Exploring New Health Care Ideas in Particular for the Elderly 

Background

Population ageing has been recognised as a significant social transformation that impacts almost all sectors in our society (United Nations, 2022). By 2050, the global population aged 65 years or older is projected to rise from 10% in 2022 to 16% (UNDESA, 2022). The Office for National Statistics predicts there will be 19.8 million people aged 65 years and older by 2069 in the UK, that is approximately 26.2% of the projected UK population (ONS, 2021). This substantial demographic shift has prompted many researchers to emphasise the importance of Healthy Ageing and their eagerness to contribute to the UKRI’s Challenge mission to ‘ensure that people can enjoy at least five extra healthy, independent, years of life by 2035, while narrowing the gap between the experience of richest and poorest’. Older people, especially those with low income, living in inadequate housing conditions, facing disabilities or long-term health conditions, acting as primary caregivers, or belonging to ethnic minority or immigrant backgrounds, are underserved groups. They often experience poor health and have unequal access to health and social care (Adams et al., 2013). Thus, there is an urgent need for inclusive, affordable, and ageing friendly products/services that effectively address the healthcare needs of older individuals.

On the other hand, new and emerging Industry 4.0 technologies such as sensors, AI, IoT, Big data, VR/MR and smart product/service are serving as catalysts for developing future new product/services for health and social cares. These advancements enable to creation of innovative solutions such as smart home products, Chatbots, AI-enabled assistive living technology/product, personal digital twins,  and predictive AI for healthcare.  As reported in The Guardian, “The future of elder care is here-and it’s artificial intelligence” (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/03/elder-care-artificial-intelligence-software) . Recent research trends can be sensed from (1) IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine special issue on Robotics Innovation for the Elderly, March, 2023, (2) 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 29 May – 2 June 2023, the conference main theme: Embracing the Future: Making Robots for Humans,

Research Aims/Objectives

Therefore, in this proposal, the investigators aim to conduct interdisciplinary research networking activities based on focus-group research methods. The key objectives are

•        To explore future AI and related ICT technologies enabled new health and social care ideas especially for older people,

•        To identify potential research and development roadmaps, and

•        To disseminate the research outcomes in our CACSUK society and beyond.

•        To develop research proposal drafts for UKRI

Collaborative Research Teams

Professor Sheng feng Qin, School of Design, Northumbria University

Prof Hongnian Yu (HY), School of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment, University (ENU).

Prof Dong-ling Xu, is Professor of Decision Science and Systems at Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, UK.

Prof Yongqiang Cheng, Cheng is currently with the School of Computer Science, University of Sunderland

Dr Tai Yang (TY), University of Sussex