I am a research fellow in the School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care at The Open University, UK and I support colleagues in my faculty who wish to disseminate their research, via their social media profile, running 1-2-1 clinics. Previously, I organized a 3-day Digital Health and Wellbeing symposium (2018) bringing scholars, industry professionals and stakeholders together to share insights, and knowledge.
As an inter-and-multi-disciplinary researcher my interests focus on gerontology, digital health/technology, health, wellbeing, age-friendly cities and communities. I am driven by a passion to make a real world impact through applied research that improves the health, wellbeing and quality of life of people in our communities and society.
Social research, policy and practice is integral to attain societal changes for the better and has been published by the UK Government during the COVID-19 pandemic - through various evidence pieces, and cited specifically in a White Paper 'Beyond Digital: Planning for a Hybrid World' (2021), the 'Smart Homes for Independent Living: Putting People in Control of their Lives (Policy Connect, 2022), and by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics 'The future of ageing: ethical considerations for research and innovation' (2023). In 2018 several papers were cited in a report for the German Federal Institute of Sport Science - providing an overview of videogames and physical activity research 'E-Sport und Serious Games: Videospiele im SportKontext. Eine Biblographie' (the report is in German).
As a GSA member for 16 years I have contributed to the society as a graduate student, elected to the ESPO Communications Chair (formerly Technology Chair), and the student representative for the Membership Committee. My international profile can be measured via the esteem measures of plenary invitations including the Korean Association of Products and Services for Senior Citizens (KAPASS), panel speaker at the World Health Organization European Region Symposium on the Future of Health Systems in a Digital Era (2023), the Animex Research & Innovation Conference (Teesside University, UK), and at the International Child and Information Safety Congress 'Digital Games' (Ankara, Turkey, 2018). I presented at the Northern Irish Assembly (Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series) in 2018 to policy makers and stakeholders on the findings of the Technology In Later Life (TILL) project. More recently, I led an international consortium to understand the psychological wellbeing, digital literacy and technology behaviour of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project includes 13 sites spanning Europe, Asia, India, Middle East and North America.
I have published over 50 journal papers, 10 book chapters, I'm currently editing a second book, and published the 'Transgenerational Technology and Interactions for the 21st Century: Perspectives and Narratives' Book (2022) with an early career research, charity and industry professionals. This book offers a manifesto to readers to move inter-and-multi-disciplinary research forward, and illustrates the broad-church of impact technology continues to have in our contemporary society. In 2019, I published '"Who Doesn't think about Technology When Designing Urban Environments for Older People?" A Case Study Approach to a Proposed Extension of the WHO's Age-Friendly Cities Model'. This thought provoking paper affords readers to consider the role of technology and reimagine alternative frameworks for contemporary societies.