Hannah Wright

Workington Green Community Hub/ Groundwork NE & Cumbria

Hannah first started with Groundwork as a Key Worker on the Choices programme, a work and employment programme that aims to support individuals in breaking down barriers they are faced with when it comes to seeking employment. She is also the facilitator for Workington Green Community Hub. This hub is one of five pilot hubs across the North of England and is part of The Northern Network, which is a radical new movement which aims to connect 'green hubs'. As part of this role she works with many different partners to support the work in which they have already started or would like to start to support individuals local to Workington to improve their access to green spaces/ nature. Because of the success of the hub, Groundwork was awarded monies from the NHS to lead on a green social prescribing project. As part of the NHS green plan and a movement towards personalised care, a real focus was put on green social prescribing and the benefits of engaging with nature one ones' mental and physical health and wellbeing. This resulted in being tasked with mapping out social prescribers and nature-based activity providers, then connecting the two. Additionaly, they were asked to research what the gaps in provision were and what the barriers to access were. On the back of this research, grants were given out to applicants who could fill some of these gaps and break down the barriers faced by individuals.

Erin Singleton

Research Associate for PACT Institute at UCLan; Founder and Project Manager of The Blue Flamingo Cafe & Community Hub

Erin is currently working with PACT’s Healthy Ageing Hub to run a series of events intended to invite transdisciplinary research opportunities for individuals and groups in the community. She is also the Founder and Project Manager for The Blue Flamingo Café & Community Hub, which is an inclusive, dementia-friendly space based in Preston, Lancashire which provides opportunities for Carers and those they care for to socialise in a welcoming and understanding environment. During this event, Erin will demonstrate why the need for groups like this is so great and how embedding a creative practice has a positive impact on wellbeing, which results in helping people find ways to live happier and healthier lives as they age.

Dr Matthew Dickinson

Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at UCLan

Dr. Dickinson is a senior lecturer in mechatronics engineering at the University of Central Lancashire and an active member of the MedTech Solutions group led by Professor Richards. After achieving his PhD in the field of tribology he was able to publish research and conference proceedings in the same field. Using the extensive expertise and experience in computer aided design provided by his PhD, Dr. Dickinson's work has now shifted towards smart assistive technologies such as exo-skeleton design. By using his skills in advanced topology Dr Dickinson aims to use accessible materials for production of low-cost maintenance of components.

As such, Dr. Dickinson has been working on using additive layer manufacturing and topological optimisation to generate high performance (polymer?) components. These offer the same advantages as their traditional metallic counterparts. However, this research is still in its early stages. With his team they have also been looking at the use of machine learned for signal catharizing, more specifically collection of electromyography muscular responses. Dr Dickinson and his team are presently partnered with the test machine company Tinius Olson who have granted access to their machine. In addition he works with ASTM and is the subcommittee chair F48.04 – exoskeleton maintenance and disposal.