Academics and scientists are collaborating with dementia patients and their caregivers to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that aims to enhance their care.
Ulster University, which is spread across four campuses in Ireland's north, said its CLEAR-AI would "help better understand behavior through from diagnosis to post-diagnosis support."
The platform is being put together with contributions from the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT) and Age NI, a Northern Ireland-based charity, and has been allocated a grant of 80,000 pounds ($101,600) under a funding scheme called the Longitude Prize for Dementia.
"Technologies shouldn't be developed in a bubble; they need to be designed and tested by the people who will ultimately benefit from them," said Trevor Salomon, chair of the prize's Lived Experience Advisory Panel, whose wife has been diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer's disease.
The university's Joan Condell said the platform would provide "diagnosis to post-diagnosis support, helping people living with dementia live independent, in their own homes, more fulfilled lives doing what they enjoy."
"New drugs have been discovered which slow the progression of early Alzheimer's disease, but there's still more to do," said Kate Lee, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, who praised "innovative projects" such as CLEAR-AI for aiming to help "improve the lives of people living with dementia and their families."
