All projects

Fit-for-purpose, affordable body-powered prostheses is designing upper limb prostheses that are both low cost and fit for their purpose and circumstance. The project is funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Challenges Research Fund.

GDI hub has joined forces with the Surgical Robot Vision Lab and the Autonomous Manufacturing Lab to create a shared space that brings together a wealth of expertise as well as equipment, improving knowledge exchange and increasing collaboration opportunities.

Young children everywhere need to be mobile - to be able to explore their world, make choices about what they want to do, who they want to play with, and where they want to go.

GDI Hub is working with Designability to evaluate a new kind of seat that moves with the child and enables them to explore movement while they are seated and well supported

The AT2030 Sub-Programme on “Research, evidence and impact” seeks to understand ‘what works’ and develop a framework for the innovations and policy interventions across the AT2030 programme.

Disability Interaction (DIX) puts disability front and center in the design process, and in so doing aims to create accessible, creative new HCI solutions that will be better for everyone, including poor communities, which disabled people are more likely to be part of.

CROWDBOT will enable mobile robots to navigate autonomously and assist humans in crowded areas, rather than simply stopping when the going gets tough.

Researchers from the Development Planning Unit at UCL, along with Leonard Cheshire, are working with the GDI Hub to undertake an exciting programme working with communities living in conditions of informality (often referred to as slums) in Freetown, Sierra Leone and Banjarmasin, Indonesia.

An EPSRC GCRF project the project tested a new methodology for creating accessible maps for fast changing cities like Delhi. Using embedded sensors attached to wheelchairs, we mapped accessible and difficult to access routes. Initially, the project also aimed to capture rehabilitation metrics whilst pushing a wheelchair beyond a clinical environment, but instead the community of wheelchair users we worked with preferred to use the tool as an advocacy tool.

A research project to understand how and when manual wheelchair users need and use power assistance and to determine if fuel cell technology is suitable for the power requirements of assistive technology, specifically wheelchairs.

This project looked at identity and the changing perception of disabled people and disability. The primary focus was prosthetics and the use of new technologies including 3D printing to democratise prosthetics and allow individuals to customise their assistive devices in a timely and affordable way.

Ongoing research where we have developed a new technique for wheelchair localisation and surface determination using a fusion of GPS/IMU information and machine learning. Data captured helps wheelchair users travel in a more effective ways and share data to demonstrate accessibility issues and encourage improvements.

To address the need gap and significantly scale up the provision of affordable and appropriate Assistive Technology, this sub-programme will test market shaping methodologies which include research, scoping, and future planning; the creation of market shaping tools; and pilot testing of market interventions. This sub-programme is led by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

To align and consolidate global Assistive Technology efforts as well as to lay the foundations for systems-level change on a global scale this sub-programme will provide a set of global benchmarks and standards for Assistive Technology. The sub-programme will develop models of integrated Assistive Technology service provision, including screening and training tools; develop procurement tools; as well as a mobile tool to identify population needs for Assistive Technology. This programme is being co-led by WHO, UNICEF, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Funded by UK AID this focused on mapping and analysis of the innovation landscape around Assistive Technology globally with a focus on low and middle-income countries to highlight potential market failures and to scope out possible solutions.

We are very keen to have a mixture of academic and non-academic papers at this workshop therefore, we would like to invite additional contributions in the format of a social paper OR a standard 4-page CHI extended abstract. Social papers are maximum one page in length and act as a CV for networking. These can be submitted by anyone interested in the area of accessibility and gaming. We have extended the deadline to the 1^{st of} October.

The aim of this project to build new low-cost approaches to more reliable mental wellbeing measurements using mobile sensing technology, supporting unconstrained and potentially a variety of everyday situations.

On the 22nd and 23rd of August 2019 several members of GDI Hub were invited to Geneva to take part in the consultation for the Global Report on Assistive Technology (GReAT) organized by the WHO. The scope of the consultation was to bring together academics, practitioners, policy makers, and assistive technology users from different countries in the world to help shape the content for the Global Report on Assistive Technology that will be published by 2021.

The Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe held its annual conference, this year with a focus on Global Challenges in Assistive Technology, in Bologna (Italy) between the 27th and the 30th of August. Researchers from GDI Hub and partner organizations including the Clinton Health Access Initiative and ATscale organised a special session focused on sharing the work carried out so far as part of the AT2030 programme.

