GCRF Translation Awards
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
The Warwick GCRF GRTA will deliver two focussed interventions, fully aligned with our strategy, in Nepal (LDC) and Brazil (UMIC).
Work Package 1 with an initial focus on Nepal, is a programme to produce "Affordable High-Quality Hearing Aids for LMICs" in collaboration with the INF Ear Hospital in Pokhara Nepal, which will finalise development and test the world's first hearing aid (HA) that meets both the WHO's target unit cost (3% of GDP/capita) for low-middle income countries (LMICs) and UK NHS clinical standards. HA chipsets account for approximately 90% of the total cost (Bill of Materials) of a HA. The novel approach taken by the Warwick team has been the re-purposing of chipsets recently developed for ultra-low power implementation of 'always on' artificial intelligence algorithms. When combined with proprietary algorithms these new generation of chips are now sufficiently advanced to be capable of competing with specialist Application Specific HA chips at reduced cost.
Specific to investment from this award the project will (1) achieve a reduction in the cost of Hearing Aid (HA) chipsets; (2) develop an FDA and CE certified device (the recognised global standards for medical devices); (3) in collaboration with the INF Ear Hospital in Pokhara Nepal, develop HA fitting procedures that are congruent with the availability and skills of clinical staff in LMICs, (4) expand ear care services to rural communities in Nepal.
At the present time the incidence of hearing loss is approximately two-to-three times that in high-income countries, the WHO predict that by 2030, hearing loss will become the World's 7th highest burden of disease ahead of HIV, neonatal infections and diarrheal disease. HA technology leads to greater financial independence and improve access to mainstream education addressing UN SDG 1 (End Poverty) and SDG 4 (Universal Education) and also aligns with World Health Assembly resolution WHA60.29 , which urges member states "To collect, verify, update and exchange information on health technologies, in particular medical devices, as an aid to their prioritization of needs and allocation of resources".
Work package 2 is targeted at developing, deploying and evaluating a mobile application and community-based intervention to increase the resilience of flood-prone communities around several cities across the territory in Brazil, in close partnership with Cemaden, the National Disaster Monitoring and Early-Warning Centre in Brazil. This work package builds upon the results of a previous Global Research Challenges Fund award in which the partners have developed and piloted a methodology to engage schools, flood-prone communities and local governments in the production and circulation of flood-related data to improve flood resilience. This methodology has been successfully piloted and is being currently applied in two schools of the cities of São Paulo and Rio Branco in Brazil and there is a need to expand this to other flood-prone communities of 43000 areas in 1000 different municipalities across Brazil.
Specific to investment from this award the project will be (1) development of a mobile app to allow school students and citizens living in flood-prone communities to generate data about local impacts of flooding, whilst fostering social learning on flood risks and adaptive strategies.(2) development of guidelines and materials for schools and local stakeholders to implement flood resilience interventions in prone communities based on the mobile app and on the integration of this with contents related to climate change adaptation and disaster early-warning of the school curriculum. (3) roll out the mobile app and interventions for the flood-prone communities to 81 schools across Brazil. (4) Perform a rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of the community-based research interventions to improve flood resilience, and disseminate results within Latin America.
Work Package 1 with an initial focus on Nepal, is a programme to produce "Affordable High-Quality Hearing Aids for LMICs" in collaboration with the INF Ear Hospital in Pokhara Nepal, which will finalise development and test the world's first hearing aid (HA) that meets both the WHO's target unit cost (3% of GDP/capita) for low-middle income countries (LMICs) and UK NHS clinical standards. HA chipsets account for approximately 90% of the total cost (Bill of Materials) of a HA. The novel approach taken by the Warwick team has been the re-purposing of chipsets recently developed for ultra-low power implementation of 'always on' artificial intelligence algorithms. When combined with proprietary algorithms these new generation of chips are now sufficiently advanced to be capable of competing with specialist Application Specific HA chips at reduced cost.
Specific to investment from this award the project will (1) achieve a reduction in the cost of Hearing Aid (HA) chipsets; (2) develop an FDA and CE certified device (the recognised global standards for medical devices); (3) in collaboration with the INF Ear Hospital in Pokhara Nepal, develop HA fitting procedures that are congruent with the availability and skills of clinical staff in LMICs, (4) expand ear care services to rural communities in Nepal.
At the present time the incidence of hearing loss is approximately two-to-three times that in high-income countries, the WHO predict that by 2030, hearing loss will become the World's 7th highest burden of disease ahead of HIV, neonatal infections and diarrheal disease. HA technology leads to greater financial independence and improve access to mainstream education addressing UN SDG 1 (End Poverty) and SDG 4 (Universal Education) and also aligns with World Health Assembly resolution WHA60.29 , which urges member states "To collect, verify, update and exchange information on health technologies, in particular medical devices, as an aid to their prioritization of needs and allocation of resources".
