Sustainable Care Innovation Fellowship: Accelerating implementation and uptake of new technologies to support ageing in place

Lead Research Organisation: University of Sheffield
Department Name: Social Sciences Research Institutes

Abstract

The new Industrial Strategy: Building a Britain fit for the future identified "Ageing Society" as one of 4 Grand Challenges, each representing a focal point for investment to secure the prosperity of British industry by addressing real-world problems. In line with the preference of older people and their carers to age in place, and current policy guidance, the proposed research will involve collaboration with industry partners to help them address challenges in the implementation and uptake of new technologies to support sustainable arrangements for ageing in place capable of delivering wellbeing outcomes for older people. The Fellowship aligns with 4 "Pillars" of the Industrial Strategy:

Pillar 1 - Investing in Science, Research and Innovation. The Fellow's innovative research focuses on innovations to address the Ageing Society Grand Challenge and aims to strengthen the role of UK expertise (in services, universities, innovation) in the global market for digital care products in ICTs, 'new generation' telecare products, and robotics.

Pillar 3 - Upgrading Infrastructure. The digitisation of care has reconfigured approaches to care interactions, but current care UK infrastructure requires upgrading to take full advantage of innovations in this area.

Pillar 5 - Improving Procurement. At present, procurement of care technologies relies heavily on local authorities and NHS Trusts. The research will explore how the rapidly emerging private care consumer market is influencing supply chains and its potential to drive innovation.

Pillar 8 - Cultivating World-Leading Sectors. The UK's past role in developing new care technologies positions its innovators and universities to benefit from, and play a lead role in, the increasingly competitive global market for care technologies and services.

The Fellow will examine challenges, benefits and possibilities for businesses and organisations designing and producing new technologies to support ageing in place. He will work closely with industry and non-academic partners to help them identify their needs and future potential, collaborating with six organisations which have already been recruited to the study and with others to be identified during the lifetime of the Fellowship.

The research will focus on case examples of promising innovations. These will include companies developing various potentially transformative solutions, including assistive robotic systems capable of enhancing quality of life as people age; emotionally engaging and useful robot solutions for use in the homes of older people; and other technologies offering different kinds of modern care solutions attractive or useful to older people requiring care and those who provide their support (carers and care workers). The specific focus of each case will be selected in consultation with partners and through stakeholder interviews/desk research.

Bespoke research techniques will be chosen, for their applicability to each case example and suitability to address research questions agreed with partners. A key issue will be to examine how suppliers of innovative products and services identify business development opportunities and access care markets. The research will include expert interviews, focused observations (in visits to the premises of partners) and analysis of documents. Methods will be qualitative (e.g. in-depth interviews, focus groups) and quantitative (e.g. surveys/analyses of company data), as applicable; the Fellow will identify/engage other stakeholders to take part if appropriate.

The findings will show how innovators, manufacturers and suppliers view/approach challenges in the technology-enabled care market. The Fellow will work with them to discover and implement new approaches to marketing and developing sustainable products for successful ageing in place, making information available to future start-ups entering the care technology marketplace in a new industry-focused toolkit.

Planned Impact

Who will benefit from this research?

The most direct beneficiaries from this research will be the industry/non-academic partners collaborating with the Innovation Fellow. These partners include established leaders and new start-up businesses designing and developing new technologies to support ageing in place, and professional organisations who maintain a network to aid such industry practices. Additional businesses will be identified, in collaboration with a leading organisation in the care sector and with input from Sustainable Care Programme PI Yeandle and Work Package Leaders de Witte and Hawley. Further beneficiaries will include older adults living in their own homes, their family carers, and care workers who may regularly use new technologies to support their capacity to live independently at home. More widely, policy advisers, care professionals and leaders in statutory services in the UK responsible for new Sustainable Transformation Plans in health and social care may also be interested in the findings and outputs generated by this fellowship. This wide breadth of potential beneficiaries highlights the impact this research can have across the whole system of technology-enabled care, from initial design right through to the final implementation and use of emergent technologies.

How will they benefit from this research?

The most direct beneficiaries of this research will gain a more in-depth understanding of the challenges they face and the opportunities they could seize to realise increased uptake and more effective implementation of their new technologies, helping them tackle endemic issues widely reported across the sector. High-quality articles in popular and business-specific publications will ensure good outreach to the public and to non-partner organisations alerting them to the study findings. The public will also have the opportunity to take part in two planned public engagement events linked with British Science Week and the ESRC Festival of Social Sciences. These events will allow an interested public to engage actively with insights from the study and to discuss their own perspectives on technologies designed to support older adults and their partners in care.

Industry partners and other relevant stakeholders will also benefit from a series of stakeholder engagement events held throughout the study period to openly discuss innovative practices in a model of open and responsive collaboration. A further series of action-oriented workshops will help design and refine the development of a toolkit promoting innovative strategies for successful implementation and uptake in the sector.

The Innovation Fellow will also maintain a strong web presence through engagement on social media (notably Twitter and LinkedIn) and a study-specific website. These activities will allow an interested public, nascent technology developers and other relevant stakeholders to engage with the study throughout its duration ensuring an interested readership for future study outputs. Publications will be made Open Access when possible to ensure that interested individuals and organisations can benefit from the study.

How will the the Innovation Fellow develop and sustain relationships with industry partners?

The Innovation Fellow will seek to develop relationships based on an open system of collaboration with each industry partner. The Fellow will prioritise a research agenda that is meaningful and will maximally benefit the needs of each partner whilst ensuring the delivery of a robust and rigourous empirical study. The Fellow will maintain regular email and telephone contact with each partner and generate rapport during his short placements within each organisation. The Fellow will seek to sustain his relationship with regular stakeholder meetings that focus on outputs and findings which may benefit whilst also brokering a support network for partners to collaborate with each other and relevant stakeholders.
 
Title Sheffield Carescapes 
Description This public engagement event sought to explore how we, as a society, can imagine futures for care. We regularly hear that adult social care in the UK and globally is in crisis. Years of austerity, ageing societies, and chronic staff shortages and high turnover rates for the care workforce place an increased burden on the system. In September 2020, I launched an exhibition for the Festival of the Mind entitled "Sheffield Carespaces: Potential Futures for a Caring Society". This project brought together artists, writers and researchers to imagine possible futures for society if care organised our relations to the environment and each other, technologies and social systems. Matthew Lariviere drew on his research and additional work from colleagues in academia, policy and practice to inform and curate the creative direction for the exhibition. Kate Morgan and Rob Richardson, local Sheffield artists, created a collection of ten "carescapes", illustrations of care across near and distant futures of Sheffield, as potential alterities for a society focused on care and empathy. Akeem Balogun, a young local writer, will also produce immersive short stories about care futures. My ambition to work with local artists for this exhibition was to explore multi-modal approaches for how we imagine alternatives for care. I hoped that illustrations of potential futures will spur us to have discussions about care beyond policy rhetoric. I wanted people to visualise how these futures of care may look and feel and their implications for our relationships, institutions and culture. Most of all, I hoped these "carescapes" allowed us to share novel ideas about how we can support each other in Sheffield, the UK, and internationally. I wanted to provoke people visiting the exhibit to hope for a more caring society and share their aspirational visions for this society with us. "Sheffield Carespaces: Potential Futures for a Caring Society" opened in September 2020 as part of the Festival of the Mind in Sheffield, UK. It was available as a physical exhibition in the Millennium Gallery and online as a digital exhibition. As a result of this project, I am now working on a similar project based in Bristol exploring future of care within the city and region. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact I have secured further funding to explore 'carescapes' in Bristol. 
URL https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2020/futurecade/sheffield-carescapes/
 
Description Through this project, I have identified several features contributing to issues and opportunities for technology-enabled care to support older adults and the care system.

