My experience of the AGEWELL Epic Summer Institute

I am a second year PhD student in the ACRC Academy and my research involves learning from the lived experience of older adults to critically-assess the design of companion robots. 

At the beginning of July, I had the pleasure of travelling to Prince Edward Island, Canada after being selected by the ACRC Academy to participate in AGE-WELL’s 8^th Annual Epic Summer Institute: “Co-creating Possibilities: Supportive Homes and Communities”. The Institute was a week-long intensive programme which gave me the opportunity to not only work closely with other institute participants, but to also co-create an AgeTech solution together with older adult Veterans, caregivers and policy stakeholders.

Throughout the week our team developed a technology-based solution through stakeholder engagement, where we began by brainstorming our idea, building a prototype and creating a business model plan, before finally pitching our idea to the AGE-WELL judging panel at the end of the week. 

Our team pitched the idea for a digital platform called Poppyseed, designed with and for Veterans. The platform was a personalised community integration plan for Canadian Veterans transitioning from active service into retirement. The aim of the platform was to provide Veterans with personalised peer-to-peer support, facilitating connections with people and resources in the community, with the ultimate goal of preventing social isolation and helping them to age-in-place with autonomy and independence. 

Thank you to both the ACRC and AGE-WELL - this programme was not only a great chance to work and make connections within the AGE-WELL community in Canada, but also to gain skills and experience that I will be able to take forward for my PhD.