Welcome to Q-Life!

The Q-Life group explores new ways in which information technologies can be designed and applied to enhance life quality for a wide range of individuals: in everyday life, in clinical settings and in other specific circumstances. Q-Life started in 2005 as a studio of the Interactive Institute. We are now located in the Department of Informatics, at Umeå University in Northern Sweden.

Our work is intrinsically multi-disciplinary, drawing on art, science, technology and social concerns. We work closely with local organisations, for example those concerned with catering for the needs of groups such as the elderly, the mentally or physically disabled, and others.

We are partners in CHAP: the Centre for Health and Participation in the Ageing Population.

Read a recent interview with our manager Eva Lindh Waterworth on the UCIT website.

The Q-Life Lab is located in MIT-huset, Room MA466.

We believe that technology can change lives, and that without technology we are not human. Not all changes are beneficial, of course. We seek to make radical innovations that have potentially positive and life-changing impact on the people who use them.

We believe that technology can potentially solve several seemingly intractable and growing problems in modern society, such as stress, depression, loneliness, some forms of age-related dementia, self-destructive lifestyles, and anxiety.

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: artistic, intellectual, emotional, practical, physical, social and spiritual..