1. Blurring boundaries of consumer and care technologies. Public-private partnerships in the care sector support using consumer technology, such as Amazon's Alexa, to support older adults and people living with a disability. This raises concerns about who owns this personal data, how the own/controller of the data can use it, and fundamental questions about what makes any product a 'care' technology.

2. Sustainability of innovation and leadership in business and public services. Local authorities and service providers often discussed the crucial role of leadership to help envision and deliver digital transformation in their service or business models. However, if the leader left, then this often resulted in poorly implemented and unsustainable innovations. Small and medium enterprises, especially technology providers, noted that there was often relatively few people in senior and middle management roles with most of the workforce consisting of telephone operators and engineers. Such businesses often had difficulty shaping strategic direction and realising them without leadership diffused throughout the organisation.

3. Unfit evaluations and frameworks around care and well-being for individuals and organisations. Many organisations identified a chronic issue with getting new innovations to scale and spread. The sector has focused on isolated pilot studies ('pilotitis') with comparatively few exemplars about how to spread technological innovations regionally and nationally. Pilots did not always have a robust evaluation process or framework with an emphasis on change-management (i.e. increased efficiency and case management) rather than well-being or person-centred outcomes to "capture the hearts and minds" of older adults, carers and the care workforce.

4. "Field of Dreams" approach to technology design and implementation. "If you build it, they will come" appeared to be the design thinking and implementation strategy for many currently offered and near-future technology to support older adults, their families and care provider organisations. Although some technology developers (designers, engineers) stated user involvement was the gold standard, it did not always appear central to how they developed their products.

5. Isolated communities of practice between design and implementation expertise. People involved in the design (user interface, software, hardware) and implementation (innovation champions, care workers, commissioners, older adults) rarely appeared to engage in shared practices or dialogue about the development and deployment of any care technology. This lack of communication throughout the initial design and prototyping stages often led to unintended consequences of the product during pilots and provision of technology in services.

As a result of these findings, I am developing a new framework to inspire and inform the design and evaluation of future technology around care and well-being outcomes.
Exploitation Route The outcomes of this funding highlights central issues and opportunities for technology-enabled care products to support better care and well-being for older adults, their families and the care workforce in the UK with potentially relevant findings in other care systems and cultural contexts. Findings from this study could be used to inform future design thinking and processes of implementation to ensure care and well-being are the focal points for future technology in health and care, instead of only costs and efficiency at the potential expense of people in need of support.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice
 
Description My collaboration with the University of Liverpool and Mobilise Care Ltd has helped us to redefine the possibilities and address some of the challenges for carers trying to access digital support during the pandemic. We have helped Mobilise Care Ltd identify limited opportunities for carers to learn how to use digital technology, especially during times of heightened restrictions and lockdowns. They have devised a care coaching system to help up-skill carers so they can access digital support tools, like Mobilise Care's own virtual cuppas.
First Year Of Impact 2021
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy
Impact Types Policy & public services
 
Description Developing a Workforce Strategy and Plan for Older People in Sheffield
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Innovations in Person Centred Care and Research
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact I gave an invited talk to 30 clinicians, researchers, patients and caregivers in Oxford as part of an "Innovation in Person Centred Approaches" Conference hosted by the Oxford Academic Health Sciences Network. Here I showed how current research trial designs challenge and inhibit participation for patients. I also illustrated how trial designs construct methodological issues which impede their implementation into 'real world' clinical settings.
 
Description Module design: Digital Transformation of Public Services
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
URL https://www.bristol.ac.uk/unit-programme-catalogue/UnitDetails.jsa?ayrCode=21%2F22&unitCode=SPOLM006...
 
Description Panellist at "2019 Digital Care Conference"
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description Robotics in social care POSTNote
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
URL https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/POST-PN-0591
 
Description Added Value
Amount £12,155 (GBP)
Organisation National Institute for Health Research 
Department NIHR School for Social Care Research
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2023 
End 03/2024
 
Description Co-designing the Mobilise Carer's Assessment Tool with Carers for Carers
Amount £15,033 (GBP)
Organisation United Kingdom Research and Innovation 
Department Research England
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2020 
End 12/2020
 
Description Critical Human Security and Public Policy Challenges in a Post-Covid World: UK and South Korea
Amount £44,356 (GBP)
Funding ID ES/W010739/1 
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2022 
End 07/2023
 
Description European Association of Social Anthropologists' Network grant
Amount € 800 (EUR)
Organisation European Association of Social Anthropologists 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2019 
End 12/2019
 
Description Futures of ageing: AI and the digital revolution in care (2019 ESRC Festival of Social Science)
Amount £1,155 (GBP)
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2019 
End 11/2019
 
Description Improving Inclusivity in Robotic Design
Amount £2,400 (GBP)
Organisation University of Sheffield 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2019 
End 07/2019
 
Description Shaping the Next Generation of AI-enhanced Social Housing and Social Care Systems
Amount £1,470 (GBP)
Organisation Economic and Social Research Council 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 07/2019 
End 07/2019
 
Description Shaping the Next Generation of AI-enhanced Social Housing and Social Care Systems
Amount £4,400 (GBP)
Organisation University of Sheffield 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2019 
End 07/2019
 
Description Sheffield Carescapes: Potential Futures for a Caring Society
Amount £5,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Sheffield 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2020 
End 09/2020
 
Description Strategic Staff Mobility Grant to visit partners from AGE-WELL and University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta
Amount £1,784 (GBP)
Organisation University of Sheffield 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2019 
End 06/2019
 
