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Current E-Bulletin - Bulletin No. 33, January 2012

Welcome

Welcome to AT R&D News, a free monthly newsletter from FAST with the latest on research and development in the AT field. Our aim is to help researchers stay up to date with national developments, local initiatives and research projects relevant to the AT community. There are also regular updates on sources of funding, AT jobs, conferences and opportunities to share knowledge about the AT sector.

Funding update
New projects
Three million lives
AT in the news
Call for papers
Jobs
Events and resources

1.Funding update

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is launching a new competition to establish NIHR Healthcare Technology Co-operatives (HTCs). These centres of expertise will be focused in clinical areas or themes of high morbidity and unmet need for NHS patients. Working collaboratively with industry, they will lead to the development of new medical devices, healthcare technologies or technology-dependent interventions, which improve treatment and quality of life for patients.

This new scheme builds on learning from a pilot scheme that funded two HTCs from 2008. The D4D HTC, based in Sheffield, was responsible for the innovative dignity bidet commode developed for stroke survivors which won an NHS Innovation Award in 2009. A briefing meeting for potential applicants will be held on the 29th February 2012. The closing date for submission of the Pre-Qualifying Questionnaire by NHS Trusts in England is 19th April 2012. Full details here, and more about D4D HTC here.
The NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) programme is launching a new funding stream – the i4i Challenge Awards programme. This will offer £15 million over the next three years to support researchers to demonstrate the healthcare benefits of their prototype medical devices in a clinical setting. The i4i Challenge Awards will hold an annual competition to address a particular ‘challenge’ facing the NHS. The first competition will address the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular disease – the leading cause of death in England and worldwide -- and will open on 27th February 2012. More details via this link.
The NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research Applications invites research proposals from leading research groups for a coherent series of related projects to tackle high priority health issues. Proposals should provide evidence to improve health outcomes in England through promotion of health, prevention of ill health, and optimal disease management (including safety and quality), with particular emphasis on conditions causing significant disease burden. Funding of up to £2m is available over a period of three to five years. The deadline for outline proposals is 19th March 2012 and there is more information here.
The AAL Association is due to announce the 5th Call for proposals of the AAL Joint Programme: ICT-based Solutions for (Self) Management of Daily Life Activities of Older Adults at Home. Call 5 is aimed at supporting the development of ICT-based solutions which enable and sustain older adults to continue managing their daily activities in their home, and which support informal carers to assist in this.

It is anticipated that the call will be launched end of February 2012, with a proposal submission deadline end May 2012. There will be an information event on 13th March 2012, in Brussels. All potential proposers are strongly advised to come to the information event, and those wishing to attend should register their interest by sending an e-mail to Jacqueline.Teller@aal-europe.eu before 24th February 2012. More details via this link.
The EU has announced its Framework Programme for Research and Development, which will run from 2014 to 2020 with an €80 billion budget. Horizon 2020 provides major simplification through a single set of rules. It will combine all research and innovation funding currently provided through the Framework Programmes for Research and Technical Development, the innovation related activities of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Details are here.

2. New projects

Speech problems affect around 70% of the 120,000 people in the UK who are living with Parkinson's and who may experience difficulties in speaking fluently and distinctly. These problems may make it hard for them to communicate with family, carers or other individuals. This can make everyday things much more difficult, and have a profound impact on quality of life. Specialist speech and language therapy sessions can help people learn techniques to overcome problems such as speaking too softly and hesitantly, but the availability and frequency of therapy sessions may be limited. In a project called 'Tackling Parkinson's speech problems with smartphone apps', researchers from the University of Portsmouth and Kings College Hospital in London are looking at ways to utilise smartphones as a cheap, simple and effective way for helping people improve their own speech.

A team at the University of Portsmouth has already developed a basic mobile phone application to improve speech, and will be working to improve and tailor this for people with Parkinson's. In particular, researchers plan to develop two new functions. One is a 'Feedback-Meter' to show people how loud their current speech is compared to background noise, and help them raise their voices to be heard properly. The second is a 'Voice-Training' function to encourage people to speak more loudly, which can make their voice easier to understand. This work is funded by the charity Parkinson's UK and there are more details here.
People who have sustained injury to the central nervous system, for example as a result of a brain injury, stroke, motor neuron disease, cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis, may have very little or no movement of their hands and arms. This can make operating assistive technology equipment, such as communication aids or environmental controls, very difficult and can limit people's independence and ability to engage with family and friends. Researchers at the University of Kent are working on a project, Facial Gestures for Accessing Assistive Technologies, which will enable people to control equipment using small movements of their head or eyes.

