Monday February 8th Professor Cathy Treadaway and Dr Gail Kenning visited Alzheimer’s NSW. They met with Jo-Ann Brown to discuss the Alzheimer’s NSW Dementia Advocate scheme and ways of including people with dementia in research.
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LAUGH Project in Australia Jan/February 2016
CARIAD researcher Professor Cathy Treadaway is currently working in Australia at University of Technology Sydney with Dr Gail Kenning (International co-Investigator) on the LAUGH design for dementia research project. This is the first of three visits to Australia, which will enable ideas and knowledge to be exchanged as part of the AHRC funded LAUGH project.
Cariad Down Under
Wendy has been in Melbourne, Australia during November, sharing both the Somatopia and Somability projects with Scope Victoria, and presenting at the prestigious 50th Anniversary ASID conference. Both events have led to connecting and sharing ideas with some fantastic people, especially excited to meet up with Sensorium Theatre, Perth, and Back to Back Theatre in Melbourne.
Autism and Good Practice in Design
Great to share insights and experiences of the “flow state” with Damian Milton at the first NAS design and autism conference. From the earliest days of designing ReacTickles we noticed how anxiety reduced and happiness increased when children were absorbed in their flow of interest, so it was fantastic to hear Damian’s view on this.
CARIAD dementia research with Gwalia Mynydd Mawr
Residents from Gwalia Mynydd Mawr were joined by Prof Cathy Treadaway and the CARIAD dementia research team for a celebration Tea Party on Sunday 22nd November at the care home in Tumble near Llanelli. The event was held to celebrate the handover of a number of textiles that were developed as part of the Sensor e-Textile design for dementia research at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Continue reading CARIAD dementia research with Gwalia Mynydd Mawr
Tiree Tech Wave
Cardiff Metropolitan University recently teamed up with Alzheimer’s Scotland and the University of Dundee to run a creative community event on the Scottish island of Tiree. Prof Cathy Treadaway and Helen Watkins from the Centre for Applied Research in Inclusive Arts and Design (CARIAD) joined forces with Dr Keireine Canavan and Chris Dennis from the Cardiff School of Art and Design (CSAD) and Dr Wendy Moncur from University of Dundee to run a Hand i Pocket ‘funshop’ in collaboration with the Taigh a’ Rudha care home, Tiree. Continue reading Tiree Tech Wave
Professorial Lecture – Making a Difference: Designing for Happiness
Design is about people; the better able designers are to understand their needs, the easier it is to create appropriate solutions to support them. Using practical participatory approaches, in which people are kept at the heart of the process, it is possible to gain insights into human experience and then design positively to promote human flourishing and enhance wellbeing. Continue reading Professorial Lecture – Making a Difference: Designing for Happiness
Wales Millennium Centre – Hand i Pocket Funshop
CARIAD researchers collaborated with Age Cymru and Alzheimer’s Society to host a creative ‘funshop’ to coincide with Age Positive Week (27th September – 4th October 2015). The Hand i Pocket Funshop was a free public event held at Wales Millennium Centre on Saturday 3rd October led by Prof Cathy Treadaway from the CARIAD at Cardiff Met.
People who dropped in to the Hand i Pocket Funshop were invited to make and decorate a pocket for someone with dementia, using an enticing array of cloth, thread, buttons and beads, with plenty of help and inspiration on hand. The idea was to create textile pockets that are visually stimulating, interesting or soothing to touch and fun to fiddle with. They might have things hidden inside or be a place to put things. Pockets could be made for specific people and include things personal to them and their life story. Continue reading Wales Millennium Centre – Hand i Pocket Funshop
Accolade Awards Video
Here is a lovely video of the Accolade Awards. The judges were impressed with how the Somability approach to technology could offer new experiences with a traditional service, and cited the project as a “fine example of and co=producing and co-creating”. Here are the judges comments.
Arts & Humanities Research Council fund design research for dementia
Cardiff Metropolitan University’s CARIAD research centre has just been awarded an AHRC research grant of £500,000 over three years for its work in designing for people with dementia.
The LAUGH (Ludic Artefacts Using Gesture and Haptics) project is an international collaboration with researchers at the University of Technology Sydney and Birmingham City University and is led by Professor Cathy Treadaway from Cardiff School of Art and Design.
This international research collaboration addresses the call by the WHO and the G8 nations for international collaboration in order to address the global challenge of the ageing population.
The research is being partnered by Gwalia Cyf, one of the largest providers of residential social care in Wales, and will bring together people with dementia, their carers and a range of health professionals, technologists and designers. The work is also supported by the leading charities in the field: Age Cymru- My Home Life, Alzheimer’s Society and Dementia Positive.
The LAUGH research project will develop innovative playful devices that amuse, distract, comfort, engage, bring joy, and promote ‘in the moment’ living for people with late stage dementia. It builds on wellbeing research that shows that happy people live longer, have fewer falls and require less medication. It will propose non-pharmacological approaches to improve the wellbeing of people with dementia and their care. Continue reading Arts & Humanities Research Council fund design research for dementia