Work package 2 is targeted at developing, deploying and evaluating a mobile application and community-based intervention to increase the resilience of flood-prone communities around several cities across the territory in Brazil, in close partnership with Cemaden, the National Disaster Monitoring and Early-Warning Centre in Brazil. This work package builds upon the results of a previous Global Research Challenges Fund award in which the partners have developed and piloted a methodology to engage schools, flood-prone communities and local governments in the production and circulation of flood-related data to improve flood resilience. This methodology has been successfully piloted and is being currently applied in two schools of the cities of São Paulo and Rio Branco in Brazil and there is a need to expand this to other flood-prone communities of 43000 areas in 1000 different municipalities across Brazil.
Specific to investment from this award the project will be (1) development of a mobile app to allow school students and citizens living in flood-prone communities to generate data about local impacts of flooding, whilst fostering social learning on flood risks and adaptive strategies.(2) development of guidelines and materials for schools and local stakeholders to implement flood resilience interventions in prone communities based on the mobile app and on the integration of this with contents related to climate change adaptation and disaster early-warning of the school curriculum. (3) roll out the mobile app and interventions for the flood-prone communities to 81 schools across Brazil. (4) Perform a rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of the community-based research interventions to improve flood resilience, and disseminate results within Latin America.
Planned Impact
For WP1 (Affordable High-Quality Hearing Aids for LMICs)
This project will provide affordable and appropriate hearing aid technology and novel healthcare pathways that will help to address the needs of the 466 people estimated to suffer from Disabling Hearing Loss (DHL). The benefits to those with DHL will be enhanced social integration, greater access to mainstream education, improved career prospects and a greater likelihood of financial independence.
The initial benefit will be to those with detected hearing loss in Nepal. Over 25 years our Nepalese partners have treated 43,000 people with hearing loss in ear camps (see letter of support), i.e. 1,720 people per year. With the introduction of additional Ear Care Practitioners (ECPs) in Nepal, which this proposal supports, we anticipate growing this number to over 6,000 per annum by the end of 2021. The concept of ECPs (see letter of support), the training programme and the clinical pathways were developed in collaboration with the University of Warwick. This growth will come from expanding services to wider geographical regions within Nepal, in particular to rural communities.
Once the efficacy of the technology is fully established rapid upscaling and expansion to other LMIC countries is expected. This will be facilitated through stakeholder engagement facilitated by WHO and national hearing associations and NGOs. Previous meetings at WHO , indicates there will be strong interest in a hearing aid that can meets WHOs desired design profile and price target.
For WP2 (Waterproofing Data for LMICs)
The intended outcomes and impact of WP2 rely upon the central hypothesis that a deeper understanding of how flood-related data is produced, and how it flows, will enable transformations to build sustainable, flood resilient communities. WP2 will enable capacity development of local communities and governments of cities hosting 81 schools in Brazil, as well as dissemination to improve awareness of stakeholders of other regions and countries. As a resulting outcome, the project will enable the transformation of flood risk governance practices and improve the knowledge related to flood risks in all levels. The expected long-term impact of this outcome is a contribution towards the targets of: reducing the number of deaths and people affected by water-related disasters and reducing direct economic losses caused (SDG 11.5); and increasing the number of cities and human settlements adopting integrated policies and plans towards resilience to disasters and holistic disaster risk management (SDG 11.B).
Local communities vulnerable to floods across the Brazilian territory will benefit directly from the citizen-science application and intervention at schools that will bring together intergenerational groups not only to produce data for the project and build awareness, but also acquire knowledge and transfer skills that will make flood data more sustainable and ultimately improve community resilience.
The data and methods produced by the project will enable: (a) better communication between flood risk management organisations and stakeholders at local government through transformed practices; (b) improved risk mapping by incorporating community-driven data related to floods and risk; (c) long-term development of more precise warnings (CEMADEN) due to the better understanding of flood risks at local level. With the direct involvement of researchers from the Brazilian academic and co-operation partners who have an organisational mission and public mandate to research on improving resilience (i.e. CEMADEN), the project will also build research capacity with the interdisciplinary social research methods developed in the project, which will be used in further initiatives in different parts of Brazil.
This project will provide affordable and appropriate hearing aid technology and novel healthcare pathways that will help to address the needs of the 466 people estimated to suffer from Disabling Hearing Loss (DHL). The benefits to those with DHL will be enhanced social integration, greater access to mainstream education, improved career prospects and a greater likelihood of financial independence.
