The EPSRC EQUAL Research Initiative

This page provides a brief history of the initiative and a commentary on its projects

Background

The EPSRC EQUAL (Extend Quality Life) initiative has encouraged greater interest amongst academics and researchers in understanding the issues  faced by an ageing population, and encountered by older people and disabled people in their daily lives. Through supporting interdisciplinary user-focussed research with an engineering, design and physical science foundation, EPSRC has laid the foundation for a new research community. The community is small; but, by being driven by user-needs, the motivation which comes from improving quality of life, and unreservedly accepting interdisciplinarity as a way of life, it provides an important dimension to research activity in the United Kingdom.

This page provides a summary of some of the major features of the EPSRC EQUAL Initiative and presents information about the EQUAL Research Network. This Network seeks to draw together researchers, users of research and all types of organisation involved with older people and disabled people and, more generally, with issues relating to ageing and disability. Just as EQUAL research projects are strongly user-focussed so too is the Network.

Since 1998, EPSRC has funded 34 projects to a total value of £5.4m, ranging in value from £30,000 to over £300,000. This has been in response to three calls for proposals which have attracted over 200 submissions. Each project is described below. The range of topics is wide reflecting the all embracing themes which it has adopted for its various calls for proposals, of the Built Environment, Design for All and Rehabilitation. So too are the backgrounds of those involved with the projects. Principal Investigators are just as likely to be social, health or medical scientists as they are to be engineers, technologists or physical scientists. Their co-investigators and their research teams are also broadly based, involving a range of disciplinary backgrounds and skills but operating within a culture of true interdisciplinarity. Underlying what can often appear to be technical projects is the motivation to influence government policy, industry practices and the delivery of health, medical and social services.

Philosophy

At the heart of the EPSRC EQUAL initiative is the belief that by achieving greater independence and improving the degree of inclusion in all activities of society, older people and disabled people can experience significant improvement in quality of life. Independence and social inclusion can be enhanced in many ways. Given its role in UK science, EPSRC has been concerned to promote an interest in the vital contribution which engineering, design and physical science research can make to extending quality life. From the outset it recognised that this contribution would be enhanced through supporting interdisciplinary teams which were able to work directly with older people and disabled people, often in tandem with those organisations which act on their behalf. These intermediaries include health care organisations, social services departments, housing associations, charitable and voluntary bodies, industry, and central government.

As a result EQUAL projects involve a rich mix of disciplines and intermediaries, and most importantly a cross section of people representing the ultimate beneficiaries of the project, although often the realisation of these benefits are achieved in the longer term. 

So far the EQUAL focus has been on:

• Inclusive Environments - through the Built Environment theme - improving the design and adaptability of the home and, more generally, the built environment, including transport; 

• Inclusive Design - through the Design for All theme - developing methods for enhancing the design and usability of the many products and artifacts which are part of every day life;

• Rehabilitation - through the Rehabilitation theme - improving methods for the rehabilitation and therapeutic regimes prescribed for those who have suffered illness, accident or disease.

Some projects contribute to all three broad areas, and there are such considerable overlaps that the projects are best summarised under the five headings given below. For more details go to the Project Information page.

Summary of Projects 

Cognition, Dementia, Learning Disabilities

The six research projects in this category all touch on ways to help people with cognitive impairments to increase their abilities, or in some way improve the quality of their, or their carer's, lives.

Four projects relate to older people with dementia.  With a continual rise in the number of older people so the number of dementia sufferers also increases. Often they have to live in restricted environments, which can have an extremely negative effect on their overall well-being. Yet it is well understood that the nature of a person's surroundings can have a significant impact on their general health. 

• A project at Sheffield and Loughborough Universities concerns designing better living environments for people with dementia.  Through extensive analysis of existing practice it is gathering evidence to draw up standards for the design of residential/nursing care establishments and criteria for post occupancy evaluation.

• A team at the University of Bath is studying methods for improving the accommodation of those with dementia who are able to remain the their own homes. They are developing devices for use in a smart house. Lessons learned from the practical experience of live-in carers are being applied and particular thought is going into the most effective methods to communicate with those suffering from dementia.  

• Research at Oxford Brookes University into the external physical environment in urban areas will suggest design factors which can help older people, particularly those with dementia, to negotiate their way around urban situations.  

• The problem of stimulating those who suffer from Dementia and of achieving satisfying social interaction between them and their relatives/carers is being pursued by St Andrews and Dundee Universities. They are developing  a multi-media reminiscence system which would appeal to all concerned.

