PHASE IV AI – Privacy compliant health data as a service for AI development (Oct 2023 – Sep 2026)

Artificial intelligence (AI) enables data-driven innovations in health care. AI systems, which process vast amounts of data quickly and in detail, show promise both as a tool for preventive health care and clinical decision-making. However, the distributed storage and limited access to health data form a barrier to innovation, as developing trustworthy AI systems requires large datasets for training and validation. Furthermore, the availability of anonymous datasets would increase the adoption of AI-powered tools by supporting health technology assessments and education. Secure, privacy compliant data utilization is key for unlocking the full potential of AI and data analytics.

In this proposal, we will advance the current state-of-the-art data synthesis methods towards a more generalized approach of synthetic data generation. We will also develop metrics for testing and validation, as well as protocols that enable synthetic data generation without access to real-world data through multi-party computation (more).

AI-TOP project – An AI Tool to Predict Engagement and ‘Meltdown’ Events in Students with Autism (Sept 2020 – Aug 2023)

AI-TOP aims to tackle early school leaving and to support the inclusive education of students with Autistic Spectrum Condition by the provision of personalised learning pathways and support according to the specific needs of each child. With our activities and intellectual outputs we aim to improve the understanding of autism both within school, and in the wider community and furthermore to provide a learning environment free of emotional trauma. We aim to increase the likelihood that students with autism will make the academic and social progress that they should. Via the use of the project outputs, we aim to decrease incidents of challenging behaviour, leading to the improved mental wellbeing of each student, and decrease instances of absenteeism and bullying. Our innovative mobile app will infer the level of engagement of students with autism in learning experiences, and predict ‘meltdown’ moments (even at the ‘rumble’ stage), allowing early intervention to pre-empt challenging behaviours. (more)

Diversasia project – Embracing diversity in ASIA through the adoption of Inclusive Open Practices (15 Jan 2021 – 14 Jan 2024)

Students with disabilities have limited access to HE (Higher Education) in India and Bangladesh. This project aims to tackle this issue by making accessible HE OERs (Open Education Resources) and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), and personalisation using AI (Artificial Intelligence), that will enable better provision of open distance learning for those that experience architectural barriers. DIVERSASIA will build capacity of 2 HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) in India and 2 HEIs in Bangladesh to integrate these students that have disabilities, using know-how and an inclusive education toolkit developed by experienced inclusive education experts from the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Belgium, Latvia, Turkey and Serbia. Project website Facebook

Dial-a-Poem (app released July 2020)

Dial-a-Poem celebrates 50 years since John Giorno’s public art project launched in New York City. Giorno’s Dial-a-Poem connected callers to answering machines playing recordings by poets such as Allen Ginsberg, John Cage and Patti Smith. 2020 will see the service re-wired across several platforms: a mobile-app, a sound installation in the City of Nottingham and a nationwide competition. The Dial-a-poem app was coded by ISRG in collaboration with Sarah Jackson. Developing her work on remote telecommunications and touch, Sarah’s current research project explores the relationship between telephony and literature, with a particular interest in disembodied voices and the uncanny impact of new technologies on literary communication. The project is funded by an AHRC Leadership Fellows Award. For more information visit the project site here.

VESVET project – LEVEL 5 for Validation of Entrepreneurship Skills through Interactive Learning Sets in VET (Oct 2018 – Sept 2020 now extended to Mar 2021)

The project targets VET students – aiming to increase their employability by entrepreneurship competence development within VET schools. It aims to improve professional entrepreneurial competences by targeting key sub-competences identified early on in the project. The students will use the outcomes of the project including games, videos, a self-evaluation methodology including competence descriptors and the entrepreneurship skills training course. The game is now available to play. Find out more about the project here.

Pathway+ A Mobile Pedagogical Assistant to develop meaningful pathways to personalised learning (Sep 2017 – Aug 2020)

The Pathway+ project aims to contribute to inclusive education by using mobile game applications to assess the pedagogical needs of a child with moderate learning needs. This is at the core of Pathway+, in order to improve the pedagogical support for these children with special educational needs, so that they can be included in mainstream classrooms. This is just a part of a complete holistic approach teachers can follow, but it should lower the barrier for assessment of children with moderate learning disabilities, while also allowing teachers in inclusive education settings to have access to a tool that can support their decision making in the types of pedagogical approaches adopted for each child. (more)

Speech Pathology Tools (Sep 2017-Aug 2020)

