Lab4Living researchers swap Sheffield steel for Taiwanese silver in cross-cultural research exchange

Lab4Living’s Professor Paul Chamberlain, Heath Reed and Maria Burton recently returned from a very successful visit to Chang Gung University in Taiwan.  The visit included a week’s stay in the ‘silver village’ in Taipei, a purpose built complex for older people where rooms are fully equipped with the latest innovations in SMART technology and medical equipment to monitor your health.

This visit formed part of the British Council Funded ‘Living Rooms’ project focusing on cross-cultural research.  The experience offered new insights into some of the ways that Taiwan is using technology to support its ageing population.  The team also had the opportunity to visit Chiao Tung University’s ‘eco city’ which is a future SMART house embedding state of the art technology.

Earlier in the year the Lab had hosted two researchers from Chang Gung on a 12 week placement sponsored by the British Council. Ben Chen (designer) and Allen Hsu (doctor) worked on the Living Rooms project in preparation for collaborative research between Chang Gung and SHU.  Further work is planned for the future to build on these developments.