One of the most fundamental goals following stroke is the recovery of mobility. 

• The University of Reading and University College London are pursuing the assessment and rehabilitation of cognitive-motor skills following stroke. They are studying the effect of Cognitive Motor Interference on the ability to walk again and the the use of PC-based Virtual Environments as a means of providing guided learning of postural tasks.

Virtual environments have the potential to help people with  learning disabilities and, for example, those with neuromuscular problems, for instance following stroke, to acquire independence skills and therefore facilitate social inclusion. 

• However because people with learning disabilities experience problems with fine motor control it is difficult for them to use current input devices. Work at the University of Nottingham  is focused on the requirement for robust, affordable user-centred input devices. The search is for devices which have proved their worth in practical experiments by people with learning disabilities.

Hearing, Seeing

Of the four research projects concerning hearing loss, three examine the effect of the built environment on hearing. 

• Salford University has carried out a feasibility study of the acoustic problems faced by older people in the built environment.

• The impact of colour and lighting in buildings on the ability of hearing impaired people to communicate effectively is being considered by Reading and Hertfordshire Universities. The work will produce design guidelines for professionals in the construction, property and facilities industries on the selection of colour, contrast, lighting and surface finishes to facilitate communication for deaf people.  

• Whilst there exist well established guidelines for the design of school classrooms, these are inadequate given the greater integration of hearing and hearing impaired children. South Bank University and the Institute of Education are considering the effect of aspects of the design of primary school classrooms on the learning of integrated classes so as to develop better acoustic guidelines and teaching strategies. 

The hearing of many older people deteriorates gradually. Sometimes there is a reluctance to accept that hearing ability has declined, or undertake  a hearing test. In other cases there are difficulties attending test centres.

• Concentrating again on older people with hearing loss, Cardiff University is developing a self-administered hearing test using the patient’s own audio equipment.

Four research projects address the needs of visually impaired people, amongst others. 

• Leeds and Salford Universities  are designing and testing an auditory Navigation Beacon to assist safe evacuation of older, blind and visually impaired people from a building in an emergency. 
• An Auditory Location Finder is being designed by Napier University for blind, older and visually impaired people. With its provision of messages giving the user their whereabouts and also an emergency link to help, this should boost the user’s confidence in the built environment. 
• Glare and lighting as the most frequent problem experienced by glaucoma patients, a condition which is the second leading cause of visual loss. Heriot-Watt University is concerned with improving lighting guidelines so as to minimise the effect of glare and to provide practical advice to patients.
• A study by UMIST is researching ways to improve document production by blind people using word processors. The work will develop additional training tools and produce ‘Wizards’ to remove typing and formatting errors.

Design for All

As many products continue to be designed to appeal to the younger generation, the lucrative and older market sector is being ignored and large sections of the population are being excluded. Underlying two projects is the need to raise manufacturers' awareness about the needs of older people or those with a disability and to enhance their skills in designing products to meet these needs.  They are promoting a philosophy of inclusive design and suggesting tools for a  "design for all" approach.

• Research by the Royal College of Art, Central St Martins and Cambridge University into inclusive design seeks to provide industrial decision makers and designers with information on old age and capability, and guidance on appropriate product production at every stage.
• Loughborough University is producing an extensive database on the physical functional abilities of the whole population., including those who are older or with a disability.  This will then be available to designers, helping them to make adjustments to accommodate a higher proportion of the population.
• Understanding the abilities of particular groups of people, across the range of physical impairment and disability is fundamental to inclusive design. Research at Loughborough University will focus on the hand performance of able-bodied and disabled people on daily living activities. This will then be used to study ability to open different types of packaging. 
• Physical and psychological ability is also the subject of research by the University of Strathclyde.  The relationships between the aspects of motion, strength and fatigue will be measured. These will be tested for three older age groups to produce a database in relation to daily physical tasks to help product designers test if the product can be used effectively by older people.

Inclusive design starts with the user and challenging designer's assumptions about users. Most of the projects incorporate findings from close involvement of older people, but some take this even further in the design of products and devices. 

• This philosophy of researching alongside older people is found in a feasibility study by King's College London which has led to the design of information/navigation aids for complex indoor space. 
• The need to involve older people in commenting on problems and suggesting remedies themselves is also reflected in a further King's College London feasibility study of mobility-related problems and the production of technology which is more acceptable to older people.

