Ann Blandford

Ann Blandford is Professor of Human–Computer Interaction at University College London and formerly Deputy Director (Digital) of the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering. She is an expert on human factors for health technologies. Her first degree is in Mathematics and her PhD in Artificial Intelligence. She was a post-doctoral researcher at the Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge then a Lecturer, rising to Professor, at Middlesex University (Computer Science). She moved to UCL as Senior Lecturer in 2002, and was (re-)promoted to Professor in 2005. She was Director of UCL Interaction Centre 2004-2011, and of the UCL Institute of Digital Health 2015-2019. She is the Human Factors lead on multiple research projects on health technology design and deployment. The question that motivates her research is: how can we design and deploy health technologies that really work for people, rather than technologies that force us into undesirable modes of working, cause stress, or are rejected as not being fit for purpose? She has published widely on the design and use of interactive health technologies, and on how technology can be designed to better support people’s needs and values.

Email: a.blandford@ucl.ac.uk

Jeremy Opie

Jeremy Opie is a Research Fellow at Univeristy College London. His primary research focus is on ensuring technology adopted into healthcare products is fit for purpose, specialising in robotic surgical interventions. His first degree is in Mechatronic Engineering and his PhD in developing interfaces for control continuum robots for knee arthroscopy. He spent a number of years working in industry as a research and development engineer developing radar-based safety accessories, during which time he managed many products from conception to manufaturing. Coupling his research with his prior industry experience allows him to view the importance of human factors into manufacturing from a unique perspective.

Email: j.opie@ucl.ac.uk