ACRC PDRAs win Innovation Award
Two ACRC PDRAs have been awarded the Innovation Award from CMVM for their Co-design workshop.
Dr Arlene Casey and Dr Cara Wilson celebrated the award, which was announced on the 30th March.
The award was for developing the five day co-design and co-creation workshop on a rural community, part of Tiree Tech Wave. They led a group of early-career health-data researchers (including data scientists, engineers, social scientists and technologists) to engage with a community of people in later life in a very remote setting on the Isle of Tiree.
You can find out more about the workshop, here.
Between them they planned and executed a five day residential event to “understand what technology means outside the urban digital heartlands”. This involved:
- liaising sensitively with the local community so that participants could meet the users and providers of an organisation called Cùram Thiriodh (a community based organisation which works with older people) to find out what care means to them in a rural community
- developing an engaging programme where participants could learn about and practice a wide range of innovative approaches including: democratising digitisation, community engagement, co-design, PPIE, participatory design and speculative design, as well as the production of “zines”
- planning a wide range of activities so that participants could truly understand the meaning of technology in such a rural setting, and understand the fragility of care systems in this kind of community
- working collaboratively with other experts (Prof Alan Dix and Dr Liz Jones from Swansea University and Dr Andy Darby from Durham University)
All participants left the island with a much deeper appreciation not just of the techniques learned and each other’s work, but also with an insight into a way of life that is so different to the ones they live as mainly city and suburban dwellers. They also established a very good relationship with the community organisation which they plan to develop.
Arlene said "I am delighted and honoured that Cara and I have received this award which was only possible with the support from ACRC, the researchers who joined us on Tiree, and the amazing Tiree community who enthusiastically joined in with our activities."