The principles of inclusive design should lead to the design of specific devices and products which are capable of being used by the vast majority of people, regardless of physical, sensory and cognitive ability. 

• Work at the University of Reading is focussed on designing technology for a hospital bedside portal, through which a patient can access information, communicate with the outside world and get entertainment, and which can also store patient records for use by hospital staff. The research aims to make this a "design for all" so that patients, particularly those with auditory or visual disabilities, cognitive impairments, literacy problems or who are inexperienced with the use of computers, may benefit from such a system. As a result feelings of isolation will be reduced and a sense of community fostered.

Housing

If a greater number of older people are to enjoy the independence which comes from living in their own homes then, there is a need to understand more fully the nature of the existing housing stock and the requirements of new housing.

• The need to assess, design and adapt the existing housing stock so it can meet the occupants' changing needs throughout their life provides the focus of work by University College London. This work has profiled the housing stock for older people, and has recommended new ways of characterising domiciliary care options for local and planning authorities. 
• A feasibility study by the University of Ulster has researched strategies for the practical and economic conversion of existing housing stock to Lifetime Homes standards.
• Another feasibility project has looked at the potential of using of modular building technology to enable older people to remain in their homes. The work at South Bank University has sought solutions to the expressed need for toilets and bathrooms on the living floor level.  

In the future the adaptation of the home will include the incorporation of those new information and communication technologies which can aid independence. This will be fuelled by people's desire to remain in their own homes as they age. Many believe that potential the use of telecare technologies to monitor and support older people in their own home will be essential especially as there will be insufficient numbers of live in carers.  The potential of smart housing for assisting those people suffering from dementia is also considered.

• A feasibility study by Queen's University, Belfast, has provided an overview of current control and communications technologies. It has evaluated these existing technologies in terms of technical, social and economic aspects. 
• Another development, at the University of Dundee, involves  the use of intelligent sensors for visually monitoring the environments for older people living alone, so providing them with a more supportive environment.  
• In addition there is work into the Smart House being carried out by the University of Bath, mentioned above.
• A feasibility telecare technology research project by SPRU has considered the potential market for telecare services, tracking trends in technical developments and identifying broad technical, social and economic issues.  

Accessibility

The Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 has given added impetus to a number of projects which will promote increased accessibility within public-access buildings for people with impaired mobility.

• A feasibility study by Salford University has considered the extent to which accessibility is considered at the briefing stage of new buildings.
• This has been followed by the development of a consensus document on accessible design and and a best practice guide on effective ways to design for accessibility.  
• Assistance to architects can be also be found in the development of a number of practical tools and experiential tools for designers. One such project, at Strathclyde University, aims to assist the design of wheelchair friendly buildings through the development of wheelchair virtual reality platform. This is being used to map the action of wheelchair users in relation to hazards and changes in floor level and slope within buildings. In turn this will aid architects when designing buildings. 

Wheelchair accessibility also figures in two other projects. 

• Newcastle University is developing and evaluating alternative low-cost wheelchair control devices (buttons, joystick and voice activation) with severely disabled people for use in domestic and public environments.  
• A project by University College Northampton is using GIS technologies to improve access for wheelchair users both by providing planners with a tool for assessing the impact of their decisions on accessibility, and by providing wheelchair users with better information on access opportunities and constraints.

Those people who do not own a car, especially older people, disabled people and families with young children, face considerable difficulties in being able to access vital facilities. In many localities the public transport system is wholly inadequate.

• A project to develop for a fully accessible transport system for rural areas has been undertaken by University College London. This has been designed to meet the needs of various groups who may have mobility problems.

The successful development of EPSRC's EQUAL programme has resulted in a new but small community of researchers, largely within universities, involved with inclusive design, inclusive environments and rehabilitation. The researchers are adopting interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches which fully embrace users, older people and disabled people, and their intermediaries. To develop the community further and to encourage strong links with those who can benefit most from the initiative, EPSRC is supporting establishing a network to bring together the researchers with the wider community of practitioners and policy makers who are involved with older people and disabled people. It is intended that the network should have a very broad appeal to all of those who are interested in using research to extend quality life for older people and disabled people, for example, though the design of better environments and products and more effective rehabilitation.

The aim of the Network:

• to improve the environments and hence the quality of life of older people and disabled people by promoting interdisciplinary engineering based research and its application.

The initial objectives of the Network: