The MIICT Project started on the 2nd of April 2019 a series of focus group sessions and interviews at three pilot locations as part of participants and stakeholders requirements elicitation.

• Spain: from the 2nd till the 4th of April 2019
• Cyprus: from the 10th till the 12th of April 2019
• Italy: from the 15th till the 17th of April 2019

In each country three types of stakeholders are targeted through the focus group sessions and interviews. The first are members of the migrant community, including refugees, to establish an understanding of the challenges they face interfacing with key public services. The second are public service providers to establish an understanding of the challenges they have experienced and observed while working with migrant and refugee communities and offering them key public services. The third and last are subject matter experts and representatives from other interest groups, such as NGO’s to elicit broader challenges associated with the integration of migrant and refugee communities, in particular those associated with access to key public services through the use of ICTs.

Participants are also invited to take part in workshops in their pilot country to co-design public service transformations using ICTs. Cognitive and context mapping are used to create mind-maps of abstract processes that relate to the experiences of participants. Based on this, initial storyboarding will be conducted to describe, on a step-by-step basis experiences, including frames that define problem areas where the project development can facilitate improvements and implement change.

The mentioned activities – focus groups, interviews and workshops – are aligned with the MIICT methodology, which wholly embodies a participatory design approach, encompassing the principles of co-design and co-creation into the core of the project. All aspects of the project follow a three-phased approach of Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation that take the challenges and ideas identified by engaging with the very audience they are designed for, empowering them to work alongside us to co-create and develop deep insights into new and improved services and giving them the agency to engage and pilot the developed ICTs in the INSPIRATION phase.

To find out more visit the MIICT website

The MIICT Project kicked off in Sheffield last month and the meeting was a huge success for everyone involved. The event involved many fascinating talks from migration experts, practitioners, developers and researchers from across Europe who all provided an excellent introduction to the project.

The MIICT project kick off conference – November 2018

MIICT (ICT Enabled Services for Migration) was conceived with the goal of designing, developing and deploying tools that address the challenge of migrant integration. In service of this goal, the project undertakes to co-create improved ICT-enabled services with migrants, refugees, public sector services, NGOs (Non-Governmental-Organisations) and other interest groups. By involving research-users at the centre of our approach we address the need to improve and customise the interfaces used to access key public services so that they better address the requirements of migrants and refugees. To achieve this MIICT has undertaken the development of a system to capture the specific socio-cultural, economic and legal contexts of migrants; information that can be shared with public authorities. In order to promote inclusion and reduce the potential for discrimination and bias, the system acts as a firewall, meaning only information pertinent to the specific task of the public authority is visible, removing elements such as gender, ethnicity and age in circumstances where they have no relevance, removing opportunities for discrimination and unconscious bias.

Previous research has established that issues of integration, discrimination, employment (and unemployment), incapacity support and education rank highly among migrants of varying demographics; including different age groups, genders, education levels and immigration status. Factors such as autonomy, perception, culture and history, as well as institutional constraints shape the dynamics and experiences of migrants and highlight the complexity of the migration process. This complexity is also said to indicate diversity in the migration and integration process as a result of the almost infinite combination of factors that may impact upon migrants’ experiences; influenced by the relationships between the economic, social, political and cultural factors that exist across a given juncture.

Using a co-design approach, MIICT will design, develop and deploy bespoke solutions that address; a) the management of migrant integration, b) the customisation of services to match migrants’ needs, and c) the need for sustained and improved inclusion of migrants. This evidence-based and inclusive software solution aims to improve labour market access, matching individuals with jobs and development opportunities based upon their specific and unique contexts.

MIICT is grounded in the principles of co- design. Through the participation of multi-disciplinary stakeholders MIICT will design, develop and deploy processes to ensure the identification of needs and requirements from both the perspectives of migrants, public sector services and NGOs. The collaboration of cross-disciplinary expertise from academia, industry and the private-sector in the development of digital-services will realise improved service delivery, demonstrated through a rigorous piloting and evaluation process conducted across the EU. MIICT aims to provide migrants and refugees with access to key public services, public agencies and NGOs with ICT enabled services and the necessary agency to take advantage of those services.