The initial benefit will be to those with detected hearing loss in Nepal. Over 25 years our Nepalese partners have treated 43,000 people with hearing loss in ear camps (see letter of support), i.e. 1,720 people per year. With the introduction of additional Ear Care Practitioners (ECPs) in Nepal, which this proposal supports, we anticipate growing this number to over 6,000 per annum by the end of 2021. The concept of ECPs (see letter of support), the training programme and the clinical pathways were developed in collaboration with the University of Warwick. This growth will come from expanding services to wider geographical regions within Nepal, in particular to rural communities.
Once the efficacy of the technology is fully established rapid upscaling and expansion to other LMIC countries is expected. This will be facilitated through stakeholder engagement facilitated by WHO and national hearing associations and NGOs. Previous meetings at WHO , indicates there will be strong interest in a hearing aid that can meets WHOs desired design profile and price target.
For WP2 (Waterproofing Data for LMICs)
The intended outcomes and impact of WP2 rely upon the central hypothesis that a deeper understanding of how flood-related data is produced, and how it flows, will enable transformations to build sustainable, flood resilient communities. WP2 will enable capacity development of local communities and governments of cities hosting 81 schools in Brazil, as well as dissemination to improve awareness of stakeholders of other regions and countries. As a resulting outcome, the project will enable the transformation of flood risk governance practices and improve the knowledge related to flood risks in all levels. The expected long-term impact of this outcome is a contribution towards the targets of: reducing the number of deaths and people affected by water-related disasters and reducing direct economic losses caused (SDG 11.5); and increasing the number of cities and human settlements adopting integrated policies and plans towards resilience to disasters and holistic disaster risk management (SDG 11.B).
Local communities vulnerable to floods across the Brazilian territory will benefit directly from the citizen-science application and intervention at schools that will bring together intergenerational groups not only to produce data for the project and build awareness, but also acquire knowledge and transfer skills that will make flood data more sustainable and ultimately improve community resilience.
The data and methods produced by the project will enable: (a) better communication between flood risk management organisations and stakeholders at local government through transformed practices; (b) improved risk mapping by incorporating community-driven data related to floods and risk; (c) long-term development of more precise warnings (CEMADEN) due to the better understanding of flood risks at local level. With the direct involvement of researchers from the Brazilian academic and co-operation partners who have an organisational mission and public mandate to research on improving resilience (i.e. CEMADEN), the project will also build research capacity with the interdisciplinary social research methods developed in the project, which will be used in further initiatives in different parts of Brazil.
Organisations
- University of Warwick (Lead Research Organisation)
- Federal University of Acre (Collaboration)
- Secretariat for the Environment of the State of Acre (SEMA) (Collaboration)
- University of Manchester (Collaboration)
- National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alarms (Collaboration)
- Green Pastures Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre (Collaboration)
- International Nepal Fellowship (Collaboration)
- Getulio Vargas Foundation (Collaboration)
Publications
Araujo A
(2020)
PERCEPÇÃO DE RISCO DE MORADORES DE ÁREA COM INUNDAÇÕES RECORRENTES: ANÁLISE DA BAIXADA DO SOBRAL - RIO BRANCO/AC
in UÁQUIRI - Revista do Programa de Pós Graduação em Geografia da Universidade Federal do Acre
Brandão, G.
(2020)
Potencialidades e Desafios dos Mapeamentos Colaborativos Virtuais no Contexto de Pandemia
in Uauquiri - Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia (UFAC)
Coaffee, J.
(2021)
The Palgrave Handbook of Co-production of Public Services and Outcomes
Gallo Jr H,
(2020)
Educação ambiental e desenvolvimento humano: pesquisas e práticas
Klonner C
(2021)
The Sketch Map Tool Facilitates the Assessment of OpenStreetMap Data for Participatory Mapping
in ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Lima-Silva F
(2022)
Vulnerabilidade(s) e ação pública : concepções, casos e desafios
Matsuo P
(2020)
Redução de riscos de desastres na produção sobre educação ambiental: um panorama das pesquisas no Brasil
in Pesquisa em Educação Ambiental
Matsuo, P. M
(2021)
Levantando a lebre da redução de riscos de desastres: aprendizagens da campanha #AprenderParaPrevenir
in Revista Humanidades e Inovações.