Description Digitising Carers Assessments 
Organisation Mobilise
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution I have provided expert consultation, brokering and research leadership to this partnership about the challenges of carers assessments and potential approaches to digitise the process through an online platform. I now lead a small project building off of this new partnership with local research assistants carrying out research and knowledge exchange activities. The team carried out a smaller project embedded within my fellowship (with in-kind contributions from Mobilise and Liverpool University) to investigate i) the challenges of carers during the first national lockdown and related restrictions from the global Covid-19 pandemic; and the possibility of Virtual Cuppas, facilitated Zoom chats led by carers for carers, to address some of these challenges. I led the team as the PI and hired three casual researchers (students at the Universities of Liverpool and Sheffield) to conduct secondary data analysis of transcripts provided by Mobilise. In 2021, I advised Mobilise on an Innovate UK funded project to explore how care commissioners and managers within local authorities viewed the possibilities of digital support for carers.
Collaborator Contribution U Liverpool partner, Warren Donnellan, provides complementary expertise from psychology about experiences of caring. Mobilise partner has developed a prototype platform of a digital carers assessments. He has also helped to generate interest from local authorities in England to act as research sites for interviews with carers.
Impact Successful application for an internal Impact Accelerate Award and funding from the ASPECT consortium (Mobilise is a Zinc incubator; U Sheffield and Zinc are both consortium members) = £15,000 fEC (50% match funded from Liverpool and Mobilise). Multi-disciplinary composed of anthropologist (Lariviere), psychology (Donnellan) and business strategy and commercialisation (Mobilise team). In November 2020, I produced an independent report on Mobilise's "virtual cuppas", funded by ASPECT, called Caring During Lockdown: Challenges and Opportunities in for Digitally Supporting Carers. In summer 2021, I produced a joint report with Mobilise and Warren Donellan entitled Lessons from Lockdown: What Next for Online Carer Support? This report explored what care commissioners and managers in local authorities saw as key issues and opportunities about how digital technology can support carers. As a result of this collaborative partnership, Mobilise has continued to expand it service provision and support for unpaid carers in the UK. It has secured contracts with two London boroughs to provide online support for local carers.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Digitising Carers Assessments 
Organisation University of Liverpool
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I have provided expert consultation, brokering and research leadership to this partnership about the challenges of carers assessments and potential approaches to digitise the process through an online platform. I now lead a small project building off of this new partnership with local research assistants carrying out research and knowledge exchange activities. The team carried out a smaller project embedded within my fellowship (with in-kind contributions from Mobilise and Liverpool University) to investigate i) the challenges of carers during the first national lockdown and related restrictions from the global Covid-19 pandemic; and the possibility of Virtual Cuppas, facilitated Zoom chats led by carers for carers, to address some of these challenges. I led the team as the PI and hired three casual researchers (students at the Universities of Liverpool and Sheffield) to conduct secondary data analysis of transcripts provided by Mobilise. In 2021, I advised Mobilise on an Innovate UK funded project to explore how care commissioners and managers within local authorities viewed the possibilities of digital support for carers.
Collaborator Contribution U Liverpool partner, Warren Donnellan, provides complementary expertise from psychology about experiences of caring. Mobilise partner has developed a prototype platform of a digital carers assessments. He has also helped to generate interest from local authorities in England to act as research sites for interviews with carers.
Impact Successful application for an internal Impact Accelerate Award and funding from the ASPECT consortium (Mobilise is a Zinc incubator; U Sheffield and Zinc are both consortium members) = £15,000 fEC (50% match funded from Liverpool and Mobilise). Multi-disciplinary composed of anthropologist (Lariviere), psychology (Donnellan) and business strategy and commercialisation (Mobilise team). In November 2020, I produced an independent report on Mobilise's "virtual cuppas", funded by ASPECT, called Caring During Lockdown: Challenges and Opportunities in for Digitally Supporting Carers. In summer 2021, I produced a joint report with Mobilise and Warren Donellan entitled Lessons from Lockdown: What Next for Online Carer Support? This report explored what care commissioners and managers in local authorities saw as key issues and opportunities about how digital technology can support carers. As a result of this collaborative partnership, Mobilise has continued to expand it service provision and support for unpaid carers in the UK. It has secured contracts with two London boroughs to provide online support for local carers.
Start Year 2019
 
