News – Imagining Technologies for Disability Futures

Eight people are in discussion, facing an unseen audience. Three in wheelchairs; three standing; two on a projection screen. At the centre, Jamie Preece with beard and top knot, engages the audience whilst another man wearing glasses reads out questions. The mood is convivial.

Communication Matters Conference 2024

Fin Tams-Gray and Graham Pullin Fin Tams-Gray and Graham Pullin from Dundee attended Communication Matters Conference 2024, held at the University …

a filming set with cameras and lighting set up. One person is seated and 2 people stand

Reflecting on Disability Futures

The itDf team have collaborated with Adarak and the BMJ: Medical Humanities journal to produce a film that focuses on …

A group photo of people smiling to the camera. Christina Stimson with Shibata-sensei and his 10 students, standing in front of a blue wall. To the rear can be seen some academic posters.

itDf PhD Researcher Visits Kyushu Institute of Technology and a Robotics Conference in Japan

In May 2024, Christina Stimson from the University of Sheffield had the privilege of fulfilling a life-long dream to visit Japan, at the invitation of Prof. Tomohiro Shibata of the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture.

Four people – one in a wheelchair – sitting behind two desks and speaking to a conference audience with a screen behind them displaying a PowerPoint slide.

itDf International Conference in Leeds: 25-26 April 2024

On April 25 and 26, members of the itDf team, partners and associates gathered at the Queens Hotel in Leeds to discuss the many interactions between disability and technology and reflect on their future relationships.

A sign inside University building that reads ‘University of Pittsburgh: School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences’ and displays the University crest

Bodies, Technology, Touch and Telepresence: itDf visits the University of Pittsburgh

Team members Luna Dolezal and Stuart Murray visited the University of Pittsburgh in October 2023 to present itDf project work to staff and students, following an invitation from Mark Paterson in Pittsburgh’s Department of Sociology. Each spoke as part of the University’s Bioethics and Health Humanities series, co-sponsored by the Center for Bioethics and Health Law.

A young girl is smiling at something or someone to the right of the camera. Her hair is tied with a magenta ribbon with white polka dots, set off by the lush greens of the tropical plants in a courtyard garden. She has two large switches, one yellow, one white, on the headrest of her wheelchair. Other objects of daily life include some polythene bags on a low wall behind her.

Discussing alternative futures for augmented communication together

We are delighted to have had two sessions accepted for the conference on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), ISAAC 2023, being held in Cancún, Mexico in July

The itDf stand at New Scientist Live. A male member of the team is discussing a Miro rabbit robot at a stand with a male and female visitor. On the floor are sat 4 people looking at 2 other Miro robot rabbits. A number of display screens and artworks can be seen at the back of the stand.

itDf at New Scientist Live 2023

New Scientist Live 2023 @ ExCel London, 7 – 9 October, 2023 by Michael Szollosy, Tony Prescott, Christina E. Stimson …

Curious Kin in Fictions of Posthuman Care

The latest book by Professor Amelia DeFalco, Curious Kin in Fictions of Posthuman Care, is due to be published soon.
• A book-length study of narrative representations of twenty-first-century posthuman care that offers a unique, posthumanist exploration of contemporary fiction.
• Provides a new method for analysing and theorizing care and a significant new interpretation of the philosophy of care, contemporary literature, and posthumanism.
• Offers a novel, interdisciplinary approach to care that employs conceptual and methodological insights from contemporary literary and cultural studies.

Participating speakers at a discussion panel, sitting next to each other, smiling and in conversation. Behind them is a projected image with the text “We are our stories!”. In the image, from left to right, is Seray Ibrahim (Kings College London), Rachel Chen (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), Fin Tams-Gray (DJCAD, Dundee), Graham Pullin (DJCAD, Dundee), Stephanie Valencia (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh), Antonia Krummheuer (Aalborg University), Jutta Treviranus (OCAD, Toronto), and Annalu Waller (University of Dundee).

Buffalo workshop | 31 May – 2 June 2023

Project Converse workshop, Buffalo NY, 31 May – 2 June 2023 by Graham Pullin and Fin Tams-Gray Graham Pullin and …

Three Miro robots resembling rabbits in white and black with red collars

Round-up: itDf at South Yorkshire Innovation Launch, 15 March, 2023

On 15 March 2023 itDf exhibited at the launch of the Innovation Network South Yorkshire Showcase, hosted by the University …