To find out more visit the MIICT website.

Over the weekend Auggmed 21st & 22nd April, Auggmed conducted a validation study at the West Yorkshire Police training facility in Carrgate.

This very busy weekend involved training 80 trainee police officers, either through the Auggmed platform in Virtual reality or a live scenario using actors, or a combination of these two forms of training. The officers were being trained on how to deal with a suspicious package for the first time. Each officer has been asked to complete three assessments: one before the training, one directly after the training, and one two months after training in order to test knowledge retention.

Data collected from this study will be analysed at a later date and will be used to perform a comparison between the different forms of training.

The final pilot of Auggmed took place in the Port of Piraeus Port, Greece, on the 23^rd of March. The aim of this pilot was to trial its Mixed Reality functionality. The platform has undergone many iterations throughout its lifespan, conducting pilots with end users along the way to obtain their feedback and improve the platform. The project had already conducted two trials with end users prior to this final pilot in Piraeus.

Auggmed aims to create a multimodal serious games platform for training first responders, with specific focus on training situational awareness and decision making. The platform aimed to develop three different modes: desktop; touch screen; Virtual Reality (VR); and Mixed Reality (MR). At the first stage of the project, the desktop and touch screen mode was trialled on West Yorkshire Police, the scenario used for the trial aimed to train firearms officers on how to respond to a firearms attack. The second stage of the project implemented VR, it was piloted at FGC head quarters in Barcelona. This pilot aimed to train the FGC security personnel on how to deal with a suspect package and SEM paramedics on emotional resilience and triage tagging in a post explosion scenario. The scenarios for each pilot were created specifically for the end users and were centred around their requirements.

Six scenarios were developed for the final pilot, these scenario’s involved searching the port for suspicious packages and weapons attacks. The security personnel needed to work together to respond to the situation in the best way possible. Whilst in Piraeus, Auggmed gained the attention of the local police, who showed interest in the platform, they were encouraged to participate in the scenario’s during the pilot, to allow them the opportunity to train and work together with the security personnel of the port, this was something they wouldn’t normally get the chance to do. Multi-agency training is one of the key advantages of the Auggmed platform, so this was an ideal opportunity to obtain feedback about this feature.

CENTRIC’s role in the pilot involved showing trainee’s how to use the platform and assisting with any technical issues. Overall the pilot was a success, and Auggmed received plenty of good feedback which can be used in the final review of the project.

For more information about Auggmed visit the project website.

As part of the Yorkshire Cyber Project, we have arranged events across Yorkshire and Humberside that are aimed at helping you to understand some of the risks you and your business face from an insecure cyber infrastructure or lack or cyber security planning.

At the events we will use scenarios that are based on real experiences of real businesses through which you will be able to test yourself and your organisation in tackling a multitude of problems. Some will be fairly simple, for example losing data either by a mislaid device such as a laptop, or something more immediate such as a ransomware attack.

Using a new interactive platform you will participate in an immersive experience to help you appreciate what you need to do back in the workplace to make your business safer online. The scenarios will be delivered through the platform allowing discussion and debate with colleagues.

We will have a team of experienced staff to help your learn and better protect yourselves.

All of the events are designed to help you learn and are not assessments, likewise the discussions amongst the participants are to help you learn about cyber security through credible experiences and case studies. You will also be able to speak to key stakeholders and have informative updates from a range of agencies.

Does this sound of interest to you? If so, sign up at our Eventbrite page now!!

These FREE events will be held in Barnsley, Beverley, Halifax, Harrogate, Scarborough and Shipley across April, May and June 2018.

Further information can also be found on our website or follow us on twitter.