Programme Manager
University of Manchester, Manchester Informatics
Country:
United Kingdom
About Carmel Dickinson:
I am the Programme Manager for Manchester Informatics – a multi disciplinary Research Institute at the Univerity of Manchester which has almost 600 members working in a very wide range of disciplines including . We bring together the community of researchers at Manchester around various themes of importance such as Connected Health, Big Data, Social Media, Computational Science, Digital Economies and Human Behaviour. We also engage actively with external stakeholders from the City, health and socail care services and industry to provide access to university expertise, build strategic alliances and provide a forum for thought leadership.
I enjoy trying (not very successfully!) to learn new languages and I am currently grappling with the complexiites of Finnish.
ProfouND Role:
I am the lead for Profound WorkPackage 7.
ICT based interventions for falls, including risk identification, fall detection, and promotion of complex interventions through the application of assistive technology can make an important contribution to the early monitoring, prevention and fall detection. Interventions can support people in their own homes and in institutions to prevent avoidable injuries, hospital admission and re-admission.
I am responsible for setting up the ICT Technology for Falls Forum – working closely with the leads of the E-NOFALLS project in Barcelona.
We aim to identify a range of innovative ICT solutions for falls detection, monitoring and prevention to support active and healthy ageing. Examples include: novel motion and activity sensing systems to identify deteriorating gait, balance and stability; remote monitoring of long-term conditions that predispose elderly people to falls; door alarms and signal-transmitting devices to help prevent adverse events associated with wandering; electronic sensors and equipment including bed or chair occupancy sensors which have the potential to detect falls and trigger remote communication systems to alert a formal or informal care network.
ICT-based solutions can enable integrated working between health and social care teams in hospitals, residential homes, the community and at home, facilitating multidisciplinary assessment treatment and rehabilitation of patients who have had a fall, or are at risk; as well as novel media and “gaming” approaches to promote physical activities which may prevent falls risks exacerbating.
