[Air-L] PhD studentship on Participatory self-quantification for patients through IoT-based medical devices

[Mina Vasalou]

Apologies for cross-posting. Please disseminate to students seeking
doctoral funding.

Participatory self-quantification for patients through IoT-based medical
devices

Principal supervisor: Professor George Roussos (Bbk)
Co-supervisor: Dr Mina Vasalou (UCL IOE)

Sustained advances in microelectronics have enabled the integration of
miniaturised information processing devices and low-power wireless
communication into a wide range of physical objects. These artefacts
integrate seamlessly with information networks thus bringing about the
Internet of Things (IoT) and its ecosystem of applications and services
which offer the potential to fundamentally transform the ways in which
citizens consume health care services by blending the until recently
separate physical and digital experiences into one. Indeed, most personal
experiences of well-being and disease remain largely unobserved and the
IoT is about to change this situation. Yet despite its promise, there is
accumulating evidence to suggest that users only briefly engage in these
opportunities, leading to high abandonment rates of IoT-based wellness and
health tracking services (e.g. Arthur 2012, Farago 2014, Rapp et al.
2016). This is often seen as the consequence of a technology-rather than a
patient-driven approach and an alternative perspective is that IoT
developers should design for people and communities who conceive of the
benefits of data fusion as they fit with their existing agendas such as
people already involved in forms of self-reflection and activism or
self-advocacy relating to their disease. This PhD will examine this
question in the particular context of Parkinson¹s disease (PD).
Specifically, we aim to understand current practices of patient activism,
advocacy and self-tracking (or self-quantification) in PD; and, understand
the transformative role of the IoT in giving agency and voice to
individuals and communities.

Candidate Requirements:

This PhD is aimed at graduates with a strong interest in
multi-disciplinary research. Research will be organised around case
studies to be developed 'in the wild' where the student will conduct
participatory research with patients to understand how the IoT changes
practice and can enable patient empowerment. The student should be
familiar with qualitative research methods and user-centred design
practices. Good knowledge or experience in one or more of the following
areas is desirable: social science and health research; IoT technologies;
information visualisation; participatory design; ethnographic research
methods.

More information on application procedures can be found here:


http://www.bloomsbury.ac.uk/studentships/studentships-2017/participatory-se
lf-quantification-for-patients-through-1ot-based-medical-devices


Dr. Asimina Vasalou
UCL Knowledge Lab, UCL Institute of Education
University College London
23- 29 Emerald Street
London WC1N 3QS

Email: a.vasalou at ucl.ac.uk

www.luminainteractive.com
www.ucl.ac.uk/knowledge-lab
Follow us on Twitter: @uclknowledgelab