About Me

I am a Senior Lecturer and ARC Future Fellow in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. I am a member of the Interaction Design Lab, working in the field of human-computer interaction. My research is broadly concerned with understanding the role technologies play in people's learning, work, and social activities. My recent work has focused on:
  • Emerging technologies for enrichment in old age
  • The design and use of social technologies for older adults
  • Technologies for personal health and wellbeing 
  • Ethics of emerging technologies
  • Ethical issues in HCI research in sensitive settings
  • Understanding the impact of social technologies on teaching and learning practices in higher education. 

Latest News

Staying connected in aged care: The role of new technology
How can we use new technology to help aged care residents stay connected to the world? This issue has become crucial now that aged care homes are locked to visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Before COVID-19 hit, many aged care homes were already using new technologies in creative ways to provide social and emotional enrichment for aged care residents. The current crisis reveals how important technology can be for social connectedness in aged care and emphasises the need for staff to have access to training, tools, and time to ensure their residents stay connected. For more information about my research on this topic, see this article published in Pursuit. 
 Survey of staff experiences of using new technologies for social and emotional enrichment in aged care
As part of my Future Fellowship research, I am conducting a survey that aims to understand how various technologies, such as virtual reality, social robots, videogames, and social networking tools, can best be used to enrich the lives of older adults. The survey aims to gather staff perspectives on the benefits and challenges of using these technologies in aged care. 

If you are an aged care provider or technology developer/vendor who has experience deploying emerging technologies for social/activity programs in aged care, please consider sharing your insights via the short survey. Thank you! 
Contact:
jwaycott @ unimelb.edu.au
Location:
Room 301, Doug McDonell Building,
The University of Melbourne

Links:
Linked in profile
University of Melbourne Find an Expert page
Google scholar citations
​Twitter
Calendar