| Description | WP1: Objective 1 - A reduction in the cost of hearing aid chipsets can be achieved and a prototype hearing aid incorporating this new chip is now ready for lab testing. WP1: Objective 4 - The employment of a senior audiologist and three ear care practitioners has increased the availability of ear care provision in the Pokhara region of Nepal. WP2: Objective 1 - The mobile app has been built and is undergoing user testing and refinement, to be ready for testing by citizens and schools to input data and gain understanding on flood risks in their communities. We are finding that there is a huge interest from communities and schools to be involved and learn more. WP2: Objective 2: The material for the elective module is being adapted following initial feedback and a shift to online delivery, working closely with the state education department in Brazil. The engagement so far from pupils in the pilot schools has been really good, despite the difficulties of Covid-19. |
| Exploitation Route | WP1: The hearing aid will be testing in Nepal and it successful, the plan is to roll it out to other LMICs. WP2: The planned roll out of the app will allow many more areas of Brazil and Latin America to engage in community mapping, that facilitates the two-way interaction of communities and state and national governmental institutions. The elective module can be rolled out across Brazil, increasing knowledge and awareness of the risks of flooding for pupils, increasing the ability to act and create change, to promote resilience. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | WP2: A data-driven innovation approach, including a functional citizen-science mobile app prototype and a model school curriculum, has been successfully co-produced and trialled with 300+ students from 20+ schools and civil protection agencies of five Brazilian states. This successful trial has proven the positive impact for the communities involved, enabling them to democratise flood data, raise awareness, and co-design new initiatives to reduce disaster risks. This landmark success sparked positive media reports stating our approach "could change the way communities deal with floods in Brazil", as covered in 170+ outlets, including interviews given for 5 national broadcast TV programmes and 6 major newspapers. Given this success, in the next phase of the project, our approach has been adopted as part of the "Cemaden Educação" programme of Brazil's National Disaster Monitoring and Early-Warning Centre with the goal of scaling up the usage of our pedagogical approach as a major risk reduction programme engaging all schools in vulnerable communities in Brazil in community data generation and improving the resilience and afterwards expanding to other Latin American cities. Only in Brazil, these would have tangible impact for the lives of 8.3 million people who live in areas which are vulnerable to rainfall-related disaster risks, as estimated by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2018. The benefits of better early-warning and effective community-based risk reduction programmes could save human lives and mitigate the significant economic impact of disasters, which are estimated by the World Bank to have caused R$ 336 billion losses (£48 billion) in Brazil from 1995 to 2019. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Improvements to spatial and temporal coverage of databases of flood-prone areas in Brazil |
| Geographic Reach | South America |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The data generated by schools as a result of the project is assisting CEMADEN to improve the spatial and temporal coverage of their databases of flood-prone areas in Brazil which will enable more precise flood forecasting, whilst simultaneously enabling citizens and school students of flood-prone areas to be more prepared to adopt resilient behaviours, reducing the economic and social costs associated with flooding in Brazil. Following the development of an elective module on mapping methodology in four schools in Sao Paulo, CEMADEN adopted this methodology as a part of its national programme "CEMADEN Education", through a tutorial guide which is accessed by CEMADEN's 81 partner schools across the Brazilian continental territory. |
| Description | WP1: Audiology training |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | By increasing the understanding of how the specialist equipment can be used effectively by staff in the hospital, this adds to the accuracy of hearing assessment and to hearing aid prescriptions, which will provide a better and more accurate service for patients. This in turn increases their changes of greater integration in education, work and society, improving life chances and wellbeing. |
| Description | WP1: Draft Adverse Event Reporting Policy |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | An adverse events process was required for the project. The draft is now being implemented for the field trails, but is also being discussed in draft form for introduction throughout the hospital, as no policy currently exists. |
| Description | WP2: Participation in the Expert Committee for the Plan of Urban Security and Civil Defense |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | WP2: Training - Using community data and analytics to build resilience to flooding |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Using the Futurum educational platform, practitioners can learn about citizen science, urban analytics, and data literacy. By developing skill sets, community members will be able to engage with socio-environmental issues that affect them. Through this enhanced knowledge and understanding, communities in flood-prone areas will be able to better prepare themselves against flood risks. |
| URL | https://futurumcareers.com/using-community-data-and-analytics-to-build-resilience-to-flooding?fbclid... |
| Description | WP1: UKRI - CoA funding - Covid-19 |
| Amount | £79,442 (GBP) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 09/2021 |
| Description | WP2: ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (University of Warwick): Accelerating the impact of citizen-generated data for improving the monitoring and management of catastrophic flooding |
| Amount | £49,523 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2020 |
| End | 12/2021 |
| Description | WP2: UKRI CoA funding - Covid-19 |
| Amount | £58,166 (GBP) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 09/2021 |
| Title | WP1: International Outcome Inventory - Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) questionnaire from Cox et al. (2000) |
| Description | The IOI as mentioned above will be translated into Nepali for the first time, to allow results of hearing aid efficacy to be compared with other similar products effectively. |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Using the IOI will provide robustness and credibility to the results of the field trial and allow the efficacy of the novel hearing aid to be assessed against international results. The translated inventory will be made available for use in Nepal by the end of the project. |
