ICT and Health: The Q-LIFE Research Group
Q-Life explores new ways in which information technologies can be designed and applied to enhance health and life quality for a wide range of individuals: in everyday life, in clinical settings and in other specific circumstances.
Our work is intrinsically multi-disciplinary, drawing on interaction research, design, science, technology and social concerns. We work closely with local organisations, for example those concerned with the needs of groups such as the elderly, the mentally or physically disabled, and others.
We believe that without technology we are not human, and that information technology can change lives - for better and for worse. While some information technology has had a role in creating seemingly intractable and growing problems in modern society, appropriate technology also has a huge potential to improve such common conditions as stress, depression, loneliness, anxiety, age-related dementia, physical and social isolation, and self-destructive lifestyles.
We seek to make radical innovations that have a positive impact on the quality of life of the people who use them.
We want to contribute to a future where technology is used to constructively engage with and address problems, rather than the currently standard approach of applying pharmaceutical and technological fixes unquestioningly.
More generally, we are interested in how technology can be used to create life-changing experiences: intellectual, emotional, practical, artistic, social and spiritual.
Current projects
AGNES
User-sensitive home-based systems for successful ageing in a networked society
RICHARD
Regional ICT based Clusters for Healthcare Applications and R&D Integration
SILHOUETTE
uSIng noveL information and communication tecHnologies fOr the sUpport of Elderly's acTive parTicipation in the information society
Competitive Health Services
eHealth Solutions across the Northern Periphery
(project completed)