The aim of this work, which is funded by the University of Kent and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, is to develop new pattern recognition and computer vision technologies which build on those currently used for head and eye tracking with webcams. The goal is to capture and interpret the intentions and messages from people who have speech and language impairments and who only have the ability for very small movements of their head or parts of their face. The technology will offer a way to reliably detect these small movements and to use them as the means of controlling appropriate assistive technologies. The system will detect facial gestures, head movements or eye movements through analysis of the pictures. The algorithms will have to be able to adapt to changes in the user's environment, such as different lighting conditions, and also any changes or deterioration in the user's own condition which affects their movements. This approach means that users do not need to learn how to operate a different interface if their functionality changes. To find out more, follow this link.
People who have had a stroke often go on to experience weakness in their hand or arm. Undertaking regular physiotherapy exercises can help improve function, and there is some evidence that the more rehabilitation an individual undertakes, the better their recovery is likely to be. However, some people have only limited access to appropriate therapy, while others may find it hard to maintain motivation for rehabilitation once they are back at home. In a project called Trial of Wii STroke: TWIST, researchers at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust are looking to find out find out whether the use of the Nintendo Wii sports system improves dominant arm function, and whether it is acceptable to patients who have had a stroke. The study aims to recruit 240 people who have weakness in their dominant arm (the one they use for most activities such as writing or using a fork) who will exercise with the Wii for six weeks in addition to their usual rehabilitation. The Wii game and console will be given to 120 people for use at home, while the other 120 will be taught personalised arm exercises. At the end of the six weeks, all recruits will be assessed via questionnaires and simple tasks to evaluate how using the Wii has affected their condition. The work is funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme, and there are more details here.

3. Three million lives

The government has announced its plans to encourage greater uptake of telehealth and telecare in the wake of the first round of positive findings from the Whole Systems Demonstrator (WSD) programme, the largest randomised trial of these technologies anywhere in the world. Paul Burstow MP, Minister of State for Care Services has published a Concordat with the four trade associations representing the telehealth and telecare industry. ‘3millionlives’ is about transforming service delivery for people with long term conditions, and/or social care needs, by utilising telehealth and telecare within health and social care services, enabling millions of people to receive the significant benefits evidenced in the WSD trials. These resulted in a 15% reduction in A&E visits; a 20% reduction in emergency admissions; a 14% reduction in elective admissions; and a 45% reduction in mortality rates, which the government described as 'striking'.

Signatories to the Concordat include the Telecare Services Association (TSA), the largest telecare and telehealth specific industry body in Europe, representing over 340 organisations; Intellect, representing the IT sector; Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), the industry association for the UK medical technology sector ;and Medilink UK, the life sciences industry organisation with specific interest in telehealth and telecare. The government will not be providing direct funding for telecare and telehealth, but the aim of the 3millionlives campaign is to raise public awareness and provide 'an enabling framework'. Care Services minister Paul Burstow said: 'I want to see more people across the country benefit from this sort of technology. That is why we are working with industry, the NHS and Councils to change the lives of three million people across England over the next five years.'

Details of the Concordat are here, and the 3millionlives campaign website is here.

