Health and Wellbeing Papers
Chairs
Prof. Panagiotis Bamidis – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Ömer Onur – Başakşehir Living Lab Istanbul
- Defining most significant issues in cities, stakeholders and their roles.
- Collection of the relevant data in selected Health & Wellbeing areas.
- Modelling Co-creation of finding innovative solutions that will enable improvement in Health & Wellbeing.
- Creating and implementing solutions with all stakeholders.
- Platforms and Reporting systems of Continuous and Reliable Measurements after implementation of solutions.
Co-creating innovative tools with and for people with Intellectual Disabilities: The case of DS Leisure e-Training Platform
by Maria Metaxa, Foteini Dolianiti, Ioanna Dratsiou, Evangelia Romanopoulou, Dimitris Spachos, Theodore Savvidis, Vasiliki Zilidou, Maria Karagianni & Panagiotis Bamidis
Track: Research-in-progress
Keywords:
- Assistive technology
- Human- centered design
- Participatory, co- creation
- Intellectual disability
- Inclusion
Abstract. Participation is a key factor and a central concept when considering interventions for supporting people with Intellectual Disabilities (ID). Building upon the potentialities of the Long Lasting Memories Care service -an integrated ICT platform for cognitive and physical training- for enhancing the daily performance of people with Down Syndrome (DS), and taking into consideration the importance of participatory design for removing the barriers that undermine inclusion, DS Leisure – an e-Training Program for improving Quality Of Life Through Inclusive Leisure- was introduced by Thessaloniki Active and Healthy Ageing Living Lab (Thess-AHALL). The present work presents the design, development and validation steps of the DS Leisure, where all Thess-AHALL actors -including people with DS and ID, their families, educators and Lab of Medical Physics- were actively involved in the process as co-creators. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the usability and adequacy of the Games and Virtual Scenarios included in the e-Training platform, as tools for training people with DS and other IDs on inclusive leisure. Eleven specialists with previous experience in the field participated in the survey. Findings suggested that both Games and Virtual Scenarios are easy to use, consistent and provide a sense of control to the user, although support from a trainer may be required. Additionally, the adequacy of the Games and Virtual Scenarios was positively rated, as they were considered to be constructive and interactive educational experiences for everyday skills enhancement. Overall, the positive feedback received sets the ground for further research to reveal whether designing with- and not just for- people with ID is an approach that results to successful outcomes.
Speaker
Maria Metaxa
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Maria Metaxa
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Maria Metaxa received the Diploma degree in Primary Education of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2016, and the M.Sc. degree in Education Sciences- Learning Technologies by the same university. She is also a Research Associate in the Lab of Medical Physics Laboratory, Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki under the supervision of Associate Professor Panagiotis Bamidis (medphys.med.auth.gr). She is working in various research projects like LLM Care (www.llmcare.gr) and DS Leisure (www.dsleisure.eu). Her research interests include the exploitation of technology tools in education and assistive technologies with emphasis on healthcare, cognitive empowerment and social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.
Creating an anonymous, at-home screening for sexually transmitted diseases sent by letter mail: the cross-border development of a standardized urine collection device and associated testing service.
by Judith H.J. Urlings, Bianca Ceccarelli, Claire A.G.J. Huijnen, Paulette J.J. Wauben, Joke Donné, Ronald Van den Bossche, Alejandra Rios-Cortes, Koen Beyers and Vanessa Vankerckhoven
Track: Innovation Paper
Keywords:
- Cross border
- Healthcare innovation
- Product design
- Business model design
- Sexual health care
Abstract. Novosanis’ Colli-Pee is an unique device for standardized and volumetric self-collection of the first-void fraction of urine. The aim of the present living lab project was to optimize the design of the Colli-Pee for postal mailing. Novosanis wishes to combine the Colli-pee device with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing service via letter mail. Possible fitting of the product and associated service in the existing health care systems of Belgium and The Netherlands was explored by interviewing professional stakeholders. Additionally, a co-creation session and large scale live-test were performed with voluntary end-users in both countries. Both the outcomes of the innovation project as well as learnings for the living labs are discussed in this paper.
Speaker
Judith H.J. Urlings
Happy Ageing Living Lab

Judith H.J. Urlings
Happy Ageing Living Lab
Trained as a psychologist (MSc. Maastricht University, NL), Judith Urlings developed a professional interest in the elderly and elderly care. Her first Living Lab project led to a doctoral thesis on mobility and driving in older adults (PhD, Hasselt University, BE). Since 2017, Judith works for the not-for-profit association LifeTechValley, acting under the brand name “Happy Aging”. As the Community Manager of the Happy Aging Living Lab, she is the first point of contact for participants in all Living Lab projects. Within the Happy Aging Living Lab, innovation trajectories focus on the broad healthcare field, with a specific interest for those innovations that foster healthy and independent living for the elderly. At the Open Living Lab Days 2019, Judith presents the development process of an at-home screening service and urine collection device for sexually transmitted diseases, in co-creation with young adults and professional stakeholders. Human factors engineering within a transnational context ensured the best user-experience for product users and maximum chances of adoption of the service within the healthcare system.
IoT –based Smart living Environments for ageing well in Greece
by Sofia Segkouli, Stefanos Stavrotheodoros, Nikolaos Kaklanis, Konstantinos Votis, George Dafoulas, Christina Karaberi and Dimitrios Tzovaras
Track: Research-in-progress
Keywords:
- IoT Ecosystem
- Ageing well
- Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA)
- Data management
- Data privacy and security
Abstract. This paper aims to provide an overview of the Greek Deployment Site, one of the nine (9) deployment sites of the Large Scale ACTIVAGE project, a European Multi Centric Large Scale Pilot for Ageing well. ACTIVAGE main goal is to provide an IoT Ecosystem Suite (AIOTES), based on the interoperability component at different layers between heterogeneous existing IoT Platforms for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA). Greece is one of the most “aged” countries in the EU. Specifically, according to a research made in 2014, people at 65 years and over account for 20.2% of the total population. This large scale IoT pilot connects three of the most innovative Greek regions in one large scale pilot site which are representative of different, complementary, geopolitical and socioeconomic realities. This paper highlights the initial goals, the achievements, the technical solutions the critical technological, organizational, privacy and security challenges and also the best practices that have been initiated by the Greek Large Scale Pilot in order to address successfully a. pilots’ performance and b. new business models’ acceptance and ecosystem sustainability. It also stresses the obstacles that have been faced so far by the various stakeholders involved (end-users, healthcare professionals, relatives, social environment, caregivers) and the lessons learned during the Greek pilot recruitment, installations, training and running. Last but not least, the Greek Deployment Site has been assigned to coordinate the ethical and legal activities of the ACTIVAGE consortium. Thus, an outline is provided about the study of the ethical and legal requirements in depth and the optimum coordination of data management as it is experienced by the Greek deployment Site (GR DS) in compliance to the new regulation (GDPR). The ultimate goal was to address trustworthiness, privacy, data protection and security in project level and also in each DS internally.
Speaker
Sofia Segkouli
CERTH/ITI

