Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems (SHAPES)

“The Future of Smart & Healthy Ageing: SHAPES Results, Recommendations & Reflections for an Inclusive Europe and a Participative Civil Society”

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Symposium

Author: Tom Hall Research Assistant on the SHAPES project in ALL

SHAPES: Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in supportive Systems Logo. As European citizens’ life expectancy increases, older people (65+) account for a progressively larger percentage of the total EU population. Trends suggest this will rise from 21.2% in 2022 to 25% in 2030. Along with these demographic changes, larger numbers of people will experience health-related issues. This raises significant challenges for European healthcare systems. In light of these, the SHAPES (Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems) project led by Maynooth University aims to create an integrated IT platform which offers a wide range of digital solutions. These are focused on improving the health, well-being, and independence of people as they get older.

The Big Race: Artificial Intelligence and Healthy Ageing

Research stream: Social Structures

Author: Ilia Marcev, PhD Candidate at the Department of Psychology, Maynooth University, and a Research Assistant with the ALL Institute’s SHAPES Project

Unless your internet connection has been as unreliable as the weather forecast, or you were marooned on a desert island over the past few weeks, there is a strong chance you heard of the alleged “alien” bodies discovered in Mexico recently. While this strange discovery made international news, it drew very poor engagement and attention from the average UFO-enthusiast, let alone the average person like you and me. I believe it is fair to say that ten years ago this story would have exploded like a supernova across the internet, but today, the majority of people seem rather unconcerned with this novel development in humanity’s timeline. I can only speculate that the reason the world is unconcerned with potentially discovering our Martian neighbours is because, as exciting as alien intelligent life may sound, we are likely far closer to discovering new intelligent life here on Earth that would rival our own. This new intelligence is better known as – Artificial Intelligence (A.I.).

Oppenheimer on the Responsibilities of Psychologists

Social Lives

Author: Rachel Brown is a PhD candidate at the Department of Psychology, Maynooth University and a Research Assistant with the ALL Institute’s SHAPES project

Like many of you, I recently watched Christopher Nolan’s biographic film documenting theoretical psychist Robert Oppenheimer’s involvement in the Manhattan Project and the creation of the first nuclear weapons. Although I enjoyed the film, I was left with a strange sense of unease about scientific knowledge and the power that knowledge has to change the world, and not always for the better. As I drove home, I considered my own responsibilities regarding the knowledge my research will produce. Needless to say, the 20-minute car journey home from the cinema felt very long that day.

Shortly after seeing the film, I came across Oppenheimer’s 1956 address to the American Psychological Association (APA) entitled Analogy in Science. It was an engaging and eloquently written speech and I assure you it is well worth the read. Intriguingly, he gives a stern warning to the field of psychology, while given at the height of behaviourism with widespread fear of mind control over individuals and society, 68 years on Oppenheimer’s warning seems just as relevant now as it did then.

How We Can Improve Digital Health Technology for Older Adults: Inclusive Processes and Measuring Meaningful Outcomes

Social Technologies

Author: Dr Richard Vance, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Department of Psychology and Assisting Living & Learning (ALL) Institute, Maynooth University

“I fear the day when technology overlaps our humanity” goes a quote, which is dubiously attributed to Albert Einstein on the internet—sometimes you can trust technology, sometimes you can’t.

Last week was Social Justice Week in Maynooth, and it’s as good a time as any to reflect on whether we’re making a positive difference to the lives of others and the world around us. I want to look at how we’re approaching the design and provision of digital health technologies for older adults to promote health and well-being and reduce inequality.

Learning as a Lifelong Process

Social Lives

Author: Dr. Katja Seidel, Senior Post-Doc Researcher in SHAPES (Horizon 2020); Department of Anthropology and Assisting Living & Learning (ALL) Institute at Maynooth University

We all learn. Every day we live we experience something new, acquire novel skills or engage with a new person or activity for the first time. Learning thus never ends, not even when we leave formal educational pathways or retire. The Horizon 2020 Innovation Action research project SHAPES (Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems) led by Maynooth University and ALL Institute members, starts from the assumption that people of all ages are capable of learning and integrating new tools and behaviours into their lives, especially when assisted in an appropriate manner. This four-year research project looks at ways in which integrated care and governance models as well as smart technologies can support community dwelling older adults to live healthy and active lives, and investigates different pathways for change and innovation that will have a beneficial impact on our societies in Europe.

Ageism and Ableism: The Intersectional Discrimination Faced by Older Adults with Disabilities

Social Structures

Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning Institute (ALL Institute)

Matthew McKenna

In July 2019, the United Nations (UN) ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’, said that:

‘The mainstreaming of the rights of older persons with disabilities into all disability and ageing-related policies and programmes is key to ensure that the concerns and needs of older persons with disabilities are adequately addressed’.

However, older persons with disabilities face an intersectional form of discrimination within the European Union (EU), which derives from the intersection of ‘ableism’ and ‘ageism’. People within the EU are now living longer than ever before, with 101.1 million people aged 65 or over residing within the EU-27 in early 2018. Close to half of all persons over the age of 65 in the EU have some form of disability. Incidences of disability in old age, especially acquired disability, increase substantially amongst individuals in older age categories and, as a result, older persons with disabilities are at increased risk of neglect, loss of supports, abuse and poverty, amongst other risks.

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