Design for ageing
Our group investigates how new technologies can be designed and used to support people’s wellbeing and social connectedness in later life.
In today’s world, more people are living longer and staying active into later life. New technologies are being designed to not only support health, fitness, and monitoring as people get older, but to also support social participation and engagement in enriching and enjoyable activities. Our research aims to establish a nuanced understanding of the role of new technologies in the lives of older adults. In addition, we examine how new technologies can and are being used to augment psychosocial caregiving in aged care settings. In these settings, technologies need to be designed and deployed carefully and sensitively in order to benefit, and not burden, caregivers and people living in aged care.
Projects
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Social robots and virtual assistants for older people
This project investigates how voice, gaze and gesture affects a gamer’s experience such as immersion, embodiment, identity and control.
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Ageing and avatars
This project aims to identify how NUI technologies can be designed and used to facilitate active social participation for older people constrained by limited mobility.
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Emerging technologies for enrichment in old age
This project will investigate older adults’ experiences with emerging technologies, such as virtual reality, social robots, and online games, which are believed to offer social benefits for those in advanced old age. Through in-depth investigations, the project aims to identify strategies for good practice in the design and deployment of these emerging technologies for enrichment in old age.
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Death and technology
A long-running program of research exploring how digital technologies are increasingly used to commemorate, memorialise and dispose of the dead. Conducted by human-computer interaction, anthropology and social science researchers from the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford in collaboration with industry partners.
Contact
People
- Frank Vetere, Professor
- Steven Baker, Research Fellow
- Simon Coghlan, Research Fellow
- Romina Carrasco, Research Fellow in Music Therapy Application Design