Description EASA Age and Generations Network 
Organisation European Association of Social Anthropologists
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution I co-convened a symposium with a colleague from the University of Bradford on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. I acted as co-convenor for the Age and Generations in the absence of the regular convenor from Oxford Brookes University. I applied for and received a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019. Matthew was elected as co-convenor of AGENET in July 2020 for an initial two-year term.
Collaborator Contribution Partner from University of Bradford co-convened symposium on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. Partners from University of Copenhagen and University of Bradford successfully applied for a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019.
Impact We received 800 EUR small grant award to host a workshop on how to influence appropriate stakeholder groups involved in ageing research. On 18 September 2019, the European Association of Social Anthropologists' Age and Generations Network (AGENET) held its inaugural event, "How to make impact and influence people: Taking the anthropology of ageing beyond the academy", jointly hosted with the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. Twenty-five people attended, including the organisers and speakers of the event. As anthropologists conducting research in the field of ageing and the life course, we often collaborate with researchers from other disciplines and non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations that have national and international influence on industry, policy, and practice. At this event, we considered how our engagement with different stakeholders and materials/knowledge from other disciplines could create 'real-world' impact for our anthropological research. This workshop drew on the experiences of both academics and non-academic stakeholders interested in ageing and life-course research; e.g., care providers, service users, local authorities, professional organisations, and NGOs/charities. The day started with a morning keynote from Prof Janelle Taylor, Professor of Anthropology at The University of Toronto. In her talk, Prof Taylor helped to define different types of impact she has had throughout her academic career, particularly with colleagues from health and medical sciences. She noted how this can initially be an unconformable space for anthropologists as knowledge generation in health and medicine often favour a hierarchy with randomised controlled trials over the in-depth analyses offered through ethnographic engagements. However, it only took one person from that field to recognise the benefits of such engagements for her ideas to gain traction. She urged the audience to seek a balance between the quality of collaborators with a wide network. Following the morning keynote, a panel discussion took place, which included researchers in industry, policy and academia from the Copenhagen area. • Steffen Jöhncke: visiting professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University; senior advisor to Anthropological Analysis, a research group that aims to increase exchange and interaction between anthropology and the outside world. • Louise Scheel Thomasen: project leader and consultant in qualitative studies of ageing, Antropologerne, Avanti Consulting, and Danish National Board of Health (Sundhedsstyrelsen). • Kamilla Pernille Johansen Nørtoft: associate professor, University of Copenhagen, and co-principal investigator, Ageing in the Arctic (AgeArc): Well-Being, Quality of Life, and Health Promotion Among Older People in Greenland. The panel discussed how anthropological knowledge and practice add to collaborations with external stakeholders, and the particular value of collaborating with anthropologists of ageing and the life course. They discussed some of the challenges with working with anthropologists and/or within other cross-disciplinary collaborations, notably different timescales that effected quality and forms of engagement. Despite these short-term ethnographic projects, they noted the capacity to affect change with stakeholders in industry and health, which required more rapid and responsive project cycles. After the panel discussion, the attendees met in small groups for breakout sessions to consider questions they had arising from the panel as well as four pre-determined questions: • From your own experience, what empirical examples can you share about collaborating with researchers from other disciplines and/or non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations? How did you establish your relationship(s)? What were the challenges and what did you do to overcome them? • What is crucial to establish productive relationships with collaborative partners? • Does it change our "identities" as anthropologists if we conduct short-term studies or non-ethnographic datasets that produce "quick results" vs. the insights generated from more traditional immersive, long-term fieldwork? • Do we as anthropologists bring a certain sensibility to our collaborations with other stakeholders - if so, what does it add? Discussions within and between groups varied greatly. Most groups had their own topics they discussed rather than rely on these four questions. Additional topics included tensions between whether we should engage with communities of practice outside of academia, distinctive approaches of working with people with a dementia or other cognitive impairment, critiques of the concept of "sensibility" to describe our contribution as opposed to "skills and knowledge", language more immediately accessible and understandable outside our discipline and academia. To conclude the event, Dr Daniel López Gómez, Associate Professor of Psychology and Education and researcher with the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) at Estudios de Psicologia y Ciencias de la Educacion (UOC - Spain), delivered the afternoon keynote. In his talk, Dr Gómez explicitly focused on concrete examples of how he worked with telecare users, providers and operators in Spain as part of an EU-funded project. His keynote provided a complimentary component to Prof Taylor's morning keynote. Whereas Prof Taylor discussed different concepts to understand impact and collaboration, Dr Gómez focused on a single case for how he worked with a diverse range of stakeholders in Spanish telecare service. This workshop represented the first collaborative meeting between AGENET and the interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Aging (CEHA) at the University of Copenhagen. The workshop's objective was to create an opportunity for AGENET members to discuss issues and share experiences related to fostering real-world impact through our engagement with non-academic stakeholders and multidisciplinary researchers. The workshop provided anthropologists who are involved in research and teaching related to ageing and the life course with the knowledge and skills necessary to better engage non-academic stakeholders as partners in their research and knowledge-exchange processes. An improved partnership with these stakeholders could allow us to translate more effectively the insights from our research into real-world applications that can benefit industry, policy, and practice. Next, we will develop an AGENET manifesto to articulate our principles for best practice to produce impactful research with the range of communities involved in the everyday life and care of people in later life. We gratefully acknowledge support from the European Association of Social Anthropologists and the Center for Healthy Aging to deliver this workshop.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EASA Age and Generations Network 
Organisation Oxford Brookes University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I co-convened a symposium with a colleague from the University of Bradford on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. I acted as co-convenor for the Age and Generations in the absence of the regular convenor from Oxford Brookes University. I applied for and received a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019. Matthew was elected as co-convenor of AGENET in July 2020 for an initial two-year term.
Collaborator Contribution Partner from University of Bradford co-convened symposium on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. Partners from University of Copenhagen and University of Bradford successfully applied for a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019.
Impact We received 800 EUR small grant award to host a workshop on how to influence appropriate stakeholder groups involved in ageing research. On 18 September 2019, the European Association of Social Anthropologists' Age and Generations Network (AGENET) held its inaugural event, "How to make impact and influence people: Taking the anthropology of ageing beyond the academy", jointly hosted with the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. Twenty-five people attended, including the organisers and speakers of the event. As anthropologists conducting research in the field of ageing and the life course, we often collaborate with researchers from other disciplines and non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations that have national and international influence on industry, policy, and practice. At this event, we considered how our engagement with different stakeholders and materials/knowledge from other disciplines could create 'real-world' impact for our anthropological research. This workshop drew on the experiences of both academics and non-academic stakeholders interested in ageing and life-course research; e.g., care providers, service users, local authorities, professional organisations, and NGOs/charities. The day started with a morning keynote from Prof Janelle Taylor, Professor of Anthropology at The University of Toronto. In her talk, Prof Taylor helped to define different types of impact she has had throughout her academic career, particularly with colleagues from health and medical sciences. She noted how this can initially be an unconformable space for anthropologists as knowledge generation in health and medicine often favour a hierarchy with randomised controlled trials over the in-depth analyses offered through ethnographic engagements. However, it only took one person from that field to recognise the benefits of such engagements for her ideas to gain traction. She urged the audience to seek a balance between the quality of collaborators with a wide network. Following the morning keynote, a panel discussion took place, which included researchers in industry, policy and academia from the Copenhagen area. • Steffen Jöhncke: visiting professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University; senior advisor to Anthropological Analysis, a research group that aims to increase exchange and interaction between anthropology and the outside world. • Louise Scheel Thomasen: project leader and consultant in qualitative studies of ageing, Antropologerne, Avanti Consulting, and Danish National Board of Health (Sundhedsstyrelsen). • Kamilla Pernille Johansen Nørtoft: associate professor, University of Copenhagen, and co-principal investigator, Ageing in the Arctic (AgeArc): Well-Being, Quality of Life, and Health Promotion Among Older People in Greenland. The panel discussed how anthropological knowledge and practice add to collaborations with external stakeholders, and the particular value of collaborating with anthropologists of ageing and the life