The Academy 2023 Cohort

Identifying and resolving the ethical challenges of the use of AI and robotics in supporting elderly people in the community

Eilidh completed her undergraduate degree in Philosophy at The University of Glasgow (2019). For her undergraduate dissertation she studied the issues with programming ethical codes into AI machines. Wanting to explore the relationship between technology and ethics further she went on to complete her masters in Digital Media and Culture at The University of Edinburgh (2020).

Eilidh’s previous research in AI ethics and philosophy will help inform her research project where she will attempt to identify and resolve the ethical challenges with using AI to help assist older people within the community.

Supervisors: Prof Stephen Osborne (Business School), Prof John Vines (School of Informatics)

Work packages:  Understanding The Person In Context, Integrated technologies of care

Neighbourhood and health in later life: A mixed methods study

Ellen has an MPhil in Medical Anthropology from the University of Oxford, where her research used mixed methods to explore the impact of exposure to others mortality on risk perception and health behaviours, with a particular focus on 'pandemic fatigue' and the Covid-19 pandemic. She also has a BA in Classical Civilisations from the University of Durham and professional experience in the FinTech industry. She is also a member of The Groups Network, a UKRI FLF Development Network Research Group. Ellen has research interests in using both qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand the relationships between social identities, community, health behaviours and outcomes. 

Supervisors: Dr Alan Marshall (School of Social and Political Science), Dr Sue Lewis (School of Health in Social Science), Prof Jamie Pearce (School of Geosciences)

Work package: Understanding The Person In Context, Data-Driven Insight and Prediction

Governance for trusted integrated care infrastructure

Jack has a MA (Hons) in Politics from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Public Policy and Management from the University of Glasgow. He has an interest in organisational change and technological transitions within the context of health and social care. His prior research has been informed by Science & Technology Studies (STS) and focused on the data governance models being promoted by national governments across Europe.

Supervisors: Prof Robin Williams (School of Social and Political Science), Dr Kathrin Cresswell (College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine) and Prof Stuart Anderson (School of Informatics)

Work package:  Integrated technologies of care

Causal data-driven insight and prediction in care

Jun has a BEng in Telecommunication Engineering from Xidian Univeristy in China, and an MSc in Communications and Signal Processing from Imperial College London. Before joining ACRC, Jun worked as an AI algorithm engineer at Huawei for one year. Her research will focus on causality, and how it relates to social care decisions.

Supervisors: Prof Sotirios Tsaftaris (School of Engineering), Prof Ewen Harrison (Usher Institute)

Work package: Data-Driven Insight and Prediction

Developing new approaches to participatory design for advanced care technologies in later life 

Zixuan holds a double-degree master's in Product-Service System Design from Tongji University in China and Politecnico di Milano in Italy, along with a Bachelor of Engineering in Furniture Design from Nanjing Forestry University in China. After graduation, she worked as an experience designer for the autonomous delivering service in Alibaba.Inc. Her research spans co-design, service design, human-computer Interaction, human-robot Interaction, and design ethics with a passion for bridging the gap between technology and humanity through design and multidisciplinary approaches.

Supervisors: Prof John Vines (School of Informatics), Prof Katie Brittain (Usher Institute), Dr Cara Wilson (Moray House School of Education and Sport)

Work package: Understanding The Person In Context, Integrated technologies of care

Sleep and delirium-towards a multicomponent intervention to improve sleep on acute medicine of elderly ward

Michaela has a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience from the University of St Andrews. She has a balanced interest in studying the biological and cognitive changes associated with ageing and understanding older adults’ lived experiences. Through research internships, she developed skills in applying virtual reality and non-invasive brain stimulation in neuroscience and mental health research. Michaela also worked in care homes, gaining insights into dementia care and the importance of person-centredness. Her PhD project, at the intersection of clinical medicine and psychology, will investigate the link between sleep disturbances and delirium in older people.

Supervisors: Prof Gillian Mead (Deanery of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences), Prof Tughrul Arslan (School of Engineering), Dr Maria Gardani (School of Health in Social Science)

Work package:  Integrated technologies of care

Experience and outcomes of persistent delirium for individuals and family carers post discharge from acute hospital care

Tahira has a BSc in Nursing from Aga Khan University Karachi, Pakistan, an MSc in Health Systems and Public Policy from The University of Edinburgh. She has worked as a Nurse in both clinical and community settings in Scotland. She hopes her vast work experience will help inform her PhD study.

Supervisors: Dr Sarah Rhynas (School of Health in Social Science), Professor Juliet MacArthur (NHS Lothian)

Understanding and clustering trajectories of multimorbidity using interpretable machine learning

Max has a MSc in Computing Science and AI from the Technical University Delft and a BSc in Computing Science from the University of Groningen. During his studies, Max also worked as a Data Scientist for UReason, a company which develops predictive maintenance tools for the manufacturing industry. His research centres on clustering chronic conditions and modelling their correlations, with a specific focus on predicting the trajectories of multimorbid outcomes.

Supervisors: Prof Bruce Guthrie (Usher's Institute), Prof Sohan Seth (School of Informatics)

Workpackage: Data-Driven Insight and Prediction