Notre Dame PhD candidate helps create app to avoid Bali Belly

ANYBODY who has travelled to Bali knows the fear of catching Bali Belly.

Notre Dame’s Linda Khong and a team of fellow PhD candidates used this fear at the Australian-French 24-hour Entrepreneurship Challenge recently, inspiring them to create a business model mobile app, in just one day, which would help travellers avoid diarrhoea while on holiday.

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Ms Khong said their idea was to use innovative hardware able to detect the water-port parasite Giardia, which was often blamed for diarrhoea among travellers.

“At the start of our pitch, we brought our audience into the concept of travelling and experiencing a stomach-related illness which can impact one’s whole adventure,” she said.

“However, by creating a product that was accessible to all, a phone application that can detect traces of Giardia before it has any chance of entering the body, the team’s identified business opportunity was tangible, feasible and one that had international appeal.”

The model impressed judges, the team winning not only the event, but also a sponsored trip to France next month to further their research.