Paris 2024, Disability Innovation, GDI Hub, London 2012

GDI Hub share their knowledge and experience including helping the British Paralympic Association (BPA) with their base camp preparations for Tokyo 2020.

GDI Hub provide inclusive design advice to Asian Development Bank (ADB), aiming to address accessible tourism in Georgia

In July 2018, the GDI Hub team were invited to Tokyo by the British Embassy and British Council to share our knowledge and experience from the London 2012 Paralympic Games and subsequent Paralympic Legacy programme.

The project focuses on the impact of assistive technology and accessible learning materials in promoting participation of children with disabilities in Uganda. This project aims to provide support to overcome barriers to education through assistive technology and to develop the evidence base for how technology helps inclusion in the classroom.

To accelerate access to Assistive Technology, ATscale the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology was formally launched at the Global Disability Summit in 2018. The Partnership will catalyse change, amplify existing work, and coordinate access to Assistive Technology by tackling supply and demand side drivers to scale. The AT2030 programme will continue to support the development and implementation of ATscale.

Over five years, AT2030 will test ‘what works’ to improve access to AT and will invest in and support solutions to scale with a focus on innovative products, new service models, and global capacity support. The programme will reach 9 million directly and 6 million more people indirectly to enable a lifetime of potential through life-changing Assistive Technology.

We're looking for the next generation of pioneers in this groundbreaking field.

This programme is now managed by the Snowdon Trust.

Talented students are invited to propose a PhD research project in areas related to AI powered Physiological & Affective Computing, with the aim to create novel assistive technology and boost disability innovation.

A unique space for accelerating success, the Snowdon Disabled Leaders Network brings together exceptional disabled leaders to engage, build a community and share learnings.

Sharing knowledge and experiences in disability innovation, GDI Hub's new Disability Innovation Live series is a space for questions, ideas and reflections - we'll be telling the stories behind the innovations, the people behind the products and the pathways to success. Each month will focus on a different topic or theme.

The PrimeVR2 project is a Horizon 2020 project where commercial, academic and research teams are building a virtual reality platform that will allow people with a hyperkinetic movement disorder, people who have had a stroke, and people with a sports injury to play games and interact in a virtual environment for rehabilitation.

i2i is a three-year programme focused on technological initiatives that directly improve access to paid private sector work for people with disabilities in Kenya and Bangladesh.

Research that focuses on understanding technology and how it could be used to empower people with disabilities who live in the Global South is sorely needed, yet conducting and planning studies in the field is often challenging.

We want to co-create a long-lasting, sustainable and creative community, made by and for researchers and practitioners from academia, NGOs, and the private sector who are interested in conducting work around technology for people with disabilities living in the Global South. Our unique workshop is designed to support this aim through synchronous and asynchronous activities. Our vision is to spark engagement beyond the boundaries of this CHI2021 workshop.

The dynamic aspects of living with disability, life transitions, including aging, psychological distress, long-term conditions such as chronic pain, and new conditions such as long-COVID affect people’s abilities. Interactions with this diversity of embodiments can be enriched, empowered, and augmented through using multisensory and cross-sensory modalities to create more inclusive technologies and experiences. This workshop will explore three related sub-domains: immersive multi-sensory experiences embodied experiences, and disability interactions and design. The aim is to better understand how we can rethink the senses in technology design for disability interactions and the dynamic self, constructed through continuously changing sensing capabilities either because of changing ability or because of the empowering technology.

AT2030 (Assistive Technology 2030) brings together partners who haven’t traditionally focused on assistive technology (AT), with experts, innovators and AT users to experiment with new ideas and thinking.

GDI Hub Academic Research Centre provides robust evidence of the effectiveness of the AT2030 projects to drive evidence and knowledge.

Designing a new way to produce erasable tactile drawings and graphics to present visualisations to blind and partially sighted students and professionals. The project uses smart materials and research on ways to make them operational. The final output will be particularly useful to understand STEM subjects and to express and communicate ideas and creativity.

PhD student Kate Burton​ is conducting research on using 3D imaging and printing from microscopic images to provide tactile representations for visually impaired people. The aim is to take the world seen through a microscope and make it accessible to those with visual impairments​ using tactile 3D printed models​.

