the exact same cohort (2020-2022) of the MSc Healthcare and Design.”
What specific experience has been most valuable in your career so far?
“Taking a risk and going out of my comfort zone is a recipe for success. I left my full-time comfortable employment with decent salary to dive deep in an ocean of uncertainties. The same happened before the MSc in Healthcare & Design – I left full-time employment (I was made redundant whilst pregnant) to commence a new, life-defining path, which the master’s opened up for me. I try to read the signs that the universe sends to me and sometimes the timing couldn’t be more perfect.
I had both my children whilst doing my Master’s studies. The first one was born in the middle of my MA Architecture and the second one was born half way through the MSc in Healthcare and Design. These experiences made me and established my passion for dedicating more of my and my passion to the most profound experiences – the ones of pregnancy and childbirth.”
Words of wisdom
“Follow your heart. This is such a cliché, but I always did this, and it always seems to have served me correctly. I could never be unfaithful to my feelings and more so to my intuition. The only certainty in life is uncertainty and I am coming more and more to this realisation.”