Meet the Technological and Digital Innovations to Promote Independent Lives Theme Leads

Research at the AWRC falls under three research themes, Healthy and Active 100, Living Well with Chronic Disease, and Technological and Digital Innovations to Promote Independent Lives.

This week, it’s the turn of Prof. Alessandro Di Nuovo and Dr Jims Marchang – the Leads for our Technological and Digital Innovations to Promote Independent Lives research theme – to tell us a bit about themselves and their work. (Psst – if this interests you, be sure not to miss the next AWRC Public Seminar on 8th March, featuring Alessandro and Jims!)

Hi Alessandro and Jims! First of all, can you tell us a bit about yourselves and your academic backgrounds?

Alessandro Di Nuovo: I am a Professor of Machine Intelligence based in the SHU Department of Computing, and with a background in computer science and informatics engineering. My research focuses on the human-centred design of artificial intelligence technologies that can facilitate the creation of innovative services for sustainable healthcare and wellbeing.

I am particularly interested in developing new bio-inspired machine learning algorithms for data analysis and fusion for robotic solutions that can autonomously personalise and sense changes in behaviour and environment, draw inferences and make decisions in order to be able to adapt how to support users.

Jims Marchang: I am a Senior Lecturer in Cybersecurity in the SHU Department of Computing, and Co-Lead of the Technological and Digital Innovations to Promote Independent Lives research theme at the AWRC. I also lead the iSec Cybernet research cluster, which focuses on developing and designing secure solutions for IoT, IoMT and RAS for safe adoption.

Prior to my time at SHU, I completed a PhD at the CSCAN Research Laboratory at the University of Plymouth. My research focuses on developing transparent and trusted secure systems to support resource constraint IoT networks, autonomous systems (multimodal care robotic systems) and Blockchain Technologies.

And can you tell us more about the Research Theme that you head up?

The Technological and Digital Innovations to Promote Independent Lives research theme has created an eco-system of researchers, industry and healthcare providers with the shared aim of building the infrastructure and systems to drive world-class advances in healthcare robotics research and development, and improve the wellbeing of people and communities in the UK.

The intersection of AI and robotics with healthcare is a rapidly evolving field that has the potential to transform how we manage our health and wellbeing. We are interested in developing cutting-edge technologies and applications that can support patients to self-manage their health, deliver community-based interventions and reduce the risk of illness and hospitalization. For instance:

• Collaborative robotics for health and social care: These robots can work alongside healthcare staff to support people to remain active and independent. For example, they can be used to provide physical therapy and rehabilitation, as well as providing social support to improve individuals’ wellbeing.
• Wearable devices: These include smartwatches, fitness trackers, and other devices that can collect data on vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and activity levels. By monitoring these metrics, patients can track their health and fitness progress, receive alerts when they need to take action, and share their data with healthcare professionals.
• AI and data science for social and cognitive assistance: These technologies can reduce the burden on the NHS and communities by providing support to care receivers and caregivers. AI-powered tools can provide patients with health information and advice, remind them to take their medication, and schedule appointments with their doctors. Chatbots can also help patients manage chronic conditions by answering questions and providing support.
• Personalized medicine: AI can help personalize treatment plans based on a patient’s genetic makeup, lifestyle, and medical history. This can improve treatment outcomes and reduce the risk of adverse side effects.

To ensure that these technologies are trusted and adopted by users, we focus on responsible research and innovation which is co-created and co-produced with patients and healthcare professionals. We always aim to ensure that users are involved in the design and development process and ensure that technologies are secure, reliable, intuitive to use, and respect privacy. Additionally, we always aim to ensure that healthcare providers are empowered to apply the best practices and make use of technologies to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.

Finally, the theme focuses on innovative health and social care services that can support patients to live independently for longer. This can include providing remote monitoring and support services, telemedicine consultations and access to digital health tools, all of which help empower patients to take control of their health and wellbeing.

What are the priorities for your research theme in 2023?

We have several exciting ongoing projects. The EPSRC project IMACTIVE will study the design of a smart integrated system that can provide continuous tailored support to older adults to achieve and maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. The system intelligently merges information from wearable and nearable sensors with the friendly multimodal interaction (audio-visual, movement, gesture, and touch) of an affordable social robot to assess the physical and cognitive functions of the user at home.

Furthermore, the system can provide an objective and comprehensive assessment on the user frailty status to practitioners and carers to inform personalised quality care. Research in machine intelligence and healthcare sensor technologies will be guided by stakeholders and users to create a user-friendly platform specifically designed to offer assistance to older adults at risk of frailty. The platform will be tailored to older adults’ needs, helping them to overcome cognitive and physical barriers, increasing acceptability and use of these new technologies among this population.

The EPSRC NetworkPlus EMERGENCE project will co-create robotic services that can support people living with frailty. Individuals with frailty experience changes in their conditions over time, both in the longer- and shorter-term. Traditional assistive technologies struggle to adapt to these changes and are typically abandoned by their users as a result. Robotic solutions can be more easily personalised and developed to sense changes in behaviour and environment, draw inferences and make decisions in order to be able to adapt how support is delivered.

We are also studying how AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can provide wellbeing advice and support, while data-driven insights can help identify individuals who may need additional assistance.

Finally, we will be working on a project investigating how security and privacy mechanisms can be incorporated into care robot autonomous systems (RAS). RAS is a resource-hungry system in terms of computation, storage, and bandwidth requirement when connected to cloud services or a network. Incorporating security and privacy mechanisms can increase the RAS overhead and cause usability issues for the user, but as care RAS deal with sensitive health and wellbeing data, such mechanisms are mandatory to comply with GDPR and keep the system and the users safe. The project aims to identify continuous authentication and access control mechanisms that can be used by any user irrespective of their physical, psychological and physiological condition.

And finally, what do you enjoy most about your roles as Theme Leads at the AWRC?

Alessandro Di Nuovo: The role of Theme Lead gives me a unique opportunity for both personal and professional growth, as well as allowing me to make a positive impact on the field of physical activity, health and wellbeing. It enables interdisciplinary networking that helps me to enrich my knowledge and gain valuable insights and new perspectives. Collaborating with others who have different expertise helps to advance my research in new and innovative ways.

I also enjoy providing guidance and mentorship to early and middle-career researchers. This is mutually rewarding as it helps to develop their skills and knowledge and leads to new collaborations and partnerships.

Jims Marchang: It’s such a fantastic opportunity to work with and learn from experienced research scientists and connect with various different groups and disciplines, not only from the academic world but also those from business and community backgrounds.

The role has also helped me to contribute my cybersecurity expertise to the health and care domain especially in the care multimodal robotic system and smart health monitoring frameworks to ensure safe and trusted secure adoption. This work has genuine, real world application and has significant positive impact on peoples lives by supporting their independent, quality living.