Up to £20,000 is available to support winning applicants in the development of employment solutions focused around mobile in Bangladesh. Mobile technology can act as a bridge to employment opportunities by helping people learn skills, increasing awareness of job opportunities and helping to get and retain employment opportunities.

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were hosted at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP) with the view of creating a dynamic new heart of east London. The park was designed to continue the legacy of the Paralympic Games and to create a diverse and inclusive space for all.

Our project contributes to this vision by (i) engaging the disabled community of east London in a conversation about their experiences and perceptions of the QEOP and then (ii) co-creating a multisensory representation of the experience of blind people as a reminder of diversity and inclusion at the park.

GDI Hub is conducting a Global Survey on behalf of the World Bank to understand the level of access and the impact of technology on education for children with disabilities. We are inviting all individuals, researchers, educators and other professionals who have relevant experience on EdTech and Inclusive education to fill in this short survey.

Global logistics have been compromised by lockdowns and border controls across Africa and other low to middle-income countries (LMICs), leaving many businesses and citizens without key parts of their supply chain. This condition has exposed the rigid, inflexible state of production in many settings, demonstrating the need for locally resilient, flexible production ecosystems. LPLS is working to develop broader, restorative, and agile supply systems, while providing people with the life-saving health and community resources they need to face current restrictions.

This current work looks to develop these capabilities in soft material technology, with: the development of a printable nanocomposite stretch sensor system; a low-cost digital method for casting bespoke prosthetic liners; a liner with an embedded stretch sensor for growth / volume tracking; a model liner with an embedded active cooling system.

Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and led by the Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), AT2030 brings together global experts, international organisations, local delivery partners, multidisciplinary sectors and a new collaborative approach to drive change. AT2030 tests ‘what works’ to improve access to life-changing Assistive Technology (AT) for all; investing £20m over 5 years to support solutions to scale. The AT2030 consortium brings together partners who haven’t traditionally focused on AT, with experts, innovators and AT users to experiment with new ideas and thinking.

Running is not only about distance or speed but more a dynamic experiential journey in which emotions and subjective feelings play vital roles in constructing the runners’ experience. This research investigates how technology could support runners with the capturing and sharing of such experiential aspects of running experience beyond the running performance that current mainstream technologies provide.

Tacilia is a Voice Controlled Tactile User Interface for Blind Learners which is based on a novel shape changing material technology and an advanced speech recognition AI.

There is huge potential for mobile technology to improve blind and partially sighted people's experience of parks and open spaces and enable them to share these experiences with others. We are creating an accessible crowdsourced mapping system for BPSP to contribute their experience of visiting a park or open space and share these experiences in the forms of textual information, photos, sound bites, and videos to enable other people to enjoy these experiences anywhere in the world.

“This Is the Story of Community Leadership with Political Backing. (PM1)”. Critical Junctures in Paralympic Legacy: Framing the London 2012 Disability Inclusion Model for New Global Challenges.

Arts Collaboration Opportunities in Teaching and Research (ACTOR). ACTOR adopts an approach that brings play, exploration, and creativity together, using workshops and other interactive designs to engage and share and communicate experiences.

Participatory case studies on inclusive design and accessibility in cities. Creating enabling environments and infrastructure for assistive technology users through inclusive design.

The aim of the network proposal was to raise awareness within the communities of Southern Africa of the value of their cultural heritage and provide insights into how these may be expressed through inclusive crafts, leading to sustainable economic development.

This project searches and collates population-level data on the need and coverage for assistive technology, in the forms of scoping and systematic reviews, as well as a publicly accessible data repository.

GDI Hub Accelerate is a global agency for disability innovation. A powerhouse of insight, innovation and technical excellence - we design, test, and scale solutions.

We work with start-ups, ventures, business, bilateral organisations and governments to harness the value of innovation through our Impact Hub, Venture Studio and Bespoke Consultancy.

From ecosystem development to venture support, we challenge the structural barriers to market, bringing together global stakeholders to test, scale and accelerate disability innovation on a global scale.

Building a transdisciplinary network to improve AT by generating novel design, engineering and technological advances that will empower disabled people, older people and carers through accessible and local solutions.

A World Bank review, authored by GDI Hub, looking at the current status and trends in the practice of educational technology (EdTech) and the use of ICT in improving the educational participation and outcomes of children with disabilities.

