BU Research Blog

The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) and the Centre for Games and Music Technology Research (CGMTR) have been successful in their second H2020 ERASMUS PLUS funding application.

The project, led by Dr Ben Hicks from Psychology and supported by Professors Wen Tang (CGMTR) and Jan Wiener (Psychology), aims to work in collaboration with European partners to develop an online training toolkit that promotes the use of Assistive Technology for people with dementia and their care partners. In addition to this, it will also explore the use of VR technology as a tool for educating the public on dementia awareness. The project will begin in September 2017 and run for two years. This work follows closely on from their first ERASMUS project (awarded in September 2016 and on-going until August 2018), which sought to develop an e-training package for the use of Serious Games amongst people with dementia and their care partners.

The quick-fire successes for the project team demonstrates the growing interest across Europe in the use of technology as a means to enhance Quality of Life and well-being in people with dementia. As technology evolves, and awareness increases amongst researchers and practitioners of the benefits it can have for this population, it is likely that this field will expand at a rapid rate. Hopefully the ADRC and the CGMTR, with their growing expertise in this area, will be well positioned to take full advantage of this in the future!

For further details of the projects please contact Ben Hicks: bhicks@bournemouth.ac.uk