| Title | WP2: Critical Data and Mobile App development |
| Description | In their study, the researchers developed a method of research based on Paulo Friere's critical pedagogy. Specifically, Paulo Freire's work is applied to the challenges of mobile app development in marginilised communities. Such challenges may include the adverse consequences of technological top-down solutions. In developing this method, Dr Livia DeGrossi ensures that we move away from top-down thinking in order to promote more equitable, dialogical, and collaborative solutions for our communities. Studies have shown that more participatory approaches have a more lasting impact on communities. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | tba |
| Title | WP2: Cycles of Reflection and Participatory Software Design |
| Description | This approach is centred around the idea of collaborative software development. The approach includes consultation with app users and a series of feedback provided on about the functionality of the app (based on the AGILE software development methodology). It has been decided that for this project, at least three iterations of feedback from app users to the developers (cycles of reflection) will take place. The first two cycles were implemented virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Greater engagement with the users, in particular the introduction of improved citizen science, collating mapping information from those who are directly affected by the impact of flooding. |
| Title | WP2: Development of elective module |
| Description | By engaging virtually to develop a new elective for schools in the pilot areas of Brazil, to understand the impact of flooding in their communities: The project follows the dialogical engagement approach, initially developed in the Waterproofing Data Project. However, new techniques to adapt to the imposed online module delivery were introduced and were focused on investigating new ways of enhancing the effectiveness of remote learning. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | Continued engagement with the students during the pandemic and home schooling, providing opportunities for those who were interested and engaged to continue to work through the module, building their knowledge and understanding, to the benefit of themselves and their communities. |
| Description | CEMADEN, Brazil |
| Organisation | National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alarms |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | CEMADEN are collaborating with the project under Work Package 2 of this award. We are working with CEMADEN to identify opportunities for further use of our research to support operational effectiveness in disaster preparedness and response, in particular related to flooding. |
| Collaborator Contribution | CEMADEN are contributing their time and expertise to the development of the project, enabling us to better understand and improve the connection of the research to the challenges of marginalised communities in Brazil. |
| Impact | Change to approach and practice in relation to data collection and use for the response to flooding. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Federal University of Acre |
| Organisation | Federal University of Acre |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We have provided significant support in terms of training in participatory mapping and use of OpenStreetMap. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research Assistants from UFAC are all doing their undergraduate dissertations related to the project, |
| Impact | There are number of student publications associated with the project. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Brazil |
| Organisation | Getulio Vargas Foundation |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | FGV is our primary partner in WP2 of this research award. We are working together on the project with regular contributions on both sides. |
| Collaborator Contribution | FGV is our primary partner in WP2 of this research award. We are working together on the project with regular contributions on both sides. |
| Impact | The Work Package 2 project is multidisciplinary, spanning academic fields including social sciences, environmental sciences and computing. All outputs related to the project are directly linked to FGV as the primary project partner. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | WP1: Green Pastures Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal |
| Organisation | Green Pastures Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre |
| Country | Nepal |
| Sector | Hospitals |
| PI Contribution | The new hearing aid will be trialed at the hospital, so the team have provided training with the set up of audiology equipment to be used in the trial, how to take informed consent, and additional follow up training as requested and / or required. Two Research Audiologists from the University of Manchester travelled to Pokhara to offer additional training and support face to face. Contributions towards purchasing equipment required for the trial have been made by the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The hospital has given the Senior Audiologist time to work on the project with us, provided the environment for the trial to take place, supported recruitment of the required staff and supported the project with local issues in Nepal, where additional knowledge is required. Translations of documents required for the trial into Nepali. |
| Impact | Preparation for the delivery of the trial Translation of documents into Nepali, including the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing, for the first time. Disciplines involved are audiology, working alongside the engineering team at Warwick. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | WP1: International Nepal Fellowship |
| Organisation | International Nepal Fellowship |
| Country | Nepal |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Established the partnership as a win-win situation, to provide benefits for a LMIC in the form of lower-priced, high quality hearing aids and an excellent base to conduct the field trial. Provided training and guidance in how to manage trials, as well as the allocation of grant funding to recruit skilled staff to support the work of the hospital. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The hospital audiology department has agreed to engage with the trial of the novel hearing aids, to test their initial efficacy in LMICs. |
| Impact | Senior audiologist and three ear care practitioners recruited to support the audiology department and directly contribute to the research trial and collection of results. |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | WP1: University of Manchester |
