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DkIT to partner with Trinity College in new €4 million H2020 ‘SEURO’ Project in digital health technology

26 February 2021

Researchers at NetwellCASALA, DkIT’s leading research centre for ageing have successfully secured an award of €696,000 under the European Commission’s H2020 programme to advance research into the use of digital health technology to support older adults self-managing with multiple chronic health conditions. 

 



Funding is part of a new €4 million EU-funded project, SEURO (Scaling EUROpean citizen driven transferable and transformative digital health) which is led by Trinity College Dublin’s Trinity Centre for Practice and Healthcare Innovation (TCPHI, School of Nursing and Midwifery) in partnership with NetwellCASALA.

The new three-year project will commence in May 2021 and aims to advance the previously implemented H2020 digital health platform ‘ProACT’ (Integrated Technology Systems for ProACTive Patient Centred) which was also led by TCD with collaboration from NetwellCASALA.

The ProACT platform was developed to empower individuals over 65 living at home with chronic diseases/multimorbidity to better understand and independently manage their health and well-being. The platform, which was successfully developed and implemented at a ‘proof of concept level’ under a previous H2020 project, in conjunction with the HSE in the North East and home care specialists Home Instead. 

SEURO will result in a new phase of evolution for the project which will include additional design and development of the ProACT platform by NetwellCASALA and evaluation of the platform via large scale pragmatic randomised controlled trials in Ireland, Belgium and Sweden, which NetwellCASALA will lead. The trials will also seek to develop and evaluate three new digital self-assessment and recommendation tools to support healthcare organisations and services in preparing, adopting and transferring digital health solutions into practice.

Speaking today, Dr. Julie Doyle principle investigator for SEURO at NetwellCASALA said,

“We are delighted to continue our ground-breaking research in the area of digital health technologies for multiple chronic disease self-management together with our partner in Trinity College Dublin. The ‘SEURO’ project will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of the ProACT platform in large scale trials across Europe as well as advance our understanding of key factors necessary to prepare organisations, localities and regions to scale, sustain and transfer people-centred, digital health solutions.

New funding will support the recruitment of  two postdoctoral fellows and one software developer within our research centre who will play a pivotal role in advancing this project and delivering much needed care to our older people with chronic health conditions in an environment of diminishing resources and rising costs.”

Also speaking today, Tim McCormac, Head of Research & Graduate Studies at DkIT added,

“The arrival of COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption and implementation of newer, safer digital tools for healthcare. Our healthcare systems are now under more strain than ever, and are looking towards new technologies to help unlock new ways to support older people with multiple chronic illnesses which is exactly what the SEURO project aims to do. 

DkIT is fast emerging as a national leader in connected health and wellbeing research and to date, has secured more than €40 million research funding in this area. NetwellCASALA is one of our largest research centres and has a wealth of experience in in delivering complex high-profile research projects that aim to harness technology to improve the lives of older people. I’d like to congratulate the Dr Doyle and her team on their success in securing highly competitive funding along with their partners on the SEURO project.”

Information about the current research vacancies with Netwell CASALA SEURU Project are available via the website: https://www.netwellcasala.org/

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