course. They discussed some of the challenges with working with anthropologists and/or within other cross-disciplinary collaborations, notably different timescales that effected quality and forms of engagement. Despite these short-term ethnographic projects, they noted the capacity to affect change with stakeholders in industry and health, which required more rapid and responsive project cycles. After the panel discussion, the attendees met in small groups for breakout sessions to consider questions they had arising from the panel as well as four pre-determined questions: • From your own experience, what empirical examples can you share about collaborating with researchers from other disciplines and/or non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations? How did you establish your relationship(s)? What were the challenges and what did you do to overcome them? • What is crucial to establish productive relationships with collaborative partners? • Does it change our "identities" as anthropologists if we conduct short-term studies or non-ethnographic datasets that produce "quick results" vs. the insights generated from more traditional immersive, long-term fieldwork? • Do we as anthropologists bring a certain sensibility to our collaborations with other stakeholders - if so, what does it add? Discussions within and between groups varied greatly. Most groups had their own topics they discussed rather than rely on these four questions. Additional topics included tensions between whether we should engage with communities of practice outside of academia, distinctive approaches of working with people with a dementia or other cognitive impairment, critiques of the concept of "sensibility" to describe our contribution as opposed to "skills and knowledge", language more immediately accessible and understandable outside our discipline and academia. To conclude the event, Dr Daniel López Gómez, Associate Professor of Psychology and Education and researcher with the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) at Estudios de Psicologia y Ciencias de la Educacion (UOC - Spain), delivered the afternoon keynote. In his talk, Dr Gómez explicitly focused on concrete examples of how he worked with telecare users, providers and operators in Spain as part of an EU-funded project. His keynote provided a complimentary component to Prof Taylor's morning keynote. Whereas Prof Taylor discussed different concepts to understand impact and collaboration, Dr Gómez focused on a single case for how he worked with a diverse range of stakeholders in Spanish telecare service. This workshop represented the first collaborative meeting between AGENET and the interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Aging (CEHA) at the University of Copenhagen. The workshop's objective was to create an opportunity for AGENET members to discuss issues and share experiences related to fostering real-world impact through our engagement with non-academic stakeholders and multidisciplinary researchers. The workshop provided anthropologists who are involved in research and teaching related to ageing and the life course with the knowledge and skills necessary to better engage non-academic stakeholders as partners in their research and knowledge-exchange processes. An improved partnership with these stakeholders could allow us to translate more effectively the insights from our research into real-world applications that can benefit industry, policy, and practice. Next, we will develop an AGENET manifesto to articulate our principles for best practice to produce impactful research with the range of communities involved in the everyday life and care of people in later life. We gratefully acknowledge support from the European Association of Social Anthropologists and the Center for Healthy Aging to deliver this workshop.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EASA Age and Generations Network 
Organisation University of Bradford
Department Centre for Applied Dementia Studies
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I co-convened a symposium with a colleague from the University of Bradford on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. I acted as co-convenor for the Age and Generations in the absence of the regular convenor from Oxford Brookes University. I applied for and received a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019. Matthew was elected as co-convenor of AGENET in July 2020 for an initial two-year term.
Collaborator Contribution Partner from University of Bradford co-convened symposium on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. Partners from University of Copenhagen and University of Bradford successfully applied for a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019.
Impact We received 800 EUR small grant award to host a workshop on how to influence appropriate stakeholder groups involved in ageing research. On 18 September 2019, the European Association of Social Anthropologists' Age and Generations Network (AGENET) held its inaugural event, "How to make impact and influence people: Taking the anthropology of ageing beyond the academy", jointly hosted with the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. Twenty-five people attended, including the organisers and speakers of the event. As anthropologists conducting research in the field of ageing and the life course, we often collaborate with researchers from other disciplines and non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations that have national and international influence on industry, policy, and practice. At this event, we considered how our engagement with different stakeholders and materials/knowledge from other disciplines could create 'real-world' impact for our anthropological research. This workshop drew on the experiences of both academics and non-academic stakeholders interested in ageing and life-course research; e.g., care providers, service users, local authorities, professional organisations, and NGOs/charities. The day started with a morning keynote from Prof Janelle Taylor, Professor of Anthropology at The University of Toronto. In her talk, Prof Taylor helped to define different types of impact she has had throughout her academic career, particularly with colleagues from health and medical sciences. She noted how this can initially be an unconformable space for anthropologists as knowledge generation in health and medicine often favour a hierarchy with randomised controlled trials over the in-depth analyses offered through ethnographic engagements. However, it only took one person from that field to recognise the benefits of such engagements for her ideas to gain traction. She urged the audience to seek a balance between the quality of collaborators with a wide network. Following the morning keynote, a panel discussion took place, which included researchers in industry, policy and academia from the Copenhagen area. • Steffen Jöhncke: visiting professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University; senior advisor to Anthropological Analysis, a research group that aims to increase exchange and interaction between anthropology and the outside world. • Louise Scheel Thomasen: project leader and consultant in qualitative studies of ageing, Antropologerne, Avanti Consulting, and Danish National Board of Health (Sundhedsstyrelsen). • Kamilla Pernille Johansen Nørtoft: associate professor, University of Copenhagen, and co-principal investigator, Ageing in the Arctic (AgeArc): Well-Being, Quality of Life, and Health Promotion Among Older People in Greenland. The panel discussed how anthropological knowledge and practice add to collaborations with external stakeholders, and the particular value of collaborating with anthropologists of ageing and the life course. They discussed some of the challenges with working with anthropologists and/or within other cross-disciplinary collaborations, notably different timescales that effected quality and forms of engagement. Despite these short-term ethnographic projects, they noted the capacity to affect change with stakeholders in industry and health, which required more rapid and responsive project cycles. After the panel discussion, the attendees met in small groups for breakout sessions to consider questions they had arising from the panel as well as four pre-determined questions: • From your own experience, what empirical examples can you share about collaborating with researchers from other disciplines and/or non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations? How did you establish your relationship(s)? What were the challenges and what did you do to overcome them? • What is crucial to establish productive relationships with collaborative partners? • Does it change our "identities" as anthropologists if we conduct short-term studies or non-ethnographic datasets that produce "quick results" vs. the insights generated from more traditional immersive, long-term fieldwork? • Do we as anthropologists bring a certain sensibility to our collaborations with other stakeholders - if so, what does it add? Discussions within and between groups varied greatly. Most groups had their own topics they discussed rather than rely on these four questions. Additional topics included tensions between whether we should engage with communities of practice outside of academia, distinctive approaches of working with people with a dementia or other cognitive impairment, critiques of the concept of "sensibility" to describe our contribution as opposed to "skills and knowledge", language more immediately accessible and understandable outside our discipline and academia. To conclude the event, Dr Daniel López Gómez, Associate Professor of Psychology and Education and researcher with the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) at Estudios de Psicologia y Ciencias de la Educacion (UOC - Spain), delivered the afternoon keynote. In his talk, Dr Gómez explicitly focused on concrete examples of how he worked with telecare users, providers and operators in Spain as part of an EU-funded project. His keynote provided a complimentary component to Prof Taylor's morning keynote. Whereas Prof Taylor discussed different concepts to understand impact and collaboration, Dr Gómez focused on a single case for how he worked with a diverse range of stakeholders in Spanish telecare service. This workshop represented the first collaborative meeting between AGENET and the interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Aging (CEHA) at the University of Copenhagen. The workshop's objective was to create an opportunity for AGENET members to discuss issues and share experiences related to fostering real-world impact through our engagement with non-academic stakeholders and multidisciplinary researchers. The workshop provided anthropologists who are involved in research and teaching related to ageing and the life course with the knowledge and skills necessary to better engage non-academic stakeholders as partners in their research and knowledge-exchange processes. An improved partnership with these stakeholders could allow us to translate more effectively the insights from our research into real-world applications that can benefit industry, policy, and practice. Next, we will develop an AGENET manifesto to articulate our principles for best practice to produce impactful research with the range of communities involved in the everyday life and care of people in later life. We gratefully acknowledge support from the European Association of Social Anthropologists and the Center for Healthy Aging to deliver this workshop.
Start Year 2018
 