| Organisation | University of Manchester |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Introduced the University of Manchester to the project to provide additional skills to the project team. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The University of Manchester, Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness, provides specialist support for technical testing, research methods and evaluation for audiology and hearing support. They have input into the research protocol and methodology, technical testing for hearing aids for compliance and provided support to the audiology team in Nepal. |
| Impact | As key collaborators, the University of Manchester team is contributing across the whole project. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | WP2: State Secretariat of Environment and Indiginous Population (Acre) |
| Organisation | Secretariat for the Environment of the State of Acre (SEMA) |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We are working with the secretariat to support operational effectiveness in disaster management by circulating citizen-generated data. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Practitioners have contributed with the identification of their needs related to data, which were translated into the requirements of the mobile application. |
| Impact | Practitioners contributed with the development of the mobile application. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Title | WP1: Development of novel hearing aid for use in LMICs |
| Description | A novel hearing aid has been developed. It is in final working prototype stage and will be undergoing final testing shortly. It is an output of the GRCF / GTRA grant funding. |
| Type | Therapeutic Intervention - Medical Devices |
| Current Stage Of Development | Refinement. Non-clinical |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2021 |
| Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
| Impact | Provision of a lower cost, high quality hearing aid, within LMICs. |
| Title | WP1: Development of novel hearing aid for use in LMICs |
| Description | The prototype hearing aid about to undertake trials makes novel use of low energy, 'always on' technology to produce a hearing aid at a much lower price point than comparable alternatives. This low-cost, good quality (comparable to an NHS supplied hearing aid) will be tested in April 2022 in Nepal, at Green Pastures Hospital, our partners in Nepal. The results will be known around mid-2022. Funding to secure the next stage of development and move towards roll-out is underway, with plans to create a not-for-profit organisation, with external funding and a potential crowdfunding appeal. |
| Type | Therapeutic Intervention - Medical Devices |
| Current Stage Of Development | Early clinical assessment |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2022 |
| Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
| Impact | The trial will begin in April 2022, so the above represents the expectations about it. Full results will be available mid-2022. |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/research/grta-hearing-aids-nepal |
| Title | WP1: Provision of senior audiologist and ear care practitioners in Nepal |
| Description | There are very few ear clinics in Nepal and being able to provide a senior audiologist, alongside ear care practitioners at the hospital, will allow the field trial to be completed, as well as providing a substantial increase in ear care provision for the rest of the time, in the region. |
| Type | Health and Social Care Services |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2020 |
| Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
| Impact | The number of patients it is possible to offer services to, along with the increased presence of staff, in both volume and time has greatly improved access to ear care for those who may have struggled to do so before. |
| Title | Mobile App "Dados à Prova d'Água" |
| Description | The App allows citizens to create and share location data about flooding and flood-related events. The app also allows citizens to visualise citizen-generated and official flooding data from Brazilian government agencies. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | The app has engaged 21 volunteers (known in the project as pollinators) and additional 243 regular users from six Brazilian states. The volunteers mainly come from public schools (e.g., teachers or students) or government agencies working in flood-related risk management. During the initial testing phase, volunteers have submitted more than 3.500 rainfall measures of flood-related events. The app is restricted for downloads in Brazil and the UK |
| URL | https://github.com/urbanbigdatacentre/WPD-MobileApp |
| Title | WPD-Auth |
| Description | This web application handles the registry and authentication of users of the App "Dados à Prova d'Água". Its main goal is to ensure that access and user authentication within the mobile app complies with the Brazilian general data protection law. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | The app has served to register more than 21 volunteers or pollinators and more than 243 regular users. The app serves to validate user identities prior to record flood-related data app ensuring their data protection under the Brazilian law. |
| URL | https://github.com/urbanbigdatacentre/WPD-Auth |
| Description | Capacity building within civil society: long term resilience to extreme weather risks, Bristol, workshop with civil society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Waterproofing Data: rethinking data generation and capacity building for flood resilience". ESRC CASCADE-NET Final conference: Capacity building within Civil Society: long term resilience to extreme weather risk, UWE Bristol, UK, 4 November 2020. Useful discussions around contribution to resilience by civil society. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | The role of data in transformations to sustainability: towards inclusive and empowering resilience building, Monash Sustainable Development Institute |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Exchanged knowledge with mixed audience about experience of transformations to sustainability, inclusive data and resilience building., sharing practical examples related to the project. This sparked some interesting questions and discussions during the Q&A. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | WP1: Presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | A presentation to Minerva (business angels network) was made on 7 March 2022, to present the new hearing aid and explain the potential it has in LMICs. Looking to attract investors, willing to support a not-for-profit company, to roll out the new aid more widely, as soon as the trials have been completed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | WP1: Website |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Development of a website to showcase the new hearing aid and the potential that it has for the relief of hearing loss in LMICs, at a significantly lower cost that other new alternatives, at a quality comparable to those offered in the NHS and the opportunity they provide for people to realise their potential, in education, work and social environments. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/research/grta-hearing-aids-nepal |
