The excitement of the positive contribution which research can make to supporting the lives of older people and the promise for the future was captured in the BSG Conference Symposium “Design and Technology to Assist Ageing in Place”. The Symposium, master-minded by Professor Gail Mountain, showcased the style of interdisciplinary work supported by the SPARC programme which is funded by EPSRC and BBSRC. This is a modest initiative which stems from a need to encourage more early-career researchers into ageing research. Since 2005 it has been actively promoting ageing research through making small awards to newcomers to ageing research, running workshops to show case ageing research to all stakeholders in ageing, and lobbying policy makers about the value of research to improving health and well-being in later life. (Link to SPARC article)

By way of introduction, Gail Mountain spoke of the impressive all-embracing approach to ageing research pioneered by the EPSRC EQUAL Initiative. This has achieved a level of interdisciplinarity which more recent initiatives have struggled to emulate, as well as an enviable level of collaboration with older people and agencies which work with them. Significantly this approach has been exceedingly effective in leading to research outcomes which have been incorporated into the routine work of health practitioners and social services professionals, as well as British Standards, Building Regulations and the requirements of statutory bodies. Gail gave three examples of the interdisciplinary mix which characterises the projects funded under EQUAL; for example the project she has been involved in brings together psychologists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists with computer scientists, engineers, designers and ergonomists, to develop new technology-assisted approaches to the rehabilitation of people with stroke.

A quick review of the aspirations and achievements of SPARC by Peter Lansley, described in another article in this issue of Generations Review, led on to the body of the symposium. This was devoted to presentations by SPARC Award Holders of four of the 34 projects supported by SPARC, all newcomers to ageing research, about work which had just been or was about to be completed. (Link to SPARC article)

Professor Paul Chamberlain of Sheffield Hallam University presented the background to observation-based approaches to investigating user needs and reactions to the design of novel furniture and living spaces which overcome more formal approaches to eliciting user views and preferences. Many users are unable to define what their needs are and can find it difficult to articulate them. His work is informing the design and construction of objects and prototypes that can be used to evaluate theories and conceptual designs, and assist in defining the problems and barriers associated with maintaining independence, quality of life and care at home in later life. To achieve this he is engaging with three groups: future older people, active older people and those who are frail. His work is suggesting that the use of these artefacts in user-centred design research can aid enquiry into user needs and provoke new scenarios for investigation. User issues that may not be verbalised can be recognised through the use of objects and new knowledge can be established through 'doing' rather than 'saying'. Requirements for future products may emerge out of direct experience of using concept prototypes.

Spoken messages can make home-care systems more efficient, effective, and friendly. These are routinely used by call-centres, for example, those operated by utility operators . However, auditory ageing can make it difficult to understand these messages, especially if they have been produced by a speech synthesiser. Dr Maria Wolters of Edinburgh University is examining those aspects of auditory ageing which are most problematic when older users listen to synthetic speech. The results will be crucial for developing pleasant, highly intelligible synthetic voices for older listeners.

Maintaining an independent lifestyle is an integral social need of many older people and has direct cost benefits for the formal health care sector. Autonomous assistive systems which support decision-making for healthier and safer living have the potential for huge impacts on the lives of older people and their carers. Dr Shaun Lawson of Lincoln University considered the prospect of exploiting the emerging and powerful interface technologies of augmented reality. These provide new ways of bringing together electronic devices and pervasive systems to support longer term safer ageing in place. His work was presented very much as a voyage of discovery by a researcher with a strong technical orientation in the world of ageing, and the challenges and rewards of understanding user needs and behaviours.

The lack of good transport options can be a significant barrier to social inclusion and independence. Older people are more likely to have to rely on public transport, and have to cope with what is often a poor service and badly maintained transport infrastructure. Working with transport specialists at Leeds University Dr Mima Cattan and Jenny Woodward of Leeds Metropolitan University have developed new tools for understanding the transport needs and aspirations of older people particularly with a view to helping local authorities develop their accessibility planning for key services such as healthcare, supermarkets and employment sites. They have identified powerful ways of engaging older people in these processes which, having captured the interest and support of regional transport providers and planners, are now being developed further.

Given that funding for SPARC is from EPSRC and BBSRC, a noticeable initial reaction of the audience was that despite the apparent technological orientation of the projects the starting point for all four was a strong social and environmental context, the everyday activities of older people. Discussion ranged across points of detail to the broader strategic opportunities to develop new technologies and methodologies, and to implement them, facilitated by SPARC. For Mima Cattan, a very experienced social scientist, this was a welcome and defining feature of SPARC.

As is often the case at conferences, discussion time was abbreviated. However, informal discussion of the projects and of SPARC continued, not only revealing considerable support for the SPARC model for supporting newcomers to ageing research, but also for extending that model by gaining support from all the relevant research councils, not least ESRC.

This was not the only symposium to highlight the attractiveness of a research model which secures interdisciplinary working, collaboration with key agencies and recognises older people as experts in ageing research rather than as passive participants in ageing. Indeed, other symposia and some individual presentation sessions provided a platform for more sizeable projects which have followed this model. Presentations about INDEPENDENT, undertaken as an EQUAL consortia project, and other projects supported by EPSRC, provided much evidence of the beneficial impact of carefully crafted interdisciplinary, cross-professional, user-involved research pioneered by the EQUAL initiative since 1997.

Note: The Powerpoint presentations from the workshop are at: http://www.sparc.ac.uk/workshops/06_09_07_BSG/