Description EASA Age and Generations Network 
Organisation University of Copenhagen
Department Center for Healthy Aging
Country Denmark 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I co-convened a symposium with a colleague from the University of Bradford on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. I acted as co-convenor for the Age and Generations in the absence of the regular convenor from Oxford Brookes University. I applied for and received a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019. Matthew was elected as co-convenor of AGENET in July 2020 for an initial two-year term.
Collaborator Contribution Partner from University of Bradford co-convened symposium on 'ageing in place' at the annual European Association of Social Anthropologists conference in Stockholm in August 2018. The symposium involved nine total papers. Partners from University of Copenhagen and University of Bradford successfully applied for a small grant from the European Association of Social Anthropologists in December 2018. The grant will fund a workshop on impact and influencing stakeholders involved in care provision, research and policy for older adults and carers to be held later in autumn 2019.
Impact We received 800 EUR small grant award to host a workshop on how to influence appropriate stakeholder groups involved in ageing research. On 18 September 2019, the European Association of Social Anthropologists' Age and Generations Network (AGENET) held its inaugural event, "How to make impact and influence people: Taking the anthropology of ageing beyond the academy", jointly hosted with the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. Twenty-five people attended, including the organisers and speakers of the event. As anthropologists conducting research in the field of ageing and the life course, we often collaborate with researchers from other disciplines and non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations that have national and international influence on industry, policy, and practice. At this event, we considered how our engagement with different stakeholders and materials/knowledge from other disciplines could create 'real-world' impact for our anthropological research. This workshop drew on the experiences of both academics and non-academic stakeholders interested in ageing and life-course research; e.g., care providers, service users, local authorities, professional organisations, and NGOs/charities. The day started with a morning keynote from Prof Janelle Taylor, Professor of Anthropology at The University of Toronto. In her talk, Prof Taylor helped to define different types of impact she has had throughout her academic career, particularly with colleagues from health and medical sciences. She noted how this can initially be an unconformable space for anthropologists as knowledge generation in health and medicine often favour a hierarchy with randomised controlled trials over the in-depth analyses offered through ethnographic engagements. However, it only took one person from that field to recognise the benefits of such engagements for her ideas to gain traction. She urged the audience to seek a balance between the quality of collaborators with a wide network. Following the morning keynote, a panel discussion took place, which included researchers in industry, policy and academia from the Copenhagen area. • Steffen Jöhncke: visiting professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University; senior advisor to Anthropological Analysis, a research group that aims to increase exchange and interaction between anthropology and the outside world. • Louise Scheel Thomasen: project leader and consultant in qualitative studies of ageing, Antropologerne, Avanti Consulting, and Danish National Board of Health (Sundhedsstyrelsen). • Kamilla Pernille Johansen Nørtoft: associate professor, University of Copenhagen, and co-principal investigator, Ageing in the Arctic (AgeArc): Well-Being, Quality of Life, and Health Promotion Among Older People in Greenland. The panel discussed how anthropological knowledge and practice add to collaborations with external stakeholders, and the particular value of collaborating with anthropologists of ageing and the life course. They discussed some of the challenges with working with anthropologists and/or within other cross-disciplinary collaborations, notably different timescales that effected quality and forms of engagement. Despite these short-term ethnographic projects, they noted the capacity to affect change with stakeholders in industry and health, which required more rapid and responsive project cycles. After the panel discussion, the attendees met in small groups for breakout sessions to consider questions they had arising from the panel as well as four pre-determined questions: • From your own experience, what empirical examples can you share about collaborating with researchers from other disciplines and/or non-academic stakeholders from local communities and organisations? How did you establish your relationship(s)? What were the challenges and what did you do to overcome them? • What is crucial to establish productive relationships with collaborative partners? • Does it change our "identities" as anthropologists if we conduct short-term studies or non-ethnographic datasets that produce "quick results" vs. the insights generated from more traditional immersive, long-term fieldwork? • Do we as anthropologists bring a certain sensibility to our collaborations with other stakeholders - if so, what does it add? Discussions within and between groups varied greatly. Most groups had their own topics they discussed rather than rely on these four questions. Additional topics included tensions between whether we should engage with communities of practice outside of academia, distinctive approaches of working with people with a dementia or other cognitive impairment, critiques of the concept of "sensibility" to describe our contribution as opposed to "skills and knowledge", language more immediately accessible and understandable outside our discipline and academia. To conclude the event, Dr Daniel López Gómez, Associate Professor of Psychology and Education and researcher with the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) at Estudios de Psicologia y Ciencias de la Educacion (UOC - Spain), delivered the afternoon keynote. In his talk, Dr Gómez explicitly focused on concrete examples of how he worked with telecare users, providers and operators in Spain as part of an EU-funded project. His keynote provided a complimentary component to Prof Taylor's morning keynote. Whereas Prof Taylor discussed different concepts to understand impact and collaboration, Dr Gómez focused on a single case for how he worked with a diverse range of stakeholders in Spanish telecare service. This workshop represented the first collaborative meeting between AGENET and the interdisciplinary Center for Healthy Aging (CEHA) at the University of Copenhagen. The workshop's objective was to create an opportunity for AGENET members to discuss issues and share experiences related to fostering real-world impact through our engagement with non-academic stakeholders and multidisciplinary researchers. The workshop provided anthropologists who are involved in research and teaching related to ageing and the life course with the knowledge and skills necessary to better engage non-academic stakeholders as partners in their research and knowledge-exchange processes. An improved partnership with these stakeholders could allow us to translate more effectively the insights from our research into real-world applications that can benefit industry, policy, and practice. Next, we will develop an AGENET manifesto to articulate our principles for best practice to produce impactful research with the range of communities involved in the everyday life and care of people in later life. We gratefully acknowledge support from the European Association of Social Anthropologists and the Center for Healthy Aging to deliver this workshop.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Re-imagining care round table: Technology 
Organisation Carers UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Sustainable Care team partnered with Carers UK to hold a round table workshop on the role of technology to re-imagine care. I presented with a colleague from Sustainable Care what we identified as the current knowledge gaps for the implementation of technology-enabled care and its potential futures. Co-wrote a 'policy perspective' based on discussions from industry experts including Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance. Carers UK, TSA and Consequential Robotics are also partners who co-designed my study.
Collaborator Contribution Sustainable Care administrators invited members from each of the organisations to the round table. They also covered travel costs to London for the Sheffield based team, including me. The research team consisted of Prof Mark Hawley, Dr Kate Hamblin, Ms Alice Spann and Ms Sarah Abdi drafted later versions of the policy perspective and provided comments. Members from Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance presented their views of the challenges and potential for technology to transform the current challenges older people, carers and the social care system face. Their presentations served as the basis for the policy perspective output. NB: Partnerships with some of these organisations continued after this discrete collaboration. Further activities are detailed in other portfolio entries.
Impact Policy perspective: The role of technology in making care arrangements sustainable - framed by input from the previously named organisations which includes management consultants, designers and technology developers, voluntary sector, industrial membership body. Academics have disciplinary training in nursing, medicine, psychology, sociology, social policy and social anthropology.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Re-imagining care round table: Technology 
Organisation Consequential Robotics
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Sustainable Care team partnered with Carers UK to hold a round table workshop on the role of technology to re-imagine care. I presented with a colleague from Sustainable Care what we identified as the current knowledge gaps for the implementation of technology-enabled care and its potential futures. Co-wrote a 'policy perspective' based on discussions from industry experts including Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance. Carers UK, TSA and Consequential Robotics are also partners who co-designed my study.
Collaborator Contribution Sustainable Care administrators invited members from each of the organisations to the round table. They also covered travel costs to London for the Sheffield based team, including me. The research team consisted of Prof Mark Hawley, Dr Kate Hamblin, Ms Alice Spann and Ms Sarah Abdi drafted later versions of the policy perspective and provided comments. Members from Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance presented their views of the challenges and potential for technology to transform the current challenges older people, carers and the social care system face. Their presentations served as the basis for the policy perspective output. NB: Partnerships with some of these organisations continued after this discrete collaboration. Further activities are detailed in other portfolio entries.
Impact Policy perspective: The role of technology in making care arrangements sustainable - framed by input from the previously named organisations which includes management consultants, designers and technology developers, voluntary sector, industrial membership body. Academics have disciplinary training in nursing, medicine, psychology, sociology, social policy and social anthropology.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Re-imagining care round table: Technology 
Organisation Digital Health and Care Alliance
Sector Learned Society 
PI Contribution The Sustainable Care team partnered with Carers UK to hold a round table workshop on the role of technology to re-imagine care. I presented with a colleague from Sustainable Care what we identified as the current knowledge gaps for the implementation of technology-enabled care and its potential futures. Co-wrote a 'policy perspective' based on discussions from industry experts including Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance. Carers UK, TSA and Consequential Robotics are also partners who co-designed my study.
Collaborator Contribution Sustainable Care administrators invited members from each of the organisations to the round table. They also covered travel costs to London for the Sheffield based team, including me. The research team consisted of Prof Mark Hawley, Dr Kate Hamblin, Ms Alice Spann and Ms Sarah Abdi drafted later versions of the policy perspective and provided comments. Members from Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance presented their views of the challenges and potential for technology to transform the current challenges older people, carers and the social care system face. Their presentations served as the basis for the policy perspective output. NB: Partnerships with some of these organisations continued after this discrete collaboration. Further activities are detailed in other portfolio entries.
Impact Policy perspective: The role of technology in making care arrangements sustainable - framed by input from the previously named organisations which includes management consultants, designers and technology developers, voluntary sector, industrial membership body. Academics have disciplinary training in nursing, medicine, psychology, sociology, social policy and social anthropology.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Re-imagining care round table: Technology 
Organisation PA Consulting
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Sustainable Care team partnered with Carers UK to hold a round table workshop on the role of technology to re-imagine care. I presented with a colleague from Sustainable Care what we identified as the current knowledge gaps for the implementation of technology-enabled care and its potential futures. Co-wrote a 'policy perspective' based on discussions from industry experts including Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance. Carers UK, TSA and Consequential Robotics are also partners who co-designed my study.
Collaborator Contribution Sustainable Care administrators invited members from each of the organisations to the round table. They also covered travel costs to London for the Sheffield based team, including me. The research team consisted of Prof Mark Hawley, Dr Kate Hamblin, Ms Alice Spann and Ms Sarah Abdi drafted later versions of the policy perspective and provided comments. Members from Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance presented their views of the challenges and potential for technology to transform the current challenges older people, carers and the social care system face. Their presentations served as the basis for the policy perspective output. NB: Partnerships with some of these organisations continued after this discrete collaboration. Further activities are detailed in other portfolio entries.
Impact Policy perspective: The role of technology in making care arrangements sustainable - framed by input from the previously named organisations which includes management consultants, designers and technology developers, voluntary sector, industrial membership body. Academics have disciplinary training in nursing, medicine, psychology, sociology, social policy and social anthropology.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Re-imagining care round table: Technology 
Organisation Technology Enabled Care Services Association
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The Sustainable Care team partnered with Carers UK to hold a round table workshop on the role of technology to re-imagine care. I presented with a colleague from Sustainable Care what we identified as the current knowledge gaps for the implementation of technology-enabled care and its potential futures. Co-wrote a 'policy perspective' based on discussions from industry experts including Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance. Carers UK, TSA and Consequential Robotics are also partners who co-designed my study.
Collaborator Contribution Sustainable Care administrators invited members from each of the organisations to the round table. They also covered travel costs to London for the Sheffield based team, including me. The research team consisted of Prof Mark Hawley, Dr Kate Hamblin, Ms Alice Spann and Ms Sarah Abdi drafted later versions of the policy perspective and provided comments. Members from Argenti Partnership, PA Consulting, Technology Enabled Care Services Association (TSA), Consequential Robotics, Carers UK, and Digital Health and Care Alliance presented their views of the challenges and potential for technology to transform the current challenges older people, carers and the social care system face. Their presentations served as the basis for the policy perspective output. NB: Partnerships with some of these organisations continued after this discrete collaboration. Further activities are detailed in other portfolio entries.
Impact Policy perspective: The role of technology in making care arrangements sustainable - framed by input from the previously named organisations which includes management consultants, designers and technology developers, voluntary sector, industrial membership body. Academics have disciplinary training in nursing, medicine, psychology, sociology, social policy and social anthropology.
Start Year 2018
 