Sofia Segkouli
CERTH/ITI
Dr Sofia Segkouli (female) is a Research Associate in the Information Technologies Institute of CERTH. She received the degree of Diploma Greek Philology from the Aristotle University, the department of Greek linguistics, in 1997. She has also acquired valuable experience working as an editor also in electronic press. Moreover, she has gain large experience working in the Macedonian Press Agency and public houses participating in a series of publications. In 2005 she joined the Institute Informatics and Telematics as a researcher participating in numerous projects. She has also participated in the preparation and writing of successful projects. She received a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly. Her Research interests are on Virtual User Modelling, Virtual/Augmented Reality and interaction of Elderly People with computer, Mild cognitive impairment (MCI / Mild Cognitive Impairment) and impact on daily activities of patients and impaired functions of speech in subjects with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease. Currently she is participating actively in LSPs projects (ACTIVAGE, Ageing@Work) which target to IoT ecosystems for Active and Healthy Ageing (AHA). Also she has a very active role in big data management and relevant ethical/legal implications acting as an Ethics Responsible Person (ERP) supervising data protection and data quality assurance.
Participatory design and validation of an innovative training program to maintain Autonomy of older adults with Alzheimer’s Disease
by Despoina Mantziari, Antonis Billis, Giorgos Arfaras, Maria Karagianni, Vasiliki Zilidou and Panagiotis Bamidis
Track: Full Research
Keywords:
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Autonomy
- e-learning
- Assistive technologies
- Co- creation
Abstract. Dementia and its most common type, Alzheimer’s disease, constitute one of the most challenging global health priorities. Nowadays, several dementia- friendly initiatives insist on the support of Autonomy of older adults with initial/mild Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. AD-Autonomy project aims to enhance (ICT) skills/competences/attitudes of PwAD and their carers through an innovative training program. The project adopted the participatory design approach in two milestones, a) the co-creation of the training programme methodology and b) the co-validation of the training material and the eLearning environment. This paper focuses on Thess-AHALL’s co-design sessions with end-users, as one of the five pilot sites of the program.
Speaker
Despoina Mantziari
Thessaloniki Active & Healthy Ageing Living Lab

Despoina Mantziari
Thessaloniki Active & Healthy Ageing Living Lab
Despoina Mantziari received her diploma in Media and Mass Communication from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She also holds a Master’s degree in Journalism and New Media with specific expertise on news content verification and Fake News. She works as a Research Associate on Research Programmes at AUTH Medical Physics Lab. She has former experience as journalist, as well as in media monitoring and public relations. She has been member of several university research groups, including the Media Informatics Lab and the Peace Journalism Lab, while she is also member of the communication and data journalism team of Open Knowledge Greece and the she has been scientific advisory group of the Journalists' Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers (ESIEMTH).
Responsible Design for an Older Future
by Gareth Priday and Sonja Pedell
Track: Full Research
Keywords:
- ActiveAgeing
- Codesign
- Ageism
- AgeingWorld
- Webdesign
- Communities
- Age-friendly cities
Abstract: In this research we focus on a Living Lab co-design process for the development of an ‘active ageing’ portal with a local council and the community as part of their WHO age-friendly city strategy plan. Narratives of ageing have been defined by models of deficit and decline where technology is meant to provide a solution; only recently notions of capabilities and individual interests as part of the technology provision are emerging and are coming to the foreground and getting more attention. We found that co- design acts as a protective process against generalised deficit ideas of ageing and to avoid more subtle ageist assumptions. We show that, on what may be considered a straightforward process and ICT product, co-design can play a significant role in preventing unintended ageism. The co-design process in our case provided a pathway to increased adoption and uncovered future opportunities for a Living Lab to play role in systemic change regarding the perception of active ageing that extends beyond the technology solution.
Speaker
Sonja Pedell
Swinburne University of Technology / Future Self and Design Living Lab

Sonja Pedell
Swinburne University of Technology / Future Self and Design Living LabAssociate Professor Sonja Pedell is Director of Swinburne University’s Future Self and Design Living Lab. The FSD Living Lab has core development capabilities in the area of innovative socio-technical systems and design solutions for health and wellbeing with a focus on the ageing population and dementia. Prior to taking up this role at Swinburne, Dr Pedell completed a Masters of Psychology from the Technical University of Berlin and was employed as an Interaction Designer, Usability Consultant and Product Manager in industry for several years.