4. AT in the news

Communications champion Jean Gross has published her final report based on findings from an extensive programme of meetings with local commissioners and service providers across England, undertaken between January 2010 and December 2011. The report is here and the charity Communication Matters has rounded up information about the press coverage of publication here.
Researchers from New York's Union College, claim that 'exergames, such as Wii fit, that combine exercise with virtual reality environments and interactive videogame feature, provide more cognitive benefits for the older user than exercise alone according to an article in the Daily Telegraph here.
The International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH) has launched initiative called The Global eHealth Ambassadors Program (GeHAP), with seed funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gulbenkian Foundation. The purpose of the GeHAP program is to raise the profile of eHealth worldwide, through advocacy activities. The six eHealth Ambassadors named so far are Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu; Prof. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Former President of Brazil; ;Dr. Emilio Rui Vilar, President of the Gulbenkian Foundation; Lord Nigel Crisp, former CEO of the NHS; Peter Gabriel, musician; Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and CEO, Econet Wireless Group. For further information, follow this link.
Intel is exploring new ways to assist Stephen Hawking to continue communicating as his motor neurone disease continues to progress. Expression detection, combining special cameras with software algorithms, and brain wave techniques are among those under consideration. Intel CTO Justin Rattner said: 'Stephen's current system works by hanging an optical sensor from his glasses that detects a twitch in his cheek muscle. This is used to stop a cursor that is constantly scrolling through the letters of the alphabet. This is a slow process and relies on being able to detect the twitch of the cheek muscle. As his condition deteriorates, this may no longer become viable.' More here.
The Sunday Telegraph had an article describing work on trans-cranial electric stimulation being carried out at Southampton University by Professor Jane Burridge which is combing this technique with robotics as a way of enhancing stroke rehabilitation therapy. The article is here and there is more about this project here.

5. Call for papers

INVOLVE are inviting presentations on public involvement in health and social care research that will encourage critical thinking and discussion for their conference on 13-14 November 2012 at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham. Presentations may take the form of posters, workshops, papers, film, sound recordings, performances, speed sessions and other approaches. Closing date for applying to do a presentation is 26th March 2012 and there is more information via this link.
The Call for Papers for the Communication Matters CM2012 National Conference, to be held on 23-25 September 2012 at the University of Leicester, is now open. Papers on any topic addressing the needs of people with severe communication impairment are welcome, and contributions are particularly sought from people who use AAC and family members. If you are unsure but want to talk about the opportunity please contact Patrick Poon on tel. 0845 456 8211 or admin@communicationmatters.org.uk. Closing date for abstract submissions is 18 March 2012 and there is more information here.

6. Jobs

The Interaction Centre at University College London is looking for a research associate in software engineering to join a multidisciplinary group within the EPSRC-funded project Emo&Pain. The project is concerned with the design and development of an intelligent system to enable ubiquitous monitoring and assessment of patients' pain-related moods and movements during self-directed physical activity. the post holder will be involved in the development of a system to capture patients' non-verbal behaviour (facial and vocal expression, body movement, muscle activity) during physical activity and provide multimodal feedback as well as a personalised physical activity plan. The post holder will also contribute to the dissemination of the research through publications in academic conferences and journal papers as well as demonstrations at academic and public events. The deadline for applications is 14th February 2012 and there is more information here.
St Andrews University's Computer Human Interaction research group wishes to recruit a research fellow in Human Computer Interaction to support a number of new and ongoing research projects in ubiquitous user interface development. The post will be based in the School of Computer Science so particular expertise and background experience in programming, interface design, evaluation, mobile application development or novel user interface development would be an advantage. Details via this link.
The University of Wolverhampton is looking for a research associate to work on an EU-funded project to develop a system that will simplify documents for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with the help of language technology (LT). Details of the job are here, and there is more about the project, which is called FIRST - Flexible Interactive Reading Support Tool, here.

7. Events and resources

'Older people and technological inclusion: understanding usability' will be held at the Open University, Milton Keynes, on February 17th 2012. This seminar will review concepts of usability, looking at different perspectives on whether, when, how, and why people engage with various technologies at different times in their lives and in different circumstances. What happens in the real world? How do older people appropriate technologies, or parts or aspects of technologies, to suit their own purposes and priorities? More details here.
The Health Technology Design Institute and RESMaG are running a one day conference, Advancing Rehabilitation Engineering Practice (AREP), on February 29th at Coventry University. The event will provide an opportunity for rehabilitation engineering professionals working in different services from around the country to get together and exchange ideas of direct relevance to their day to day practice, and a wide range of topics will be covered including electronic assistive technology, prosthetics and orthotics, and wheelchairs and seating. Details here.
Body Sensor Network (BSN) technology has gained significant interest in recent years from researchers both in academia and industry. BSN 2012 will be held May 10th - 12th in London. The conference features a number of invited lectures by leading academic researchers and industrial experts. It will also include showcases and demonstrations of the latest BSN developments. For more information, go here.

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