Professor Vassilis Kostakos from the University of Melbourne will be speaking at a special Research Grand Round on 19 November on ‘The Smart Hospital Living Lab’, an ongoing project to improve how hospitals run.

The Smart Hospital Living Lab develops technology with two objectives, namely to improve hospital safety and to improve hospital logistics. Northern Health has contributed significantly to the Smart Hospital Living Lab, through projects such as patient & staff tracking and the smart pillbox.

Vassilis will present a range of projects under the Smart Hospital Living Lab, including the above mentioned projects. He will take this opportunity to receive feedback from the audience regarding the direction of his work and future plans.

“In this presentation I will describe how we have approached our collaboration with hospitals in Melbourne, and will discuss how we use our expertise in Ubiquitous Computing and user-centred design to solve problems that hospitals have. Northern Health has been an invaluable partner in this work, by supporting us through their expertise, and providing us access and resources to conduct this research.”

Vassilis is a Professor of Human Computer Interaction in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on how to model user behaviour based on sensor data, and how to develop technologies that better understand and better respond to humans. His work combines user-centred design, machine learning, and mobile & smartphone-based technologies.

He has previously led projects on pedestrian mobility on city-scale, smartphone software for sensing users’ lifestyles, and large-scale analysis of social media. His main expertise is in smartphone sensing, context-aware computing, and behaviour modelling.

“The Smart Hospital Living Lab resonates strongly with me and the Staying Well Program (SWP) that we have initiated here at Northern Health. The Staying Well Program will address the phenomenon of high risk patients who present frequently to hospital. This will require a new generation of service models which better meet patients’ needs at home and in local communities, and the Smart Hospital Living Lab offers a lot of learnings for us,” says Professor Don Campbell, Service Director for the SWP at Northern Health.

“I would highly recommend attending the presentation to better understand how machine learning, including artificial intelligence and user-centred design, is helping meet patients’ needs,” adds Don.

The Research Grand Round with Professor Vassilis Kostakos on the subject of The Smart Hospital Living Lab will be held at Lecture Theatre 1 – Level 1, NCHER Building on Tuesday 19 November 2019 at 12.30 pm.