WP7: Training – Year 3

Semi-annual update – March to August 2018: Training activities, Events and Co-research

Between March and August 2018, there have been four exchanges, one each to Spain, the UK, Germany and Luxembourg. The secondments continued the design development phase for both the Good Life Kit and the Social Engagement Map including co-design workshops, building mock-ups and wireframe applications. In addition to that, the researchers worked on academic papers and the planning of the MinD conference 2019.

Site Visits:

An important part of the training and knowledge exchange included visits to partner sites to learn about national differences in user-centered design for dementia care, wellbeing and healthcare:

  • Visit of the UPC Social Robotics Lab in Vilanova (ES)

Presentations and training workshops:

Again, the research team has continued knowledge transfer through a series of presentations and workshops at each secondment. This included the introduction of new project partners (UPC), scientific project presentations about dementia, dementia care and dementia policy and state of the art technology in the fields of computer software for dementia care.

  • Ulyses Cortez and Christian Barrue (UPC) showed the team a demo of the CaregiverPro platform which is being rolled out in selected cities in Spain, Italy, France and the UK. It is a platform mainly for caregivers of people with dementia, but also includes some features for people with dementia (ES).
  • Public and Patient Engagement SEM co‐design workshop brought 16 people with lived experience together with the psychologists, designers and programmers, to explore the functions and aesthetics of the screen technology from a user perspective (UK).
  • Mascha van der Voort travelled to Limerick, Ireland, to present a paper for the mind consortium at the DRS conference. She was also was invited to act as a keynote debater in the workshop on Victories and defeats: Current practices in design for wellbeing. This was organized by Deger Oskaramanli, Ann Petermans and Anna Pohlmeyer.
  • Several design and evaluation workshops and presentations about the Good Life Kit and the Social Engagement Map as part of the design development.

Co-research & career development:

Visiting researchers worked with and accompanied experienced researchers, designers, IT staff and care professionals as part of the design and evaluation tasks to help with the development of the Good Life Kit and the Social Engagement Map. Researchers also continued to work together on literature review and writing papers. Visits to external conferences related to the MinD project were also part of the secondments.

Through its training and co-research, the MinD project offers also great opportunities for career development to younger researchers: in addition to the two participating researchers from Germany who work their doctorates, other PhD students joined the team due to the involvement of new consortium partners.

Public presentations and external training:

The state of the MinD project has been presented to external partners during workshops, as well as to a smaller public during the PPI group event. Results of the first phase of the project have been presented and discussed at the international conference of the Design Research Society in Limerick, Ireland.

 

Semi-annual update – September 2018 to February 2019: Training activities, Events and Co-research

Between September and February 2018, there have been 8 exchanges, one to Barcelona and one to Intras, Valladolid, Spain, two to Germany, two to the Netherlands and two to the UK. The secondments continued and completed the design development phase for both the Good Life Kit and the Social Engagement Map including co-design workshops, models and experiential and functional prototypes. They also focused on the preparation and beginning of the evaluation of the design prototypes. In addition to that, the researchers worked on academic papers and the preparations for the MinD conference 2019.

Site Visits:

An important part of the training and knowledge exchange included visits to related sites to learn about national differences in user-centered design and dementia care:

  • Grote en Voorster Dementia Care Home visit, Deventer (NL)
  • Nest City Lab, Barcelona (ES)

Public presentations:

The progress and different aspects of the minD project have been presented to different audiences publicly, including

  • MinD colleagues participated in and presented at the Biophilic design workshop organized by the Living Building Challenge
    collaborative Spain in Nest City Lab Barcelona.
  • A poster presentation was made at the International Perspectives on Evaluation of PPI in Research Conference in Newcastle on 15 November 2018, where the MinD PPI work was presented as a case study.
  • MinD project updates were presented at the 3rd MinD symposium, “Application of mindfulness in the work with people affected by mental and neurological diseases”, held on 20 November 2018 in Valladolid, Spain, which was co-organised by MinD partner INTRAS and Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes (UEMC) where it was hosted. Read more about the symposium here.
  • The MinD aims and prototypes were presented to staff at a Grote en Voorster Dementia Care Home visit in Deventer (NL)

Presentations, training and workshops:

Again, the research team has continued knowledge transfer through a series of presentations and workshops at each secondment. This included

  • Internal presentations on project progress to keep all participating colleagues updated.
  • Several design and evaluation workshops and presentations about the Good Life Kit and the Social Engagement Map as part of the design development by MinD staff and by design students from U Twente supporting the prototype production.
  • Training sessions on specific aspects relating to the evaluation to share knowledge and skills.
  • 3 Public and Patient Involvement events, two in the UK and one in Spain in relation to the preparation lion for and evaluation of the design prototypes of the Good Life Kit and the Social Engagement Map.

Co-research & career development:

Visiting researchers worked with and accompanied experienced researchers, designers, IT staff and care professionals as part of the design and evaluation tasks to help with the development of the Good Life Kit and the Social Engagement Map. Researchers also continued to work together on literature review and writing papers. Visits to external conferences related to the MinD project were also part of the secondments.

Through its training and co-research, the MinD project offers also great opportunities for career development to younger researchers: in addition to the two participating researchers from Germany who work their doctorates, other PhD students joined the team due to the involvement of new consortium partners.