APPENDIX 9
Memorandum submitted by the Engineering
and Physical Sciences Research Council
INTRODUCTION
1. The aim of EQUAL (Extend Quality Life),
initiated by the Government's Office of Science and Technology
(OST) in 1995, is to draw together disparate research activities
that bear on the extension of the active period of people's lives,
thereby helping individuals to achieve a better lifestyle, participate
more fully and actively, and avoid or alleviate the effects of
disability.
2. The potential benefits are seen as in
part for the individual: better health, more active life, better
quality of life, greater continuing participation in society;
and in part for the wider community a lighter burden on society,
and the generation of considerable business opportunities for
UK firms to exploit in global markets. Although benefits will
accrue to all, the main drivers for the initiative are the needs
of an ageing population, and the needs of people with disabilities.
3. The Engineering and Physical Sciences
Research Council (EPSRC) response to these challenges has been
the identification of research agendas, at the interface of both
intra- and inter-Research Council boundaries that can meet user
requirements and complement existing activities.
CURRENT EQUAL ACTIVITIES
Research Areas
4. The EPSRC modus operandii for
EQUAL has been to identify research areas and ways of delivery
which can add value to the research, education and training which
is already supported through existing responsive and managed mode
activities. The goal has been to complement other EPSRC activities
such as those in medical engineering (biomaterials, tissue engineering,
instrumentation), healthcare informatics, the Medical Devices
LINK programme, and Physics for Healthcare.
5. To date, research has been encouraged
in two themes—first EQUAL in the Built Environment and secondly
Design for All.
EQUAL in the Built Environment
6. This activity is targeted at the delivery
of improvements to the quality of the built environment through
changes in the design of the home, in the design of public access
to buildings and public spaces and in the design and operation
of transport systems. The objective is that older people and disabled
people should be able to live comfortably in their homes and in
surroundings of their choice, with the family and friends who
mean most to them. They should be able to access the range of
essential facilities available to the population as a whole.
7. The content of the theme was informed
by the outputs of the Millennium Debate of the Age in 1997, an
Age Concern initiative to promote discussion and action around
issues of an ageing society in the next century; it was further
endorsed by the discussions of the Continuing Care Conference
study group on the prevention of dependency in later life, chaired
by Elizabeth Mills, Director of Research into Ageing, in June
1998. The technical scope was broad, encompassing architecture,
building design, technology performance and management, structural
engineering and assessment, construction materials, city and transport
infrastructure. Calls for research proposals were issued in November
1997 and November 1998.
Design for All
8. This programme has sought to extend equipment,
services and systems, which have been designed for the general
population, to people with disabilities through the development
of the "Design for All" approaches. The programme aims
to identify the needs of designers for data sets and information
relating to the capabilities of older and disabled people; it
then becomes possible to define generic methodologies and guidance
for the many designers for whom "Design for All" will
represent a radical shift in design practice.
9. The programme priorities for the theme
were identified at a workshop organised by EPSRC in collaboration
with AgeNET and the Design Council, involving researchers, industrial
designers and users. A call for proposals was issued in November
1998.
Current Support
10. The two calls issued to date have delivered
a highly multidisciplinary response and have secured widespread
user collaboration.
| |
1997 | 1998
| Total |
| | Proposals
| Projects | Proposals
| Projects | Funding
|
| | Received
| Supported | Received
| Supported | to date
|
| Built Environment | £6.1M (61)
| £1.1M (11) | £6.1M (44)
| £1.4M (9) | £2.5M (20)
|
| Design for All |
| | £1.9M (13)
| £0.7M (4) | £0.7M (4)
|
The values in brackets indicate the number of proposals.
Management and Delivery
11. EPRSC's EQUAL activities have been delivered as managed
programmes through calls for research proposals.
12. The scope and priorities of the EQUAL research themes
have been defined at user-led workshops and informed by the outputs
of national initiatives such as the Continuing Care Conference
and the Age Concern Millennium Debate. Additional input has been
gained through EPSRC's membership of AgeNET—a three year,
£426,000 Foresight Challenge project funded by MRC, BUPA,
Research into Ageing, Smithkline Beecham, Westminster Health Care
and the OST. AgeNET's objectives are to encourage debate on the
challenges of an ageing population and to foster research partnerships
between academia, industry, the NHS, relevant charities and voluntary
sector organisations.
13. Collaboration with organisations able to provide
a user perspective, eg, charities, voluntary/non-profit making
organisations and local authorities, has been mandatory; multidisciplinary
partnerships involving social scientists, clinicians, designers,
ergonomists or construction professionals have been particularly
encouraged.