The Speech Pathology Tools project began in September 2017, and aims to create a speech and language pathology online tool for pre-school and primary school teachers with multiple sound checks for each project language. Interactive and multi-functional intervention materials for speech and language therapy will be designed in each of the 6 languages. The project operates in the field of Speech and Language Pathology. This is both a scientific domain and an autonomous profession. As a science, it is at the intersection of medical, linguistic, educational and psychological sciences and focuses on etymology, assessment (screening, identification, evaluation, and diagnosis) and intervention (promotion, prevention, counselling, treatment, consultation, management, rehabilitation and education) of communication and swallowing disorders. A website link will follow once established. (more)

3D4VET – 3D modelling curriculum and applications for 3D printers and tabs for VET schools (Dec 2016 – Nov 2018)

The 3D4VET European project’s main aim was to create a comprehensive 3D modelling curriculum, and 3D printing and scanning training modules for use in vocational education and schools. This included five key design principles (alignment, strategy, learning outcomes, assessment and validation). Get the Android app here.

PROCEE: a PROstate Cancer Evaluation and Education serious game for African Caribbean men (2016)

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK. Black men are in a higher prostate cancer risk group possibly due to inherent genetic factors. The purpose of this project was to introduce PROstate Cancer Evaluation and Education (PROCEE), an innovative serious game aimed at providing prostate cancer information and risk evaluation to black African-Caribbean men. PROCEE was carefully co-designed with prostate cancer experts, prostate cancer patients and members of the black African-Caribbean community in order to ensure that it meets the real needs and expectations of the target audience. (read more) (get the app)

RealLife – Serious Games to Prevent Recidivism (Sep 2015 – Aug 2018)

RealLife is an innovative project in which serious gaming and virtual reality are used to improve skills needed in the 21st century and skills needed for employability of those at the edge of society. Training skills in a safe and virtual reality will help prisoners to function in real life and enhance their sense of initiative.

MaTHiSiS – Managing Affective-learning THrough Intelligent atoms and Smart InteractionS (Jan 2016 – Dec 2018)

MaTHiSiS is a 36-month project funded by the European Union under the H2020 work programme that will assist the educational process for learners and their tutors and caregivers by creating a novel and continuously adaptable “robot/machine/computer”-human interaction ecosystem to enhance vocational training, workplace learning and mainstream education for individuals with or without learning disabilities. More information and output downloads are here.

NOLB – No One Left Behind (Jan 2015 – Jun 2017)

“No One Left Behind” was an innovation action project co-funded by Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union that started in January 2015 lasting 30 months. The project allowed children to use a non-leisure gaming ‘toolkit’ called Pocket Code, to develop inclusive digital games on Android mobile devices, with the aim of enhancing their abilities across all academic subjects, as well as their computational proficiency, creativity and social skills. More information and outputs here.

IoST – An Internet of Soft Things

ISRG are collaborating on the Internet of Soft Things project. The project asks how a radically connected world can be designed to benefit human wellbeing, and in particular, what types of experience will be enabled by smart textile interfaces as an important part of this vision of the future. Find out more about IoST.

EduRob – Educational Robotics for Students with Learning Disabilities (Jan 2014 – Dec 2016)

Using an ethnographic approach the EduRob project aimed to validate innovative – robotics based – teaching and learning strategies to enable diversification and personalisation of learning pathways, and to let target groups reach learning goals normally out of their range by other methods. Education professionals worked with the target group (children with learning disabilities) as core participants to define the pedagogy based on robotics, and to test its efficacy. Robots were found to provide an equally useful tool as other classroom methods, and in some cases were able to increase engagement and decrease teacher interventions.(more)

CodeRED – Co-Design to Re-Engage the Disengaged (Oct 2013 – Sept 2015)

High rates of early school leaving (ESL) are detrimental to making lifelong learning a reality and increase the risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. ESL is over-represented among pupils with disabilities (61%), emotional/behavioural problems and migrants. Code RED has been developed in response to these high levels of early school leaving and drop-out and exclusion from education that often lead to unemployment, poverty and social deprivation. The project aims at working with these groups of students who are particularly at risk of exclusion from education or drop out. Therefore, the main aim of the project is to take actions towards addressing the high proportion of drop-out from i-VET (vocational and educational training). More information about the project here.

SGSCC – Serious Games for  Social and Creativity Competence (Jan 2013 – Jun 2015)

The LLP EU Project “SGSCC” aims to develop educational computer games for adolescents/young adults with mild learning difficulties in order to increase their employability. Despite the importance of social competence (SC), its systematic use within school programmes and vocational training is under-developed. Analyses of training programmes for a variety of professions show a lack of modules addressing the development of this basic competence which is fundamental to both social integration and professional self-realisation. This project is dedicated to conceptualisation and development of social competence in terms of training related to adult education, school curricula and professional development.

