University to Research Impact of ICT on Health

Computer scientists at Wrexham Glyndwr University are to play a key role in developing a new eHealth curriculum for European students.

Together with partners in France, Spain, Germany and Cyprus, Professor Rich Picking and the team in north east Wales were awarded an EU Erasmus+ grant of over 440,000 Euros.

Over the next three years they will study the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) on health in a bid to improve the job prospects and entrepreneurial skills of future graduates.

Wrexham Glyndwr University, which is celebrating an employability figure of 92.1% – will work alongside other stakeholders, including schools, hospitals, businesses and research centres.

Speaking of the project, Professor Picking said: “The general objectives of the project will see us look to improve the relevance of higher education in the field of ICT for health, and enhance the quality of eHealth education.

“We also want to foster employability via the academic curriculum, providing entrepreneurship skills to health students.

He added: “The project is complementary to many activities that are engaged by the partners at national or European levels.

“The transnational dimension will bring added value to the end product; participating organisations will be able to achieve results that could not be achieved by those from a single country.”

Among the modules to be explored are: Innovation and entrepreneurship in eHealth; IT for a longer independent life; applications and tools in eHealth.

The course will also look at how robotics can help in healthcare, such as robotic companion cats (pictured) that can help boost the wellbeing of people with dementia.

Completion of the initiative will culminate in a seminar to be held in Barcelona in 2019, following “intensive programmes” in the form of Summer Schools in the Spanish city, as well as Wrexham and Castres, France.

The project team has a historic core around the Eurocampus Pyrenees Mediterranean, created in 2009, which has already developed joint studies.

The report from Erasmus+, which approved the idea, said: “The group of partners is balanced and includes all the skills required for the project: a cross-border cooperation organization, seven universities with IT departments, a hospital which is a research centre, and an innovation centre.

“The quality of the impact analysis and the dissemination of proposals, in particular, must be emphasised. We encourage the proponent to continue its efforts towards excellence.”

More on Wrexham Glyndwr University, including its open day on Saturday, September 10, can be found here.