Details of Grant

EPSRC Reference:

EP/W025337/1

Title:

Equity for the Older: Beyond Digital Access

Principal Investigator:

Other Investigators:

Swarbrick, Dr C	Rogers, Professor Y	Singh, Dr A
Steptoe, Professor AP	Fledderjohann, Dr J	Harper, Professor R

Researcher Co-Investigators:

Dr L Mullagh

Project Partners:

Age UK	Howz	Lloyds Banking Group
The Royal Society of Arts (RSA)

Department:

Computing & Communications

Organisation:

Lancaster University

Scheme:

Standard Research

Starts:

01 October 2022

Ends:

31 March 2025

Value (£):

984,746

EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:

Human-Computer Interactions

EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:

Healthcare

Information Technologies

Related Grants:

Panel History:

Panel Date	Panel Name	Outcome
09 Feb 2022	Equitable Digital Society	Announced

Summary on Grant Application Form

Older adults have long been lesser beneficiaries of the digital economy, with many unable or choosing not to adopt digital technologies which do not speak to their particular needs and wants. With COVID-19 spurring societal digitalisation at an unprecedented pace, digitally disadvantaged older adults have been locked out of essential and life-saving services, while others have been made to take up technologies they may be deeply uncomfortable using. As we reimagine society to deal with an ongoing pandemic reality, it is essential that older adults are neither left behind nor forced to make major concessions in their way of life. It is not enough, therefore, to simply improve access to digital technologies. An equitable digital society requires that older adults are welcomed into a digital economy that treats them as first order stakeholders.

This project fills this critical need to create a digital society that delivers equal to benefits older adults by:

1) Analysing data on older adults that has been collected over the last 20 years to understand various interrelated and multiplicative factors in older adults' exclusion from the digital economy;

2) Conducting interviews and focus groups with older adults to explore how this period of rapid digitalisation has altered older adults' relationship with digital technologies, focusing on four key areas undergoing important change as a result of the pandemic: Health, Communication, Place, Finance;

3) Co-designing new technology prototypes with older adults to establish a radical new practice which enables older adults to meaningfully participate in creating an equitable digital society; and

4) Creating lasting resources to instill best practice for a digital economy that is inclusive of the full diversity of older adults.

Key Findings

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Potential use in non-academic contexts

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Impacts

Description	This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Summary
Date Materialised

Sectors submitted by the Researcher

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Project URL:

Further Information:

Organisation Website:

http://www.lancs.ac.uk