Building knowledge and capacity around disability inclusion, inclusive design, and assistive technology with the ADB and among ADB Developing Member Countries (DMCs)

This project is investigating the potential to strengthen local systems of AT provision and innovation to address gaps in service. Where could more localised product and service innovation complement global supply chains to unlock more sustainable and resilient AT ecosystems ? We believe there is an opportunity to create better connections between the AT community and local manufacturers, with both newer digital and traditional fabrication expertise to enable innovation and better support for AT users beyond initial provision.

This project is developing product-service innovation around local production and repair

Our current workstreams in Nepal: This project is investigating the potential to strengthen local systems of AT provision and innovation to address gaps in service.

Highly individual and customised needs are an area that global markets do not currently address well. This workstream is exploring the potential to support the development of local innovation ecosystems of assistive technology to address these gaps in service.

The Enabling Fridays Community Nepal want to bring together local and global expertise working in the AT sector to identify routes that would unlock local innovation, and improve current gaps in service.

Based on the decisions of the Enabling Fridays Community, we are conducting a Situational Analysis of Manual wheelchair provision to inform our local actions

Partnering with the World Bank, GDI Hub researched and authored the ICT landscape review, exploring the use of ICT in improving the educational participation and outcomes of children with disabilities.

As part of the AT2030 programme, the GDI Hub will support Motivation in testing their new wheelchair provision system in Kenya to evaluate the quality of the new designs and understand how distributed manufacturing through 3D printing could augment current wheelchair service provision models.

The GDI Hub, as a part of the AT2030 Innovation cluster, has partnered with Amparo to support them in carrying out a clinical trial to evaluate how the Amparo Confidence Socket could help the provision of lower limb prosthetics in Kenya.

Mechanism to kick start innovation and test proof of concept.

One of the first Spark Innovation activities is an Inclusive Design Challenge, inviting young innovators to design solutions for improving access to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for blind and partially sited people. The event takes place between 6–20 of June, 2022.

GDI Hub, UCL Computer Science and The International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations will host a hackathon together to solve accessibility problems using digital devices with participation in three countries (UK, Kenya, and Korea).

Partnering with UCL and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the GDI Hub hosted the Enable Makeathon 2.0 in London. Five teams were selected to come to London to further develop their disability innovation ideas into new products and services over the course of a 16-day intensive ‘bootcamp’.

The second level of innovation ecosystems, catering local-to-regional entrepreneurs.

Innovate Now is a model of building start-up ecosystems, to accelerate disability innovation in Kenya and East Africa

Final top level for national-to-international ventures, taking innovations to scale

The AT Impact Fund was established to better enable frontier technology solutions to reach people with disabilities in Africa, and to test business models that are most likely to succeed. Assistive Technology Impact Fund is operationalised as a collaboration between GDI Hub, Brink, and Catalyst Fund, providing deep expertise in AT, innovation and venture-building in Africa respectively.

Measuring the impact of AT on the lives of people with disabilities.

Innovation Action is a collaborative initiative, launched by a consortium of partners brought together by innovation catalyst Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub), led by UCL Engineering and funded by UK Aid through the Frontier Technologies Hub and AT2030 programmes Our purpose is to bring people together to innovate on global challenges. We provide a space to enable people from all over the world to identify challenges and collaborate on solutions to help address some of the world’s most pressing problems.

In this workshop, we aim to bring together researchers, designers, and practitioners to explore effective strategies and brainstorm actionable guidelines for supporting disability inclusive online research methods and platforms.

This Special Issue of International Journal of Environment Research and Public Health, guested edited by GDI Hub's Prof. Catherine Holloway and Dr. Mikaela Patrick, seeks to learn from innovative approaches to inclusion and sustainability that have been accelerated by or originated from the COVID-19 crisis.

Research and assistive technology for blind and partially sighted people often focuses on built environment access, or helping people navigate from one place to another. Yet there is little information or assistance in relation to open spaces and free leisure experiences individuals might want to have. PhD student Maryam Bandukda has developed a framework and a digital platform to help solve this problem.

In our ageing world, assistive technology (AT) needs will increase. Yet there is little understanding about how and when access to AT will change as populations get older. Jamie Danemayer is a PhD student, co-supervised by UCL and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is working to maximise sparse data in this field and build a model that will forecast future AT needs.

