Driving change in the disability and technology relationship

The School of English is involved in new interdisciplinary research exploring how technologies can learn from people with disabilities and adapt to support them in the future.

The new research is part of a major project, Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures, funded by the Wellcome Trust.  Led by Professor Stuart Murray from the School of English, the project will involve collaborative research with universities in the UK and internationally, including the Universities of Sheffield, Dundee and Exeter. Disability groups from across the UK will also play a part in shaping the project. 

Academic expertise will include literary and cultural studies, medical humanities and philosophy, disability design, production engineering and robotics.

Professor Murray said “From care and companionship robots to sophisticated assistive speech technology systems, well-designed technology that fully takes account of users’ needs can be a great force for positive change. This is a unique project, bringing together researchers across the world from very different backgrounds."

Our aim is to better understand how disability and technology interact and how that interaction could develop in the future, with an ever-increasing rate of technological change.

He also said "Our aim is to better understand how disability and technology interact and how that interaction could develop in the future, with an ever-increasing rate of technological change.”

Dr Amelia DeFalco, Academic Fellow in the School of English is also involved in the project as a co-investigator. 

You can read the full story on the University of Leeds news pages.