14. The peer review process has involved the Economic
and Social Science Research Council (ESRC) in the identification
of referees and Panel members. The social science dimension has
been covered on the Panel through the services of Professor Anthea
Tinker, Institute of Gerontology at King's College (a member of
the ESRC EQUAL Panel) and Mrs Elizabeth Mills, Director—Research
into Ageing, (a recent member of ESRC Council).
15. Feasibility studies and "standard" research
projects have been encouraged to provide mechanisms for the investigation
of more speculative issues.
16. The additional EQUAL activities at EPSRC have been
supported from the existing funding baseline of the EIEH (Engineering
for Infrastructure, Environment and Healthcare) Programme.
17. Complementarity to the EQUAL activities of the other
Research Councils has been maintained during the Initiative by
way of the annual meetings of an OST/Research Council Working
Group, also attended by the Secretariat of the recently established
Foresight Ageing Population Panel.
FUTURE EQUAL ACTIVITIES
18. EPSRC plans to issue a further call for proposals
in the Design for All theme and to scope a new activity in Rehabilitation;
the latter will cover both rehabilitation informatics (jointly
with EPSRC's Information Technology & Computing Science Programme)
and assistive technologies (beyond those covered by existing medical
engineering activities). A scoping workshop, organised in partnership
with AgeNET and the Department of Health will be held in April
2000, and a call for proposals issued in May 2000. Funding for
the next call is likely to be at a similar level to that for Call
2.
19. The EQUAL in the Built Environment theme will continue
in part as a strand within a new programme being developed in
"sustainable development—engineering solutions to a
healthy built environment" and in part as projects supported
within the responsive mode.
HIGHLIGHTS TO
DATE
20. The EPSRC activity is at an early stage and few of
the supported projects will reach completion before mid-2000.
However, some successful outputs can already be identified both
at the Initiative and individual project level.
Initiative Level
21.(a) The EPSRC EQUAL activity has provided a framework
for a broad spectrum of relevant projects in collaboration with
a wide range of user groups, delivered via multidisciplinary partnerships
both within and across the remits of the EPSRC and ESRC. Details
are presented in the tables which follow;
(b) Published papers (nine published or in preparation),
conference presentations (ten) and reports (twelve) have to date
originated from the EQUAL in the Built Environment projects announced
under the first call;
(c) The services of the Design Council were secured in
defining the scope of the call for Design for All. Following a
scoping workshop, the Design Council joined a collaborative partnership
established through networking between participants at the workshop.
The formal launch of this project was held during the Design Councils
"Design in Business" week, and the subject area now
forms a key strategic area represented on the Design Horizons
website at http://www.designhorizons.co.uk;
(d) Support has been provided by EPSRC for the organisation
of two meetings of the EPSRC EQUAL project community to facilitate
networking and the sharing of better practice in the securing
of effective user participation, and in accessing user data and
social science methodologies;
Project Level
22.(a) The definition of the scope of a DTI OSTEMS mission
to Japan to study telecare has been defined and help given to
the Department of Health in preparing a funding submission on
new forms of telecare assistive devices and systems following
a recently completed 12 month feasibility study on technologies
for telecare in the home;
(b) Partnership for the Public Understanding (PPU) of
Science Awards have been made to two projects announced under
the first call in EQUAL in the Built Environment.
The first PPU award involves the computer modelling
in a virtual reality environment of residential settings for older
people. Demonstration residential settings will be drawn from
a catalogue of several hundred house plans ranging in size from
individual bed-sitting rooms to group residential homes.
The second award involves a beacon-based auditory
location finder (ALF) for older, blind and visually impaired people
in the built environment. The programme of activities under PPU
includes: a video film on the development of the ALF; action days
for school children, both sighted and visually impaired; a series
of public lectures; and an event at the Edinburgh Science festival
in April 2000. The project involves collaboration with the Joint
Mobility Unit of RNIB/Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Royal Blind
School in Edinburgh, and the City of Edinburgh Council.
(c) A project is investigating the impact of fully accessible
transport in remote rural areas; the team is operating a local
bus service which is routed and scheduled on the basis of users'
needs. The vehicle is large enough to carry 13 passengers including
2 in wheelchairs, while being able to operate on narrow country
lanes. The bus has an induction loop installed to help those with
hearing aids to communicate with the driver. The service is intensive
for Cumbria, villages being served with four services per direction
per day six days a week
Use is monitored and community involvement is being
developed in the operation and management of the scheme. The service
is carrying 250 passengers a week, many of whom are elderly people.
Some evidence already exists that people are adapting their travel
habits: elderly people are making 3-4 trips per week rather than
one, and the trips are made independently rather than with a family
or neighbours. The project is making an impact on local policy:
the Countryside Agency is looking at the costs and benefits with
a view to developing initiatives in rural public transport. The
vehicle design represents a standard to which all small public
transport vehicles can aspire in terms of accessibility and user-friendliness.
10 January 2000
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