All projects

Fit-for-purpose, affordable body-powered prostheses is designing upper limb prostheses that are both low cost and fit for their purpose and circumstance. The project is funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Challenges Research Fund.

Young children everywhere need to be mobile - to be able to explore their world, make choices about what they want to do, who they want to play with, and where they want to go.

GDI Hub is working with Designability to evaluate a new kind of seat that moves with the child and enables them to explore movement while they are seated and well supported

Disability Interaction (DIX) puts disability front and center in the design process, and in so doing aims to create accessible, creative new HCI solutions that will be better for everyone, including poor communities, which disabled people are more likely to be part of.

An EPSRC GCRF project the project tested a new methodology for creating accessible maps for fast changing cities like Delhi. Using embedded sensors attached to wheelchairs, we mapped accessible and difficult to access routes. Initially, the project also aimed to capture rehabilitation metrics whilst pushing a wheelchair beyond a clinical environment, but instead the community of wheelchair users we worked with preferred to use the tool as an advocacy tool.

Ongoing research where we have developed a new technique for wheelchair localisation and surface determination using a fusion of GPS/IMU information and machine learning. Data captured helps wheelchair users travel in a more effective ways and share data to demonstrate accessibility issues and encourage improvements.

The aim of this project to build new low-cost approaches to more reliable mental wellbeing measurements using mobile sensing technology, supporting unconstrained and potentially a variety of everyday situations.

Paris 2024, Disability Innovation, GDI Hub, London 2012

GDI Hub share their knowledge and experience including helping the British Paralympic Association (BPA) with their base camp preparations for Tokyo 2020.

GDI Hub provide inclusive design advice to Asian Development Bank (ADB), aiming to address accessible tourism in Georgia

Over five years, AT2030 will test ‘what works’ to improve access to AT and will invest in and support solutions to scale with a focus on innovative products, new service models, and global capacity support. The programme will reach 9 million directly and 6 million more people indirectly to enable a lifetime of potential through life-changing Assistive Technology.

We're looking for the next generation of pioneers in this groundbreaking field.

This programme is now managed by the Snowdon Trust.

Talented students are invited to propose a PhD research project in areas related to AI powered Physiological & Affective Computing, with the aim to create novel assistive technology and boost disability innovation.

A unique space for accelerating success, the Snowdon Disabled Leaders Network brings together exceptional disabled leaders to engage, build a community and share learnings.

Sharing knowledge and experiences in disability innovation, GDI Hub's new Disability Innovation Live series is a space for questions, ideas and reflections - we'll be telling the stories behind the innovations, the people behind the products and the pathways to success. Each month will focus on a different topic or theme.

AT2030 (Assistive Technology 2030) brings together partners who haven’t traditionally focused on assistive technology (AT), with experts, innovators and AT users to experiment with new ideas and thinking.

GDI Hub Academic Research Centre provides robust evidence of the effectiveness of the AT2030 projects to drive evidence and knowledge.

There is huge potential for mobile technology to improve blind and partially sighted people's experience of parks and open spaces and enable them to share these experiences with others. We are creating an accessible crowdsourced mapping system for BPSP to contribute their experience of visiting a park or open space and share these experiences in the forms of textual information, photos, sound bites, and videos to enable other people to enjoy these experiences anywhere in the world.

Participatory case studies on inclusive design and accessibility in cities. Creating enabling environments and infrastructure for assistive technology users through inclusive design.

The aim of the network proposal was to raise awareness within the communities of Southern Africa of the value of their cultural heritage and provide insights into how these may be expressed through inclusive crafts, leading to sustainable economic development.

Building knowledge and capacity around disability inclusion, inclusive design, and assistive technology with the ADB and among ADB Developing Member Countries (DMCs)

One of the first Spark Innovation activities is an Inclusive Design Challenge, inviting young innovators to design solutions for improving access to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for blind and partially sited people. The event takes place between 6–20 of June, 2022.

Partnering with UCL and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the GDI Hub hosted the Enable Makeathon 2.0 in London. Five teams were selected to come to London to further develop their disability innovation ideas into new products and services over the course of a 16-day intensive ‘bootcamp’.

In this workshop, we aim to bring together researchers, designers, and practitioners to explore effective strategies and brainstorm actionable guidelines for supporting disability inclusive online research methods and platforms.

Research and assistive technology for blind and partially sighted people often focuses on built environment access, or helping people navigate from one place to another. Yet there is little information or assistance in relation to open spaces and free leisure experiences individuals might want to have. PhD student Maryam Bandukda has developed a framework and a digital platform to help solve this problem.

Blind and visually impaired people rely on Braille as a key method of reading, learning and acquiring knowledge. Yet there are limitations in terms of access to Braille, and regarding the amount and type of information that can be translated into Braille. PhD student Tigmanshu Bhatnagar has created an affordable, refreshable display technology that can relay Braille and graphical information to users in a single device.

Despite the existence of disability laws and accessibility rules in different parts of the world, good mobility access for disabled people is not often a reality. PhD student and wheelchair user Anna Landre has joined the GDI Hub to explore the issues and possible solutions to this.

Assistive technology (AT) can improve lives, but only if the surrounding environment enables its effective use. In particular, cities and buildings need to be accessible and inclusive, as this helps to create an enabling environment for disabled people. GDI Hub Co-founder and Director of Inclusive Design, Iain McKinnon, is leading research on inclusive design in cities across the developing world.

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Assistive technology (AT) can improve lives, but only if the surrounding environment enables its effective use. In particular, cities and buildings need to be accessible and inclusive, as this helps to create an enabling environment for disabled people. GDI Hub Co-founder and Director of Inclusive Design, Iain McKinnon, is leading research on inclusive design in cities across the developing world.

Assistive technology (AT) can improve lives, but only if the surrounding environment enables its effective use. In particular, cities and buildings need to be accessible and inclusive, as this helps to create an enabling environment for disabled people. GDI Hub Co-founder and Director of Inclusive Design, Iain McKinnon, is leading research on inclusive design in cities across the developing world.