Wearable technology that can take various physiological measurements from the human body is well established. However, for long term use this technology can be obtrusive, it can give inaccurate readings, and it is not suitable for use by people with certain disabilities. PhD student Jitesh Joshi is exploring and improving a contactless way of measuring physiological signals that will help to solve these issues.

There are various reasons why people with disabilities have not always been able to share their experiences or advocate for themselves and their communities. Postdoctoral researcher Maryam Bandukda is working with communities across the world to build skills and opportunities for disabled people to meaningfully engage on the subjects that matter to them.

Blind and visually impaired people rely on Braille as a key method of reading, learning and acquiring knowledge. Yet there are limitations in terms of access to Braille, and regarding the amount and type of information that can be translated into Braille. PhD student Tigmanshu Bhatnagar has created an affordable, refreshable display technology that can relay Braille and graphical information to users in a single device.

Innovation is happening across the world in all fields, and developing solutions for people with disabilities is a compelling area to innovate in. Yet in many cases, the intended users of new innovations are not meaningfully involved in the design process. Postdoctoral researcher Tigmanshu Bhatnagar is working on a programme of activity to make user centred design a central part of assistive technology innovation.

With the escalating digitisation of the world around us, touchscreens are increasingly replacing buttons and other functional devices that are easy to feel. But touchscreens are not accessible for visually impaired people. PhD student Zak Morgan is measuring ultrasound waves, which will eventually feed into improving technologies that rely on touch.

Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder that causes uncontrollable muscle spasms. This is an under-researched area of medicine, and dystonia patients respond to different treatments to varying degrees. PhD student Andreas Polydorides is exploring how virtual reality (VR) might be able to help dystonia patients.

Prosthetic liners sit in between the prosthetic device and the stump of amputees or people with congenital limb difference. They make a profound difference to the comfort of using prosthetics, but liners often do not account for differences in stump shapes, or growth, particularly in children. Research fellow Dr Ben Oldfrey has created sensor skins that can help to create more comfortable and bespoke solutions to prosthetic liners.

Assistive technology (AT) is often manufactured in places located far away from the intended users. The fragility of global supply chains, and the fact that some personalisation is often required for AT, means that those with AT needs cannot always get the products they need. Research fellow Dr Ben Oldfrey is working with local partners in countries across the world to see how local manufacturing and innovation can support the supply of AT.

Data and evidence is needed by organisations, governments, charities and entrepreneurs, so they can understand and respond to assistive technology (AT) needs. Dr Dafne Zuleima Morgado Ramirez is working with a variety of these stakeholders to support the development of high quality data and evidence.

Searching for information online is a daily activity for many people. Simultaneously, there is a growing need for assistive technology (AT), and this need is predicted to be rising significantly across the world. Yet little is known about how people are searching for information about AT, and what information they are looking for. PhD student Wen (Frances) Mo is exploring this topic, to understand how the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) could help.

Policymakers and decision makers need access to good quality information about assistive technology (AT) in order to set policies and strategies in this field. Yet information about AT is often found in disparate locations, and it’s not always easy to find. PhD student Sahan Bulathwela is developing an intelligent insights portal to make it easier to retrieve key information about AT.

Gathering data about people with disabilities and assistive technology (AT) needs is a resource intensive process. In the developing world, this is often a manual and paper-based exercise due to constraints with internet access and technology. PhD student Sahan Bulathwela is developing a mobile based survey collection tool that will improve efficiency and data protection, while collecting key information about AT.

Despite the existence of disability laws and accessibility rules in different parts of the world, good mobility access for disabled people is not often a reality. PhD student and wheelchair user Anna Landre has joined the GDI Hub to explore the issues and possible solutions to this.

Assistive technology (AT) can improve lives, but only if the surrounding environment enables its effective use. In particular, cities and buildings need to be accessible and inclusive, as this helps to create an enabling environment for disabled people. GDI Hub Co-founder and Director of Inclusive Design, Iain McKinnon, is leading research on inclusive design in cities across the developing world.

Physiological computing is an emerging research area that can help to boost disability technology innovation. Dr Youngjun Cho is a pioneer in this field, and is simultaneously helping to connect ideas and information to push forward the innovation of accessible assistive technology and interaction (AATI), in turn empowering our capability.