Researchers aim to bridge digital divide
Three Stirling University departments are involved in research aimed at improving access to online resources for older people.
The three-year project, led by the University of Stirling’s Professor Catherine Hennessy and supported by Professor Richard Haynes and Professor Anna Whittaker, will bring together academics from the University’s social sciences, arts and humanities and health sciences and sport faculties – as well as experts from the University of Plymouth.
They will examine how digital resources can be designed and delivered to involve older people in activity programmes and improve health and wellbeing.
The project has received £1.6m in funding through the UK Research & Innovation (UKRI’s) healthy ageing challenge.
Professor Hennessy said:“Through this research, we want to understand the barriers older people face in accessing digital resources, what role technology can play in enhancing their participation in digitallydelivered health promotion activities, and what impact being able to be digitally-connected has on health, wellbeing and relationships.
“Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus the need to be able to deliver programmes for older people in a socially distanced world, while it has also highlighted the need to urgently address so-called‘digital divides’ – inequalities in access to digital connectivity through age, economic disadvantage and functional limitations.
‘Connectivity and Digital Design for Promoting Health and Well-being Across Generations, Places and Spaces’will begin in March 2021.