WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE R&D: Scaling empathy through patient-centred Affective Touch
Lead Participant:
ZECORA URA THEATRE
Abstract
'WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE: Scaling empathy through patient-centred Affective Touch' is a patient-led project addressing the under-representation of mental health patients in the development of digital mental health therapies.
ZU-UK will explore the potential of remote touch synchronisation within XR (Unity-based Platform) using low-cost devices to address significant gaps in what is currently offered by digital mental health therapies.
The key questions guiding WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE are:
* In what ways can we apply immersive technologies to the delivery of mental health and wellbeing therapies within the context of one-on-one care, more specifically when patients are home bound or bed bound?
* Can the combination of remote touch synchronisation, haptic touch and 360º video provide similar mental health benefits when compared with skin-to-skin human affective touch?
* Which creative health partnerships can offer the ideal settings for the supported delivery of both training and therapy solutions?
What makes this inclusive patient-led project innovative is the unique combination of approaches (creative, technology, partnership, training) to address a significant gap still unsolved in the digital mental health therapies market: the indisputable positive role of touch in healthcare.
ZU-UK is a disabled-led, global majority-led, female-led award-winning independent theatre and digital arts company based in Liverpool and East London. Driven by an artistic partnership between Persis Jadé Maravala and Jorge Lopes Ramos, ZU-UK creates interactive experiences using performance, games, and technology. They can happen anywhere including on your phone, in your house, on a stage, in a shopping mall or a field. ZU-UK believes in the transformative power of collaborative human experience. We set out to purposefully give people tailor-made experiences that bring strangers together in playful, unexpected ways to create alternative realities.
Recent achievements include: Lumen Prize Interactive Award Winner 2022, IndieCade Live Action Award Finalist 2022, Winner of ABTT's inaugural Stephen Joseph Award 2021, East London Innovators (HereEast, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park), Winner of Rio de Janeiro Award for socially-engaged innovation in the creative industries, Winner of Prix Ars Electronica (Honorary Mention for Hybrid Art), Winner of Herald Angel Award, and finalist/nominee for innovation by Total Theatre Awards, Oxford Samuel Beckett Trust, The Space Award and Digital Culture Awards.
The 2021 ABTT's inaugural Stephen Joseph Award was awarded to ZU-UK's Artistic Director for: "ground-breaking work that widens the scope and imaginative possibilities of live & multi-media performance, experiments with audience engagement, and exploration of topics of direct relevance to diverse audiences in contemporary Britain"
ZU-UK will explore the potential of remote touch synchronisation within XR (Unity-based Platform) using low-cost devices to address significant gaps in what is currently offered by digital mental health therapies.
The key questions guiding WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE are:
* In what ways can we apply immersive technologies to the delivery of mental health and wellbeing therapies within the context of one-on-one care, more specifically when patients are home bound or bed bound?
* Can the combination of remote touch synchronisation, haptic touch and 360º video provide similar mental health benefits when compared with skin-to-skin human affective touch?
* Which creative health partnerships can offer the ideal settings for the supported delivery of both training and therapy solutions?
What makes this inclusive patient-led project innovative is the unique combination of approaches (creative, technology, partnership, training) to address a significant gap still unsolved in the digital mental health therapies market: the indisputable positive role of touch in healthcare.
ZU-UK is a disabled-led, global majority-led, female-led award-winning independent theatre and digital arts company based in Liverpool and East London. Driven by an artistic partnership between Persis Jadé Maravala and Jorge Lopes Ramos, ZU-UK creates interactive experiences using performance, games, and technology. They can happen anywhere including on your phone, in your house, on a stage, in a shopping mall or a field. ZU-UK believes in the transformative power of collaborative human experience. We set out to purposefully give people tailor-made experiences that bring strangers together in playful, unexpected ways to create alternative realities.
Recent achievements include: Lumen Prize Interactive Award Winner 2022, IndieCade Live Action Award Finalist 2022, Winner of ABTT's inaugural Stephen Joseph Award 2021, East London Innovators (HereEast, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park), Winner of Rio de Janeiro Award for socially-engaged innovation in the creative industries, Winner of Prix Ars Electronica (Honorary Mention for Hybrid Art), Winner of Herald Angel Award, and finalist/nominee for innovation by Total Theatre Awards, Oxford Samuel Beckett Trust, The Space Award and Digital Culture Awards.
The 2021 ABTT's inaugural Stephen Joseph Award was awarded to ZU-UK's Artistic Director for: "ground-breaking work that widens the scope and imaginative possibilities of live & multi-media performance, experiments with audience engagement, and exploration of topics of direct relevance to diverse audiences in contemporary Britain"
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| ZECORA URA THEATRE | £50,000 | £ 50,000 |
Participant |
||
| INNOVATE UK | ||
| INNOVATE UK |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Ana Gillespie (Project Manager) |