Prof Luc de Witte facilitates assistive technology workshops in Bangalore

Last week, CATCH Professor Luc de Witte facilitated two workshops in Bangalore.

Mutually organised by CATCH, Zuyd University and BMS College of Engineering, the first of the two workshops was on the theme of Assistive Technology and Autonomous Systems.

Hundreds gather at Professor Luc de Witte’s Inaugural Lecture to discover “Technology: who cares?!”

More than 200 guests joined Professor Luc de Witte last Friday in the iconic Diamond Building for his Inaugural Lecture: “Technology; who cares?!”

The event celebrated the arrival of Prof. de Witte as one of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health’s “big-hitters” where he shared how technology can, and will, play a major role in future health and care around the world.

Prof. Dame Pamela Shaw, Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health at the University of Sheffield introduced the lecture. Prof. Dame Shaw seamlessly linked Luc’s lecture to the Care 2050 development and the approaches that CATCH, ScHARR and the wider University may take.

Having joined CATCH in October 2016, Luc is already working to put Sheffield at the heart of innovation and reiterated his belief that Sheffield has all the assets to become a key player here in healthcare during this lecture.

Luc received a great response from the audience when he addressed what assistive technology (AT) really is. “How many of you are wearing glasses?” he quipped to realisation around the room that AT doesn’t have to be high tech. In a fascinating statistic shared from the World Health Organisation however, only 10-15% of those in need have access to AT.

Part of the Sheffield Festival of Science and Engineering, Professor de Witte’s lecture attracted members of the public, partners and colleagues from across Europe as well as University of Sheffield staff and collaborators.

It’s safe to say that Prof. de Witte’s Inaugural Lecture was very well received and the buzz that it had generated was clear at the reception that followed.

We’d like to take this opportunity to say a special thanks to the Public Engagement team at the University, notably Nicola Strafford, Public Engagement Manager as well as Kathryn Rooney, Personal Assistant to the Dean of ScHARR for their tireless efforts that contributed heavily to the success of this event.

If you would like to find out more about Professor Luc de Witte’s research or are interested in collaborating with CATCH, please contact Laura Murray.

Prof Luc de Witte delivers a lecture as part of ScHARR seminar series

Prof Luc de Witte, CATCH Professor and renowned name in the field of technology and innovative healthcare, was the guest of the last ScHARR seminar series on Tuesday 14th February.

Luc delivered a fascinating talk entitled “Health in Slums: Challenges and potential solutions” to a packed audience. This talk aimed to give more insight into the challenging living conditions of the slums’ communities and to discuss potentials solutions to reduce the burden of ill health due to these conditions. Luc also discussed the current projects running as part of the Health in Slums programme, and some of the future plans for ScHARR and CATCH.

The seminar was attended by many ScHARR staff and students from different sections and has instigated some interesting discussions about the topic.

Luc will return for a public talk on Friday 10th March 2017 for his Inaugural Lecture entitled "Technology; who cares?!" in The Diamond as part of the Sheffield Festival of Science and Engineering. Booking is required - please secure your place here.

For more information on ScHARR seminar series, please click here or contact Sarah Abdi.

The 2nd Workshop for the Urban Slums Project team in India

Last month, Prof. Luc de Witte and Prof Mark Hawley joined project partners in Bangalore, India for a 2nd workshop as part of our international project “a mobile diagnostic and screening toolkit for urban slums settings”.

18 participants from our local partners attended the workshop, held in Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Bangalore. This included technology experts, health professionals and community health workers with experience working in urban slums.

The workshop aimed at reaching a consensus between the team and project partners on the design of the mobile toolkit.  Many exciting discussions were undertaken covering a range of topics from key consideration in the design of the toolkit, the toolkit content, to the tests and technology that will be included.

At the end of the workshop, the team agreed on the next phase of the project which will include designing and evaluating a basic prototype of the toolkit.

For more information about the project, please visit the link below:

http://www.catch.org.uk/current-project/urban-slums-settings/

Written by Sarah Abdi (Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Healthcare) Email: s.q.abdi@sheffield.ac.uk

The Urban Slums Project team’s visit to India

As part of our international project “a mobile diagnostic and screening toolkit for urban slums settings”, a workshop was conducted on the 18^th-19^th of October 2016 in Bangalore, India. This workshop marked the end of phase 1 of the project which aimed at identifying common health issues in urban slums in India. The aim of the workshop was to consolidate and discuss the findings of phase 1 and seek further inputs from project partners and other major stakeholders. It involved group discussions and activities to prioritise the health issues identified during phase 1. Researchers from the project team also visited one of the urban slums in Bangalore and conducted community consultations to gain more insight into the perspectives of slum dwellers.

The results of phase 1 and the workshop will be used to plan the next phase of the project which will involve designing and developing a conceptual model of a mobile toolkit to perform a number of diagnostic and screening tests relevant to the priority health issues in urban slums. Phase 2 will also involve conducting a workshop in January 2017 in India to discuss the conceptual model with the relevant stakeholders.

Written by Sarah Abdi

A mobile diagnostic and screening toolkit for urban slum settings

In July 2016 CATCH researchers in collaboration with Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and academic, healthcare and industrial organisations in India embarked on a project to support global challenge development activities, funded by EPSRC.

The project: “a mobile diagnostic and screening toolkit for urban slum settings” aims to outline the development of a multifunctional and modular diagnostic and screening toolkit that can be used in the urban slums of India and other low resource areas and be operated by non-medically trained people.
Urban slums are characterised by extreme poverty, challenging living conditions and limited access to health services. The need of such a toolkit lies in the experience of a large hospital in Bangalore (India) in their community health program that serves around 30 slum communities. The development of a diagnostic and screening mobile toolkit for relevant health issues can therefore play a great role in making healthcare available and accessible to slum dwellers, who usually do not have any access to health services.
The project is currently in its first phase which aims to identify common health issues in urban slum areas in Bangalore by gathering information from different sources including discussions and workshops. The second phase of the project will involve designing and developing a concept and a prototype of a mobile toolkit to perform a number of diagnostic and screening tests relevant to the health issues in urban slums.
Estimated to end in March 2017, the results of this project will help to develop a more exhaustive research plan that will include the actual development and testing of the toolkit and its embedding in daily care practice.  This project will be relevant to any setting where there is no or limited access to healthcare, as exist particularly in some areas of Africa, Asia and South America.

In CATCH, we’re committed to the UK remaining a welcoming home of global scholarship and we will continue to ensure our research knows no geographical boundaries.

To find out more about the #WeAreInternational campaign and to show your support, visit http://www.weareinternational.org.uk/