This book explores the ways in which AgeTech can contribute to healthy cognitive aging and support the independence of people with dementia. Technology can play a key role in supporting the health, independence, and well-being of older adults, particularly as a response to rapid worldwide population aging. AgeTech refers to the use of technologies, such as information and communication technologies (ICTs), robotics, mobile technologies, artificial intelligence, ambient systems, and pervasive computing to drive technology-based innovation to benefit older adults. AgeTech has the potential to provide new ways of meeting the growing demands on health and social care services to support people to stay healthy and active. As such, AgeTech represents an increasingly important market sector within world economies. The book also addresses some of the research, innovation, and policy challenges that need to be resolved if technology-based products and services are to fulfill their potential anddeliver real-world impacts to improve the lives of older adults and their carers, thus promoting more inclusive communities for the benefit of all.
Andrew Sixsmith, Ph.D. is the joint Scientific Director of AGE-WELL Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE), the Director of Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Science and Technology for Aging Research (STAR) Institute, and a professor in the Department of Gerontology at SFU. He is past President of the International Society of Gerontechnology and was previously Director of the Gerontology Research Centre and Deputy Director of the Interdisciplinary Research in the Mathematical and Computational Sciences (IRMACS) Centre at SFU. His research interests include technology for independent living, theories and methods in aging and understanding the innovation process. His work has involved him in a leadership and advisory role in numerous major international research projects and initiatives with academic, government, and industry partners. He received his doctorate from the University of London and was previously a lecturer at the University of Liverpool at the Institute of Human Ageing and Department of Primary Care.
Judith Sixsmith, Ph.D. is a Professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Dundee. Her research interests reside in the areas of public health and social care where she explores the ways in which people living in disadvantaged communities experience processes of marginalization, taking care to include the voices of people who are seldom heard. She has expertise in qualitative methods including visual and textual designs and analyses. Often working within collaborative, gendered, participatory and transdisciplinary approaches, Judith has directed several research projects on issues of healthy aging, dementia, place-making and palliative and end of life care.
Mei Lan Fang, Ph.D. is a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Dundee. With a background in public health, specializing in social and health inequities, she has applied this lens in her research working across health disciplines and sectors as a transdisciplinary scientist and health sciences methodologist. Over the past ten years, across academic institutions in both Canada and in the United Kingdom, Mei has developed theory, methods and practice in health-related areas of critical public health, ethnic and migration studies, environmental gerontology, aging and technology, global health promotion and mental health and addiction.
Becky Horst, M.Sc. is a current Cognitive Neuroscience Ph.D. student at Western University. With a background of Kinesiology and Neuroanatomy, her thesis work largely revolves around projects that integrate exercise psychology, neuroanatomy, and cognition. Her research specifically focuses on older adult’s perceptions of their cognitive abilities and the influence modifying their physical and cognitive health has on psychological perception of self, neurocognitive networks, and overall brain health. Becky has also been involved in developing Knowledge Translation materials for the AGE-WELL Network, contributing to the production of “The Future of Technology and Aging Research in Canada,” as well as the STAR Institute’s “Key Issues in Aging in the 21st Century” digital booklet.