Description Technology and Care (Australia) 
Organisation University of New South Wales
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I co-facilitated and presented at the workshop on "Ageing and Technology" at the University of Sydney in February 2019. This talk discussed the conceptual and empirical progress of my fellowship as well as the work of colleagues on the ESRC Large Grant, Sustainable Care: Connecting People and Systems. Convened a symposium,"Innovations for Sustainable Care", at the 4th International Transforming Care Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Associate Professor Kate O'Loughlin presented her ongoing work about care assessments with Carers New South Wales. Invited Kate O'Loughlin (U Sydney) and her team to contribute a chapter to a Policy Press Short, "Technology in Care Systems: An International Comparison" (Eds. Kate Hamblin and Matthew Lariviere)
Collaborator Contribution In February 2019, U Sydney and U New South Wales partners hosted an intense week long visit for myself and the Sustainable Care team to learn more about aged care and the new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia and New South Wales, including their impacts on carers and older adults. Kate O'Loughlin hosted and co-facilitated a workshop on "Ageing and Technology" for academics, policy and practice partners. Kate O'Loughlin presented her ongoing work about care assessments with Carers New South Wales at a symposium on "Innovations for Sustainable Care" at the 4th International Transforming Care Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Kate O'Loughlin and her team have contributed a chapter summary for a Policy Press Short on technology in care systems. Draft chapter due in June 2020.
Impact Workshop,"Ageing and Technology", for academics, policy and practice partners hosted at U Sydney and facilitated by Kate O'Loughlin and Matthew Lariviere.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Technology and Care (Australia) 
Organisation University of Sydney
Country Australia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I co-facilitated and presented at the workshop on "Ageing and Technology" at the University of Sydney in February 2019. This talk discussed the conceptual and empirical progress of my fellowship as well as the work of colleagues on the ESRC Large Grant, Sustainable Care: Connecting People and Systems. Convened a symposium,"Innovations for Sustainable Care", at the 4th International Transforming Care Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Associate Professor Kate O'Loughlin presented her ongoing work about care assessments with Carers New South Wales. Invited Kate O'Loughlin (U Sydney) and her team to contribute a chapter to a Policy Press Short, "Technology in Care Systems: An International Comparison" (Eds. Kate Hamblin and Matthew Lariviere)
Collaborator Contribution In February 2019, U Sydney and U New South Wales partners hosted an intense week long visit for myself and the Sustainable Care team to learn more about aged care and the new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia and New South Wales, including their impacts on carers and older adults. Kate O'Loughlin hosted and co-facilitated a workshop on "Ageing and Technology" for academics, policy and practice partners. Kate O'Loughlin presented her ongoing work about care assessments with Carers New South Wales at a symposium on "Innovations for Sustainable Care" at the 4th International Transforming Care Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Kate O'Loughlin and her team have contributed a chapter summary for a Policy Press Short on technology in care systems. Draft chapter due in June 2020.
Impact Workshop,"Ageing and Technology", for academics, policy and practice partners hosted at U Sydney and facilitated by Kate O'Loughlin and Matthew Lariviere.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Technology and Care (Canada) 
Organisation AGE-WELL NCE
Country Canada 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution I contributed expertise and intellectual input to the above listed partners through a two-week intensive research visit in June 2019. During my visit, I gave a department seminar in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta. I also led the organisation and delivery of a workshop to bring together regional and local policy, practice and academic partners to discuss how technology can support care and everyday life of older adults in the UK and Canada. Following my visit, we have invited two members of the team to contribute a chapter to a Policy Press (Bristol University Press imprint) Short. The edited volume will bring together national cases of how different care systems have attempted to harness technology. Colleagues from this partnership will contribute the Canadian case. Since the last submission (March 2021), I have continued to work with Canadian partners to explore the impact of digital technology on ageing and care. I have joined the Albertan team as an advisor on the AGE-WELL National Centre of Excellence (Canada) project to explore how to support (re)employment of carers. I have provided methodological and substantive expertise on tech design and implementation within social care in the UK as the project team seeks to explore internationalisation options for the study and technological products (MyMatchwork).
Collaborator Contribution University of Alberta partners hosted me for a two week visit, providing office space and consumable materials (printing, etc) for the duration of my stay. One partner (Prof Janet Fast) helped to co-facilitate and presented material on her research with carers of older adults at the workshop. Partners have provided a chapter summary for the book proposal of the Policy Press Short with the aim to deliver the draft chapter in June 2020. Canadian partners provided the draft chapter for the edited volume in December 2021. We have sent revised comments to the contributors. Final drafts of the chapter is expected in April 2022.
Impact Matthew Lariviere gave the talk, "Technologies in/for care: A whole system approach to inform technology-enabled care design, implementation and uptake", at the Human Ecology Department Seminar, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada in June 2019. Matthew Lariviere and Janet Fast co-organised and delivered a half-day workshop, "Ageing and Technology", with 35 attendees from regional and local policy, practice and academic partners to discuss how technology can support care and everyday life of older adults in the UK and Canada. Janet Fast and Arlene Astell (U Toronto and AGE-WELL) have contributed a chapter summary for "Technology in Care Systems: An International Comparison" (Eds. Kate Hamblin and Matthew Lariviere) for Policy Press. Draft chapters were sent to editors in December 2021. Matthew Lariviere invited by Janet Fast to join AGE-WELL project in April 2021.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Technology and Care (Canada) 
Organisation University of Alberta
Country Canada 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution I contributed expertise and intellectual input to the above listed partners through a two-week intensive research visit in June 2019. During my visit, I gave a department seminar in the Department of Human Ecology at the University of Alberta. I also led the organisation and delivery of a workshop to bring together regional and local policy, practice and academic partners to discuss how technology can support care and everyday life of older adults in the UK and Canada. Following my visit, we have invited two members of the team to contribute a chapter to a Policy Press (Bristol University Press imprint) Short. The edited volume will bring together national cases of how different care systems have attempted to harness technology. Colleagues from this partnership will contribute the Canadian case. Since the last submission (March 2021), I have continued to work with Canadian partners to explore the impact of digital technology on ageing and care. I have joined the Albertan team as an advisor on the AGE-WELL National Centre of Excellence (Canada) project to explore how to support (re)employment of carers. I have provided methodological and substantive expertise on tech design and implementation within social care in the UK as the project team seeks to explore internationalisation options for the study and technological products (MyMatchwork).
Collaborator Contribution University of Alberta partners hosted me for a two week visit, providing office space and consumable materials (printing, etc) for the duration of my stay. One partner (Prof Janet Fast) helped to co-facilitate and presented material on her research with carers of older adults at the workshop. Partners have provided a chapter summary for the book proposal of the Policy Press Short with the aim to deliver the draft chapter in June 2020. Canadian partners provided the draft chapter for the edited volume in December 2021. We have sent revised comments to the contributors. Final drafts of the chapter is expected in April 2022.
Impact Matthew Lariviere gave the talk, "Technologies in/for care: A whole system approach to inform technology-enabled care design, implementation and uptake", at the Human Ecology Department Seminar, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada in June 2019. Matthew Lariviere and Janet Fast co-organised and delivered a half-day workshop, "Ageing and Technology", with 35 attendees from regional and local policy, practice and academic partners to discuss how technology can support care and everyday life of older adults in the UK and Canada. Janet Fast and Arlene Astell (U Toronto and AGE-WELL) have contributed a chapter summary for "Technology in Care Systems: An International Comparison" (Eds. Kate Hamblin and Matthew Lariviere) for Policy Press. Draft chapters were sent to editors in December 2021. Matthew Lariviere invited by Janet Fast to join AGE-WELL project in April 2021.
Start Year 2019
 
