Aux-Row is a research project to develop superior oar handles, which will address problems caused by strenuous and repetitive movement. Collaboration between academics and researchers from the University of Malta’s Metamaterials Unit (Faculty of Science) and the Podiatry Department (Faculty of Health Sciences) and marine products manufacturing experts Action Frame Ltd, has received circa €200,000 from the National R&I Fusion Fund, which is administered by the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
Addressing a public engagement event which took place on the 30th of May at Esplora in Kalkara, MCST Chairman, Dr. Tonio Portughese said, “The Malta Council for Science and Technology plays a continuous and significant role in strengthening the Research and Innovation pillar in the Maltese Islands, and has been responsible for administering around twenty million euros in the last seven years alone, funnelling these funds towards beneficial projects, such as the one we are talking about today.” He added that, while MCST considers investment in Research and Innovation as being fundamental in supporting and innovating economic activity, society can reap many other benefits from the final outcomes of these research projects. The contribution of such projects is not limited solely to its economic input but includes a significant human element.

In Malta, rowing is mostly associated with tradition, our National Regatta and the Grand Harbour. However, at international level, rowing is known to be one of the most demanding and technical Olympic or Paralympic sports performed on water. Racing is typically over a 2000m distance in which rowers complete hundreds of oar pulls and rotations usually in just a few minutes. Such a strenuous and repetitive movement, unfortunately, is known to result in various injuries, including injuries in upper limbs, the more common being wrist/forearm injury, palm blisters and calluses. 
Professor Joseph N. Grima, the coordinator of this project and a rower himself, emphasised the importance of the findings from this project to the rowing community, “Rowers spend hours and hours every week performing the same repetitive action of pulling and feathering their oars with the aim of improving their technique and performance. A wrist injury or a blistered hand can compromise all this effort, as the athlete would not be able to perform at her/his best. Thus, an oar handle that provides a better grip is likely to be appreciated by rowers. I sincerely hope that our research work carried out as part of Aux-Row, some of which has already been published, can lead to oar handles that will make rowing blisters and wrist injuries a thing of past.” 
This project has attempted to address these problems through the development of novel oar handles with a better and more effective grip. These grips were developed by transposing fundamental research on auxetic materials to the world of rowing. Auxetic materials behave in a rather exceptional manner by becoming wider rather than thinner when stretched, and contracting laterally when uniaxially compressed, a property that imparts several practical benefits to the material.
The research path leading to the development of these grips also permitted the acquisition of very important knowledge on the sport of rowing itself, the manner how auxetic materials behave when indented, put under pressure or sheared, as well as how rowers perceive their blisters and calluses. 
The project has already led to more than twenty peer-reviewed journal publications and a patent has been filed.