| Description | WP1: press release |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Press release will be issued by the University of Warwick to showcase the new hearing aid and the its development, to raise general awareness and to attract attention for a potential public funding call. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | WP2 : Webinar for Secretary of State for the Environment and Indigenous Policies |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Webinar presented to the Secretary of State for the Environment and Indigenous Policies. Presentations raised awareness of the project's aims and outcomes. In response, a discussion focused on the methodology and why it is important to tackle contemporary issues with this project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeZaPz5tGUc |
| Description | WP2 Blog on the Webinar delivered to the State Secretariat of Environment and Indignous Population: "Webinário no Mês do Meio Ambiente apresenta projeto na área de riscos de inundações com abordagem social e cultural no Acre" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A blog written on the impact and project outcomes of WP2. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://gazetadonorte.com.br/2021/06/25/webinario-no-mes-do-meio-ambiente-apresenta-projeto-na-area-... |
| Description | WP2: Blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Blog about a mid-term meeting that was adapted to replace a face to face meeting, to a virtual event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/schoolforcross-facultystudies/igsd/waterproofingdata/news/waterproofi... |
| Description | WP2: Blog for National News Mapeamentos colaborativos e dados comunitários podem auxiliar Municípios na prevenção e mitigação a desastres |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In this blog, the national organisation for Brazilian municipalities outlines the project. Community data and collaborative mapping can assist municipalities in disaster prevention and mitigation. WP2 was described in this news item in great detail and the important outcomes and wider impacts were highlighted. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.cnm.org.br/comunicacao/noticias/mapeamentos-colaborativos-e-dados-comunitarios-podem-aux... |
| Description | WP2: Capacity Training Workshop for teachers and students at the Federal University of Acre on the topic of OpenStreetMap |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A training workshop was delivered to the staff of the Federal University of Acre. This workshop aimed to facilitate capacity building through technical and personal skill development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | WP2: Education planning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Members of the project team met with the education office about the development of the schools elective module: Meeting with the Secretary for Education of the Sao Paulo state and co-planning of the elective module in order to increase its attractiveness and effectiveness. (January 2020). The consultation is continuing with the Education Secretariat during the rolling out of the module, including updates from online delivery and planning for live lectures. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | WP2: Interview for National News |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Researchers Maria Alexandra Cunha and Rachel Trajber were interviewed by national news. They discussed the aims and outcomes of the project in order to improve flood resilience for local communities in Brazil. Interview was conducted in Brazilian Portuguese |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.info4.com.br/ver/ver.asp?Yw=MTQzMg&YQ=MTQzMg&bQ=MTkxMDE2OQ&bA=MTkxMDE2OQ&b3JpZ2Vt=cGxhbml... |
| Description | WP2: Interview for National News |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dados à prova dágua: aplicativo ajuda alunos das escolas estaduais a monitorar a chuva Interview with researchers & stakeholders on the impact of utilising the flood monitoring app in schools. The broadcast was viewed by over 1000 people across the nation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.info4.com.br/ver/ver.asp?Yw=MTQzMg&YQ=MTQzMg&bQ=MTg4Mzc5OA&bA=MTg4Mzc5OA&b3JpZ2Vt=cGxhbml... |
| Description | WP2: Interview for Radio |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with Maria Alexandra Cunha, Co-I, about flooding and how the project can benefit the wider society. The program was broadcast to over 1000 people across the country. The interview was conducted in Brazilian Portuguese. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.info4.com.br/ver/ver.asp?Yw=MTQzMg&YQ=MTQzMg&bQ=MTg4NTA0NQ&bA=MTg4NTA0NQ&b3JpZ2Vt=cGxhbml... |
| Description | WP2: Interview for national news |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Pesquisadores desenvolvem projeto para ajudar moradores de áreas de risco monitorarem a chuva An interview with researchers was broadcast on national news. The researchers discussed flood risk in Brazil and the application of the project in that context. The broadcast was viewed by more than 1,000 people. The interview was conducted in Brazilian Portuguese |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.info4.com.br/ver/ver.asp?Yw=MTQzMg&YQ=MTQzMg&bQ=MTkxMDA4Nw&bA=MTkxMDA4Nw&b3JpZ2Vt=cGxhbml... |
| Description | WP2: Interview for national news |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Pesquisadores da Fundação Getúlio Vargas e do Cemaden desenvolveram um projeto de monitoramento de chuvas In this interview, project researchers discuss the purpose, outcomes, and wider impact of the project. The interview was broadcast to a national audience of more than one million people. The interview is in Brazilian Portuguese. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | http://www.info4.com.br/ver/ver.asp?Yw=MTQzMg&YQ=MTQzMg&bQ=MTkwOTgyNA&bA=MTkwOTgyNA&b3JpZ2Vt=cGxhbml... |
| Description | WP2: Mapping activities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Mapathons: Complete series of mapping activities with students from the Federal University of Acre (UFAC) organised weekly between April 2020 and July 2020. Mapping activities continue in February 2021-March 2021 and they focus on provision of geospatial data to support the emergency response apparatus and local civil defence following the floods in the state of Acre. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | WP2: Mid-term virtual workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Organised entirely online, in June 2020, after switching from a face-to-face meeting due to Covid-19. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/schoolforcross-facultystudies/igsd/waterproofingdata/midtermmeeting/ |
