- Current projects
- Support4all
- The Power of Sheffield Journeys
- Photography in Care Homes
- Pain talking
- Non-invasive ventilation
- NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Research Fellowship
- Insights into telehealth and care technologies (InTaCT)
- Home health monitoring: EyKos HealthHub
- Head Up
- Grip strength and dexterity
- Exhibition in a box
- engagingaging
- Better out-patient services for older people
- Development of design and production system for carbon fibre ankle foot orthoses
- Knowledge Mobilisation
- ‘State of the art’ of Design in Health
- War and Medicine
- Art, Simulation and Surgical Humanities
- Chlamydia testing awareness
- Mobile infusion pump
- Wearable medical monitoring
- Spinal Injury Design Workshops
- Promoting social change by design
- User-Centred Healthcare Design (UCHD)
- Packaging openability
- Where art meets technology
- Tactile map
- Shape of things to come
- Every-sense
- SMART rehabilitation
- Living rooms 1 and 2
- Future Bathroom
- Project archive
- Student projects
Latest news
- Lab4Living goes to Melbourne
- Lab4Living celebrate their ten year anniversary
- Thinking about design and mental well-being in Maltese Healthcare
- Lab4Living embark on new project in end of life care
- Living well with dementia in Scotland
- Lab4Living influencing the health curriculum in Zurich
- Kelham Island
- Exciting new collaboration between Lab4Living and China Academy of Arts
- Design and the Ageing Brain Symposium: Auckland, New Zealand
- Action Alliance: Designing a dementia friendly city
Promoting social change by design
There is a strong evidence base demonstrating the integral relationship between work health and wellbeing. In light of the global demographic changes we are currently witnessing there has recently been much debate and discussion around the merits of promoting active ageing in the workplace. Concerns across Europe that there will be more retired people than workers in the future has led to a surge of interest in interventions that could support individuals to work beyond current retirement age norms (International Labour Organisation 2002)
Named as one of the key areas within the objectives of the EU commission, there has been a call on countries within the European Union to address the needs of individuals who are furthest removed from the labour market and disadvantaged as a consequence of disability, age, gender or ethnicity. Some limited progress has been made and there exists a need to develop innovative strategies to increase the opportunities afforded to these groups in relation to accessing employment.
Claire Craig (Lab4living) has been part of a European funded project focusing on strategies to promote employability for those furthest removed from the labour market. This collaboration has brought practitioners from Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands together and has led to the development of a curriculum innovation that will equip health care professionals of the future with the skills required to develop strategies to enable individuals who are occupationally disadvantaged to access work. This work has culminated in the piloting of four 15 ECTS credit modules each focusing on the needs of a different population.
Claire says, ‘…the project has been a huge success. The UK focus was on the development of strategies to promote active ageing in the workplace and partnerships with manufacturing companies and with older people who have informed the development of the programme. We have achieved all we set out to do and it is hoped that through this work we will play a role in ensuring that future health and social care practitioners are fully equipped to develop and deliver innovative interventions that support the work agenda for older people…’
If you would like to hear more about this work please contact Claire Craig at c.craig@shu.ac.uk or go to the website EEE4all which describes the work in more detail.