Current Research Focus: Type 1 Diabetes

Since 2019, I have pivoted my entire research portfolio to Type 1 Diabetes technology. This transformative shift has resulted in:

Research Infrastructure

  • Multidisciplinary Team: Partnerships across NHS, Diabetes UK, FBMH, and Manchester Diabetes Institute
  • PhD Training: 10 PhD researchers working on diabetes technology
  • Citizen Science: Brains Trust of 80 citizen scientists with Type 1 Diabetes
  • Clinical Network: Diabetes and Hypoglycaemia Technology Network (Pankhurst)

Research Translation

Melontech Start-up: Currently in stage 3 with UoM Innovation Factory, securing early funding for initial pilots to enable faster pipeline from research to practice.

Grant Success

Recent translation and development grants:

  • EPSRC Healthcare Grant (~£850k) - Under review
  • MRC/Wellcome Trust Confidence 4 Translation (£65k) - 2023/2024
  • Pankhurst Seedcorn Funding (£15k) - 2024
  • MRC Translation Grant (£25k) - 2023/24
  • Wellcome Trust Translation Grant (£25k) - 2022/23
  • Melontech Startup Seedcorn (£20k) - 2022

Research Output

11 journal papers in high-impact diabetes and hypoglycaemia venues, addressing critical challenges in hypoglycaemia prediction and management.

Research Areas

Digital Phenotyping & Personalisation

Developing adaptive user models for extreme users and extreme environments, focusing on:

  • Continuous glucose monitoring and hypoglycaemia prediction
  • Smartphone-based behavioural sensing
  • Wearable technology for health monitoring
  • Digital biomarkers for chronic conditions

Web Accessibility

Over 20 years establishing Web Accessibility as a respected scientific research discipline through:

  • Conference creation and organisation
  • Journal editing and standards participation
  • Raising standards in empiricism and open access
  • International standards development (W3C)

Ambient Intelligence & User Modelling

Research in ambient intelligence systems that adapt to user behaviour and context:

  • Activity prediction in smart environments
  • Behaviour change interventions
  • Intrinsic motivation recognition
  • Social sensing with smartphones

Health Technology Applications

  • Type 1 Diabetes: Hypoglycaemia reduction technology
  • Parkinson’s Disease: Day-to-day monitoring and social behaviour tracking
  • Visual Impairment: Web accessibility and adaptive interfaces
  • Neuro-Divergence: Eye-tracking for autism detection
  • COVID-19: Digital phenotypes for policy compliance

Collaborative Research

Industry Partnerships

Current and past collaborations include:

  • Healthcare: NHS, Diabetes UK, Novonordisk, Eli Lilly, Philips Healthcare
  • Technology: BBC R&D, Google, Intel, IBM Research
  • Engineering: Ove Arup Partners
  • Telecommunications: Telefónica, DoCoMo

International Collaborations

  • Finland: Academy of Finland ICT 2023 programme with University of Oulu
  • USA: Carnegie Mellon University
  • Spain: University of the Basque Country, CTIC
  • Japan: IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory

Research Impact

Metrics

  • Publications: 160+ papers
  • Citations: 6,014
  • h-index: 44
  • i10-index: 129
  • Downloads: 47,131 cumulative (ACM Bibliometrics)

Rankings

  • Top 5% internationally for HCI and WWW (Google Scholar, Microsoft Research)
  • 98th internationally for HCI using career and domain normalised hs-index (Scholarometer)

Recognition

ACM President Alexander Wolf described my work as having “singular impacts on the vital field of computing” with “achievements that have had a significant influence on the social, economic and cultural areas of daily lives all over the world.”

Commended as “instrumental to the development of the Web” by Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Research Facilities

Interaction Analysis and Modelling Laboratory (IAM)

Established and equipped through competitive bids, IAM comprises:

  • Two-room Usability Suite
  • Three Eye-trackers
  • Three Galvanic Skin Response monitors
  • Full Audio/Visual recording systems
  • Facilities for external companies (BBC, Thomson Reuters, NICE)

The laboratory brings together a multidisciplinary team of Human Factors specialists, Psychologists, and Computer Scientists, with an international network of IAM laboratories developing across Europe.