RISE – Refugee Interactive Skills for Employment (Jan 2012 – Dec 2014)

The RISE project will assist refugees to improve their employment skills. The four serious computer games and curriculum material will help to prepare jobseekers in six important areas: Language Skills, It Skills, Vocational Skills, Intercultural Communication, Services, and Rights & Responsibilities. This project is being developed with the help and experience of volunteer refugees for the use of refugees.

Thought Dance (2011)

‘Thought Dance’ is an artistic project conceived by choreographer Matthias Sperling. The result is an interactive installation that uses EEG brain scanning technology to allow two participants at a time to engage in a visible dance that is composed entirely of thought acts. (more) ‘Thought Dance’ is an artistic project conceived by choreographer Matthias Sperling. The result is an interactive installation that uses EEG brain scanning technology to allow two participants at a time to engage in a visible dance that is composed entirely of thought acts. (more)

Virtual Portal for Interaction and ICT Training for People with Disabilities (Jan 2011 – Dec 2013)

ViPi aims to support and facilitate the acquisition of basic ICT skills for  people with disabilities. The project aims to provide a “one-stop-shop” interactive portal & learning environment for ICT skills by delivering a  multilingual portal, including a social community, an online learning environment with accessible learning objects, and a full curriculum and framework for basic ICT skills training. There is a ViPi software repository page (here) where you can play online and/or download the ViPi game releases.

View ViPi Educational and Pedagogical Framework (here).

AEGIS – Open Accessibility Everywhere – Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards (Sept 2010 – Aug 2012)

Interactive Systems at NTU is a test site for the many exciting assistive technology innovations being developed under the AEGIS project. We have been involved in testing real-time text and accessible contact managers for mobile phones, innovative assistive input technologies for phones and tablet PCs, and symbol systems to assist literacy for people with intellectual disability to name but a few. The AEGIS project seeks to determine whether 3rd generation access techniques will provide a more accessible, more exploitable and deeply embeddable approach in mainstream ICT (desktop, rich Internet and mobile applications).

CLAHRC Stroke Rehabilitation Project (2009 to 2011)

After stroke, a patient will typically need to do many repetitions of specific exercises over a short period of time in order to regain muscle definition and strength in their affected upper limb. In this initial project a prototype system using a Wiimote camera and a bespoke ‘IR glove’ was developed to track a user’s hand and finger movements. These movements were then used as inputs to a number of computer games designed to encourage the arm and hand movements required to recover from stroke. Further work was undertaken by Ph.D. project students utilising Microsoft Kinect and then Kinect II on the Kinect II developer’s program, to move this project forward. The aim is that the technologies will be able to detect ‘bad’ behaviours in patient’s rehabilitation exercises, and highlight them to the patient. By these means the system will be able to prevent patients from doing their exercises in an incorrect way, which could result in injury. Various publications are available on this work including this one in Clinical Rehabilitation.

GOET – Game On Extra Time (Oct 2008-Sep 2010)

The work from the GOET project was undertaken to support people with learning disabilities in getting and keeping a job by helping them to learn more independent living skills that help them in their working day. It improved the way these subjects were taught, and via games-based learning, making them more interesting and enjoyable. An accessible approach to vocational skills training was created by adapting and developing a range of games for computers and mobile phones to make learning interactive and fun. The focus was on developing vocational skills like preparation for working life, dealing with every day situations at work, money management and travelling independently. A promotional video for the project is available here.

Virtual Cane (2007)

The Virtual Cane uses the Wiimote’s ability to describe a body within 3D space to provide an interface to 3D environments for the visually impaired. The Wii Cane System maps the real world position and orientation of a Wiimote to that of a virtual counterpart within a simulated 3D environment so that it can be used as a cane within the environment. Auditory, verbal and vibratory feedback are provided in various forms which can be used by people who are blind and visually impaired to navigate their way around virtual environments. (more)

Game On (Oct 2006 – Sep 2008)

Highly engaging and motivating games-based learning materials were created to encourage development of basic, personal and work sustainability skills in prisoners, those at risk of offending and ex-offenders, including those with disabilities. The personal development module supports learning that will develops the employability of the beneficiaries (e.g., managing aggression, responses to problems and stress, self esteem, and trust). The work sustainability module supports the expectations and code of conduct of employers and the legal and safety issues of employment. There are also be Basic Skills modules dealing with entry level numeracy and literacy (more).

Quest (2006)

In the Quest project, the ISRG designed, implemented and evaluated a serious game to address the development needs of young people at risk of social exclusion. These were characterised as having low self esteem, poor levels of confidence, aggressive tendencies, and lacking basic and employment related skills. (more)

ISRG Software Repository

There are further details and downloads of other games and software developed by the group in the ISRG Software Repository. (here)