Tag: SHAPES

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“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.

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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 

Ilia Marcev

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.). 

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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

Rachel Brown
Rachel Brown

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.

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A Digital Bounce for ALL?

Picture of the three ALL Institute Co-Directors in front of a white back drop. From left to right: Deirdre Desmond, Mac MacLachlan, Delia Ferri

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Authors: Deirdre Desmond, Delia Ferri and Mac MacLachlan; ALL Institute Co-Directors

Picture of the three ALL Institute Co-Directors in front of a white back drop. From left to right: Deirdre Desmond, Mac MacLachlan, Delia Ferri
Deirdre Desmond, Mac MacLachlan and Delia Ferri, ALL Institute Co-Directors

“Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end” Virginia Wolf, ‘Modern Fiction’, 1921.

2020 was certainly a difficult year for many of us, both on personal and work levels, and, despite these challenges, it is noteworthy that the work of the ALL Institute has not only proceeded, but also the commencement of several research projects ensure that we will continue to contribute in many respects to the building of a fairer society. In the past three years, and more so in 2020, we have endeavoured to reach out to different communities and stakeholders at the local, European and global levels. We also launched this blog on the 3rd December 2020, a particularly significant date, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, to signal our commitment towards inclusion and equality.

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