Ben Vass

Tell us a bit about your PhD project and you hope it will achieve

Artificial Intelligence and the (re)production of disability in social care
Summary: 
Budgetary and staff retention challenges in the Adult Social Care sector have led to decreased care quality. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and pervasive technologies -such as wearable and environmental sensors-  represents a critical opportunity to alleviate these challenges. However, with some AI-enabled technology presenting barriers to use and algorithmic biases against disabled individuals, comprehensive investigation of socio-technical approaches is needed to ensure safe and effective development and deployment of AI in the adult social care sector.
Through my NIHR School for Social Care Research (SSCR) PhD studentship, I intend to address two primary research aims through working with stakeholders:
1) To investigate the barriers and opportunities that AI technologies provide for improving care quality as well as service users’ agency and independence.
1) To critically analyse the current role and opportunities that pervasive technology (including pervasive computing, wearable and environmental sensors) has for profiling and assessing service users’ needs.

Tell us a bit about your background

Holding a BSc (Hons) in Product Design and a MSc in Psychology, my academic interests centre around the practical use of socio-technical solutions to address complex societal challenges. As such, I am especially focused on the fields of Human-Factors, Human-Computer/AI Interactions (HCI), User Experience (UX) Design and Human-Centred Design (HCD) for the ethical, inclusive and optimal development, deployment and adoption of technology. 
My focus on the adult social care sector is rooted in both professional and academic experiences: working directly in a dementia care home and serving as a research assistant investigating the use of smart technologies in adult social care. These experiences underscored for me the critical role technology plays in the lives of individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities, highlighting the need for inclusive and effective systems which consider both human and technological factors.

What are you most looking forward to about being a part of the NIHR School for Social Care Research? 

With a strong interest in impactful research considering real-world factors, the NIHR School for Social Care Research (SSCR) presents an unrivalled opportunity to effectively conduct my research. Through the engagement of organisations, stakeholders and service users facilitated by the SSCR, I will better be able to develop relevant and insightful findings via co-design and co-production. Furthermore, engaging with the SSCR will also provide me with a platform to better disseminate research findings to both academic and non-academic audiences, enhancing the impact of my work even more.
In addition to the support provided to enhance my research and its impact, I am looking forward to the additional personal development opportunities provided by the SSCR. Specifically, I am excited to attend and present a poster at the SSCR annual conference and connect with other like-minded researchers in the same field.

Any ideas for post-PhD? 

My long-term objective is to establish myself as a leading academic at the intersection of social and technological systems. Ultimately, my goal is to obtain a lectureship position focusing on teaching and producing leading research across the Human-Factors and Human-Computer Interactions fields with a specific focus on an Adult Social Care context.  In order to achieve this, after completing my viva voce I plan to secure a post-doctoral fellowship position -such as through additional NIHR funding or via a doctoral training partnership. This will allow me to further consolidate my doctoral findings by producing actionable evidence based practises and policies or pursue emergent questions raised towards the end of my PhD. This will better position me to achieve my goal of a life-long academic career.