I presented some of my new research work on ‘Real-time Biofeedback of Heart Rate Variability Measures to Track and Help Improve Levels of Attention and Relaxation’ at the ACM Creativity and Cognition Conference in Singapore in June.
Talk on Community Creativity at A*STAR in Singapore
I gave a talk at the end of June on ‘Community Creativity in Venture Creation’ at the Singapore government’s commercial arm of their Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) – Exploit Technologies
Talk on Creativity in STEM Education
I was recently invited to give a talk on ‘Integrating design ideas into
the creative curricula’ at the ‘Creativity in STEM Education’ Higher Education Academy event held at Imperial College London in June.
Talk at Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) engagement event
I gave a talk in June on “Applying User-Led Design Methods for Improving Healthcare in Developing Countries” at the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) engagement event, hosted by the British Academy and Research Councils UK at the British Academy in London.
Participating in ‘Trauma Pack’ Development
I am currently involved in a seven month project to develop a production ready version of the Trauma Pack to meet the needs of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The aim is to make the Trauma Pack available for deployment in large-scale humanitarian emergencies. The work is supported by the Wales Life Sciences Bridging Fund.
Participation in workshop on usability Research, Co-Creation and User Centred Design
I spent a few days at the University of Agder in October together with the research team at the Centre for eHealth and Care Technologies discussing usability research and user centred design challenges and opportunities in the context of eHealth.
Innovation training for companies across Wales
I recently secured a 3-year contract (as part of my work at the Centre for Creativity) to provide training on management and business innovation for organisations across Wales. The training is part of the Leading Business Growth programme, jointly run by Bangor University and Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Findings of Innovate Uk study on attention tracking
I recently completed a technical feasibility project (as part of my work at the Centre for Creativity) part-funded by Innovate UK showing that it is possible to track and improve attention and relaxation levels in real-time using biofeedback of heart rate variability (HRV) measures. The software solution I developed, together with Dimitrios Zampelis, runs on an iPhone and communicates wirelessly in real-time with ‘Bluetooth smart’ heart rate monitors such as the Mio Alpha 2 and Mio Fuse watches.
You can see more details on the results of the study on the Centre for Creativity website.
Innovate UK funding for feasibility study to track attention levels
I recently started a new project at the Centre for Creativity to design, develop and evaluate a new way of using biofeedback of a person’s heart rate to track their own attention and relaxation levels and to help train and improve their levels of relaxed focus, sometimes referred to as ‘flow’ and ‘mindfulness’. The hope is that such a solution could be used to help children suffering from attention deficit disorders, but could have applications in much wider areas of use.
The project will run from September 2015 to March 2016 and is funded by Innovate UK.
Press coverage of People’s Journeys project
We (Spencer Jordan and I) had some nice press coverage on the recent location-based mobile app that we developed showcasing eight World War 1 stories from Grangetown, Cardiff.