Description 2019 ESRC Festival of Social Science Event - "Futures of Ageing: AI and the Digital Revolution in Care" 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Led the organisation and delivery of a public lecture and workshop about how AI and digital technology shifts our practices and understandings of care and ageing. Fifty-five people attended the event including members of the general public, social care and health professionals, local council members, technology developers, and academics and students.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://festivalofsocialscience.group.shef.ac.uk/futures-of-ageing/
 
Description Blog: The social care White Paper focuses on technology - but does it go far enough? 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact I collaborated with James Wright and Kate Hamblin to write a blog reflecting on the UK Government's social care white paper. We explored how, and to what extent, the promises made in the white paper related to digitalization of the social care system attend to ongoing challenges with the system's sustainability.

I have been approached by other academics and local authority digital transformation leads to discuss our critique of the white paper in further detail.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL http://circle.group.shef.ac.uk/2022/01/26/whitepaper_jan22/
 
Description Care Matters Podcast 
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 Sustainable Care team explored how care arrangements, currently 'in crisis' in parts of the UK, can be made sustainable and deliver wellbeing outcomes. We aimed to support policy and practice actors and scholars to conceptualise sustainability in care as an issue of rights, values, ethics and justice, as well as of resource distribution.

In episode four of our CARE MATTERS podcast, James Wright, Kate Hamblin and Matthew Lariviere discussed the key messages to policymakers from their recently released Policy Brief 'The Potential of Technology in Adult Social Care'.

We have had 73 (as of submission) access the material according to the website's analytics. We have been approached by local authorities, industry actors, and national charities for further information as discussed in the podcast.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL http://circle.group.shef.ac.uk/2020/10/21/carematterspodcast-4/
 
Description Sheffield Carescapes 
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 This public engagement event sought to explore how we, as a society, can imagine futures for care. We regularly hear that adult social care in the UK and globally is in crisis. Years of austerity, ageing societies, and chronic staff shortages and high turnover rates for the care workforce place an increased burden on the system. In September 2020, I launched an exhibition for the Festival of the Mind entitled "Sheffield Carespaces: Potential Futures for a Caring Society".
This project brought together artists, writers and researchers to imagine possible futures for society if care organised our relations to the environment and each other, technologies and social systems. Matthew Lariviere drew on his research and additional work from colleagues in academia, policy and practice to inform and curate the creative direction for the exhibition. Kate Morgan and Rob Richardson, local Sheffield artists, created a collection of ten "carescapes", illustrations of care across near and distant futures of Sheffield, as potential alterities for a society focused on care and empathy. Akeem Balogun, a young local writer, will also produce immersive short stories about care futures.
My ambition to work with local artists for this exhibition was to explore multi-modal approaches for how we imagine alternatives for care. I hoped that illustrations of potential futures will spur us to have discussions about care beyond policy rhetoric. I wanted people to visualise how these futures of care may look and feel and their implications for our relationships, institutions and culture.

Most of all, I hoped these "carescapes" allowed us to share novel ideas about how we can support each other in Sheffield, the UK, and internationally. I wanted to provoke people visiting the exhibit to hope for a more caring society and share their aspirational visions for this society with us.

"Sheffield Carespaces: Potential Futures for a Caring Society" opened in September 2020 as part of the Festival of the Mind in Sheffield, UK. It was available as a physical exhibition in the Millennium Gallery and online as a digital exhibition.

As a result of this project, I am now working on a similar project based in Bristol exploring future of care within the city and region.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
URL https://festivalofthemind.sheffield.ac.uk/2020/futurecade/sheffield-carescapes/
 
Description Social media 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact I routinely post and share information on social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) to share research findings and outputs from my work. This often involves 'engagement' through clicked links, likes or re-tweets that usually number between 5 - 25 user interactions. Most engagement is with academics external to the University of Sheffield, PhD students involved in technology-enabled care research, practitioners (care managers, care workers), members from local authorities, and tech companies.

My engagement on Twitter led to my involvement in the POSTNote on robotics in social care published in December 2018.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018,2019,2020