| Description | WP2: News Article Natural disasters can be monitored by new app |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The media article described the outcomes, outputs, and intended impact of the project. Additionally, the article positions the project in the wider context of disasters and environmental issues facing the local population. The article contributes to the understanding of the issue both socially and politically, and seeks to raise awareness and reframe debates about it. In the article, local residents are described as being able to utilize the tool to be more proactive about navigating & predicting floods and associated risks during extreme weather conditions. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://namidia.fapesp.br/desastres-naturais-podem-ser-monitorados-por-novo-app/357799 |
| Description | WP2: School Training Session - Pollinator session for teachers and civil defense workers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | A training workshop facilitated the networking of teachers and civil defence workers. During the training, 16 teachers, 19 schools, and five civil defence workers participated. These groups would not normally work together. This collaborative approach encouraged an open discussion between the stakeholders and encouraged barriers to be broken down between their understandings of flood and disaster risk management. These workshops helped reframe the debate for civil defence workers who had a newfound respect for citizen science methodologies as well as an increased interest in them. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | WP2: Training Workshop for the staff of the State Secretariat of Environment and Indiginous Population on the topic of OpenStreetMap |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A training workshop was delivered to the staff of the Secretariat of Eniviroment and Indiginous Population. This workshop aimed to facilitate capacity building through technical and personal skill development. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | WP2: Training Workshop on Collaborative and Humanitarian Mapping |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The students of the Federal University of Paraiba attended a training workshop on collaborative and humanitarian mapping. The workshop's goal was to build capacity through technical and personal skill development. Participants were engaged and eager to discuss how these tools might be further used in their own communities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | http://www.ccen.ufpb.br/ccen/contents/noticias/projeto-de-extensao-2021-do-ccen-pedagogia-urbana-da-... |
| Description | WP2: Undergraduate Training Workshop on the topic of OpenStreet Map |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was delivered to students at the Federal University of Acre. It facilitated capacity building through technical and personal skill development. Researchers presented a comprehensive presentation on community mapping and attendees were encouraged to use OpenStreetMap to learn community and participatory mapping. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.instagram.com/semana.cgeo.ufac/ |
| Description | WP2: Webinar Presentation Dia Internacional para Redução de Risco de Desastres |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Maria Alexandra Cunha, a senior project member, was invited to participate in an expert panel discussion regarding the project and its contribution to disaster risk reduction. By showcasing the project at the conference, the project was able to gain a greater profile and spark discussions with others in the disaster risk community. These discussions were especially useful when it came to contributing to scholarship on policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUclOsZAx70&t=6s |
| Description | WP2: Workshop on Potentialities of Participatory Mapping and Its Importance for Geography: The Use of Openstreetmap and Hot Tasking Manager in the Context of Environmental Disasters in Rio Branco |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Our researchers conducted a workshop on collaborative mapping. During this workshop, we discussed the value of community mapping in the aftermath of environmental disasters. This was particularly useful in raising awareness about the potential of collaborative mapping. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | WP2: Workshops & Mapping activities in Acre: several projects were launched in the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Tasking Manager platform to support the State Secretariat of Environment in responding to several crises in 2021. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The University of Warwick, in collaboration with the Secretary of the Environment of the State of Acre, the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Heidelberg University and the Federal University of Acre (UFAC), coordinated an international mapping campaign to support local authorities in responding to an ongoing humanitarian crisis triggered by massive floods, COVID-19 and dengue outbreaks and a migratory crisis. 10 Sites were mapped. It was identified that these events had an impact on the development of policy, practice, and helped the local community improve their response to the emergency. https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10472, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10473, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10476, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10479, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10480, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10481, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10482, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10483, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10499, https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10500. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/10472 |
| Description | WP: 2 Interview for National Federation of Municipalities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The topic of Dr Livia Degrossi's presentation was Planning policies in Smart Cities. Questions were raised about the research being conducted on the project during this panel discussion. It was discussed how to create effective policies, and this helped to promote the impact of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=BUVzQDapW2Q |
| Description | WP: Capacity Training Workshop - Da graduação para a profissão - Seção B: Na Graduação In: I Semana de Capacitação do Geógrafo (I CGEO)I Semana de Capacitação do Geógrafo. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A capacity training workshop was delivered by project researchers on collaborative mapping. The aim of this activity was to raise capacity for community mapping. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |