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.
Follow us on Twitter or on Rebelmouse for day-to-day updates.

Contents

1. Funding update
2. Projects
3. RAatE 2013
4. AT in the news
5. Call for papers
6. Jobs
7. Events
8. Resources
9. Other useful Newsletters
10. Twitter
11. Feedback

1. Funding update

The Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health have a joint funding initiative called the Health Innovation Challenge Fund (HICF), which aims to stimulate the creation of innovative healthcare products, technologies and interventions and facilitate their development for the benefit of patients in the NHS and beyond. HICF have issued a Call in five theme areas. Deadline for preliminary applications is 7 May 2013. 

The Long Term Care Revolution competition is now open, funded by the Technology Strategy Board. Register for the application process here.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is to announce capital bids against an £25 million fund to increase the strength and productivity of the research base within Robotics & Autonomous Systems.

There has been a CIP ICT work programme 2013 Call for EU funding opportunities on PPI with a deadline of 14th of May 2013.

The Stroke Association welcomes applications for research grants up to a maximum of £210,000 over three or five years, split into Clinical Trial Project Grants or Developmental Research Project Grants. The closing date for applications is 12 July 2013.

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2. Projects

Researchers at the University of Essex have developed a free mobile app that turns an iPhone or iPod into a hearing aid that could support people with hearing loss. More details on the BioAid project here.

The SUS-IT: SUStaining IT use by older people to promote autonomy and independence project has produced a community hubs concept in the Promoting Digital Participation report.

The InTouch project from BIME which has produced a product to help people with dementia to connect with relatives or friends in other households as “virtual visits”, now has it own website.

i2Web - Inclusive Future-Internet Web Services is a European Commission FP7 funded project involving the University of York, Foundation for Assistive Technology and Public-i in the UK with partners from Germany, Ireland, Slovenia and Italy. i2web has developed a range of adaptations to support web-users with dyslexia and visual impairment to automatically receive web pages in their chosen format. I2web has also developed EASI Tool, which allows analysis of existing and in-development web sites to check for accessibility. EASI will be available for Web Developers, Accessibility Experts and Web Commissioners. More information is available from the i2web website.

You can search for other projects on the FAST website.

If you have new R&D project in assistive technology or you are an organisation that would like to be included in our database please select a download form to complete and return by email.

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3. RAatE 2013

RAatE 2013 takes place on Monday 25th of November 2013. Further details to follow.

Annalu Waller , Professor of Human Communication Technologies at the University of Dundee will be keynote speaker at this years RAaTE conference.

Presentations from RAatE 2012 are still available to download.

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4. AT in the news

Apologies for the late arrival of this month's R&D newsletter, which was caused by server problems, which has now been resolved.

Kevin Safford has developed a system to support his mother, who has dementia. He now has support from IBM’s Extreme Blue. Four students will take Kevin’s concept and develop it. If you can support the project in any way – knowledge of dementia, willingness to be a participant in testing or expertise in products for dementia, please contact Kevin though the project website, by email or via @KevSaff

Project Nocturne, run in conjunction with the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering and Armley Helping Hands in Leeds, UK, hopes to find a reliable solution that will alert a relative or carer if their loved one is not safely in bed at night, or fails to get up in the morning. element14 is asking design engineers across the world to work together and develop ideas which will lead to a real, workable solution, which will make a significant difference to the lives of elderly or vulnerable people.

Zuyd University is currently running a pilot study seeking practical solutions for the problems encountered in participation driven AT service delivery, due to changes in AT provision in in the Netherlands. Through a survey and the collection of protocols in 5 countries (UK, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, Canada) they hope to be inspired how these problems have been solved abroad. The university is seekign the support of a number of British AT prescribers who are willing to support us by filling in our questionnaire and send us some practical material used in daily practice of AT provision.

If you can help, please send an email to zuyduniversitystudy@gmail.com indicating your availability and they will send you the English survey and instructions. Researchers are happy to share their results by sending you the executive summary of the report in English.

The Ace Centre now have a new joint website.

The latest edition of AT Today magazine now available online.

Microsoft have released Kinect for Windows samples under an open source license. Further information is available from their website.

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5. Call for Papers

The annual conference of the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme the AAL Forum takes place in Norrköping, Sweden, between 24 and 26 September 2013. The event is entitled “Impacting individuals, society and economic growth”. The Call for Papers has been extended until the 17th of May 2013.

ITAG: Interactive Technologies and Games – Education, Health and Disability 2013 which takes place in October 2013 have announced a first Call for Papers.

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6. Jobs

There are Job Opportunities at Mada, theQatar Assistive Technology Center. Vacancy details can be found here.

You can find other assistive technology Jobs on the FAST website.

Let us know about your job vacancy by email.

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7. Events

Posture and Mobility Group (PMG) have their National Training Event on the 10th – 12th of July 2013. The National Training Event disseminates knowledge and promotes best practice regarding the posture and mobility needs of people with disabilities. The event will include an exhibition by manufacturers and suppliers with a variety of presentations, free papers, seminars and workshops. The programme and abstracts are available here.

The COBALT - Challenging Obstacles and Barriers to Assisted Living Technology project has announced a series of dissemination events in Sheffield, Swindon and Edinburgh in May 2013.

Disabled Living Foundation’s Moving & Handling People 2014 conference takes place on the 30th and 31st of January 2014.

Emerging Researchers in Ageing and New Dynamics in Ageing and the University of the West of England Social Gerontology Network invites researchers to a day-long workshop on European Funding. The workshop will give participants practical skills and knowledge in order to access European funding sources. This workshop is targeted at post-grads and post-docs.

You can find other assistive technology Events on the FAST website.

Let us know about your event, or an event you are aware of by email.

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8. Resources

The Future of AAC Services in England: A framework for equitable and effective commissioning - The findings of DfE-funded AAC Grants 2012 -2013. Report can be downloaded here.

If you have missed the ‘DART2 – Disseminating Assistive Roles and Technology – a JISC ADVANCE FE & Skills Project’ training days, presentations can be downloaded.

The Communication Trust and the Better Communication Research Programme have developed the What Works database of evidenced interventions to support children's speech, language and communication.

AbilityNet have a new factsheet on Keyboard and Mouse Adaptations. There are a lot of links to supporting a variety of impairments and accessibility needs on the same page.

Some useful information on accessibility in different flavours of Linux .

A presentation from Malcolm Fisk comparing the 3millionlives and the TeleSCoPE European Telehealth Services Code of Practice which may stimulate some debate.

Maximising the potential for the use of Assistive Technology: An information tool toolkit to support people with Dementia, their Carers and Dementia services is available to download.

HDTI have released their iDEAL Toolkit which has been developed to support the design and development of Assistive Technologies. iDEAL uses a decision support system to guide a developer through useful questions and supports in choosing the most appropriate evaluation methods when conducting end user testing.

Presentation about the dallas programmes (Mi Liverpool, i-Focus & Warm Neighbourhoods, Year Zero and Living It Up) from the 2013 ALIP Showcase event, which took place in Liverpool in March 2013, are now available to view online.

THIIS (The Homecare Industry Information Service) have a link to A Guide to Preventing Pressure Ulcers from Invacare Ltd.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have developed a Pathways to Impact Toolkit, to support researchers to achieve the maximum impact for their work. The toolkit includes information on developing an impact strategy, promoting knowledge exchange, public engagement and communicating effectively with your key stakeholders. ESRC “expects that the researchers it funds will have considered the potential scientific, societal and economic impact of their research.”

The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) has produced a resource about Understanding and measuring outcomes: The role of qualitative data.

Briefing note three: Why involve members of the public in research? Useful guidance from INVOLVE to support researchers in benefitting from involving people in their projects.

The Pain Toolkit is a short booklet, originally developed by Pete Moore, which can support people with pain management. It is also helpful for anyone managing long-term conditions. Pete Moore talks about the Pain Toolkit here.

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) have published guidelines about supporting brain injury rehabilitation in adults.

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9. Other useful Newsletters

FAST also produce a monthly newsletter about Assistive Technology Policy. 

JISC are a registered charity which works on behalf of UK higher education, further education and skills to champion the use of accessible digital technologies. Their latest newsletter is here.

Email us about your newsletter, or a newsletter you would like us to feature. 

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10. Twitter

FAST now have a Twitter account covering day-to-day News, Research, Jobs, Events and Debate in Assistive Technology.

If you don’t like Twitter or don’t have an account, items are presented by assistive technology area here.

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11. Feedback

FAST values your opinions about our monthly bulletins. Too long? Too short? Not relevant to your interests? Perfect for your needs? Please email any comments to researchnews@fastuk.org. It will be gratefully received!

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