The recent global burden of disease study showed that low back pain (LBP) is the most significant contributor to disability in Europe. Most patients seen in primary care with LBP have non-specific LBP (≥85%), i.e., pain that cannot reliably be attributed to a specific disease/pathology. LBP is the fourth most common diagnosis seen in primary care (after upper respiratory infection, hypertension, and coughing). Self-management in the form of physical activity and strength/stretching exercises constitutes the core component in the management of non-specific LBP; however, adherence to self-management challenging due to lack of feedback and reinforcement. This project aims to develop a decision support system - SELFBACK - that will be used by the patient him/herself to facilitate, improve and reinforce self-management of LBP. Specifically, SELFBACK will be designed to assist the patient in deciding and reinforcing the appropriate actions to manage own LBP after consulting a health care professional in primary care. The decision support will be conveyed to the patient via a smartphone app in the form of advice for self-management. The advice will be tailored to each patient based on the symptom state, symptom progression, the patients goal-setting, and a range of patient characteristics including information from a physical activity-detecting wristband worn by the patient. The second part of the project will evaluate the effectiveness of SELFBACK in a randomized controlled trial using pain-related disability as primary outcome. We envisage that patients who use SELFBACK will have 20% reduction in pain-related disability at 9 months follow-up compared to patients receiving treatment as usual. Process evaluation will be carried out as an integrated part of the trial to document the implementation and map the patients’ satisfaction with SELFBACK. A business plan with a targeted commercialisation strategy will be developed to transfer the SELFBACK technology into the market.

The network aims to develop new advanced textile solutions directed at alleviating some of the most chronic medical conditions which have a direct impact on an individual's self esteem. This project explores how clothing and technology can be designed to improve mobility amongst individuals with associated health conditions, leading to improved confidence and subsequent improvements in self-esteem which are key factors in improving an individual's wellbeing and quality of life. Through the application of advanced technology and design, this project seeks to develop new wearable smart clothing concepts with direct relevance to a range of mobility and health issues. Current textile products do not provide satisfactory solutions for individuals with serious health issues wishing to maintain an active and independent lifestyle. They may alleviate certain aspects of a medical condition, however they don't address the full range of an individual's needs. The proposal seeks to investigate a range of new technologies including micro-electronics and new materials in order to develop advanced clothing that can be used to improve particular aspects affecting an individual's ability to participate in normal everyday activities. The project will adopt a co-design model in which end users are involved at the start of the project to ensure a close fit between need, technology and eventual implementation. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers will share expertise across the fields of fashion, textiles and product design, advanced materials, computing and life sciences. A unique aspect of this project is the bringing together of participants with debilitating medical conditions, designers, technologists, together with industrial collaborators with a view to developing a direct mechanism for the commercial exploitation of design outcomes. The approach involves the use of both lo-tech and hi-tech tools, both virtual and real, to rapidly create concepts for immediate feedback and further development for commercialization and potential customization. Understanding how conditions affect people's lifestyles is of fundamental importance in providing solutions. A focus group comprising of individuals representing different age groups and medical needs and mobility issues will be used to provide insights into key issues that need to be addressed by the designed outcomes. They will also be asked to assist in the evaluation of concepts. Concepts might include both passive and active technologies designed to have a direct effect on the individual's mobility. This project will provide an opportunity to look for synergies between advanced technologies and new materials. The project will prototype and visualize new solutions which can be implemented with the aid of commercial partners. Developing new products to tackle some of these problems can be very expensive and long-term, and is often seen as not being commercially viable however this project will provide a mechanism for developing new concepts in a way that is not open to a standard development route and therefore is much more likely to result in practical solutions with a high probability of adoption. This will involve adopting an open innovation approach, creating an 'ideas bank' website to showcase the concepts. Anyone wishing to develop the concepts will be encouraged to contribute via the ideas bank.

Port Cities can be seen as multidimensional laboratories where challenges connected with urban mobility are more complex due to the dual system of gravity centre: the city, the port, not to mention their shared hinterland.These peculiarities are at once a challenge and an opportunity, as they provide scope for planning, researching and implementing integrated mobility solutions in distinctively complex urban contexts. Civitas PORTIS designs, demonstrates and evaluates integrated sets of sustainable mobility measures in 5 major port cities located on the North Sea (Aberdeen and Antwerp), the Mediterranean Sea (Trieste), the Black Sea (Constanta), and Baltic Sea (Klaipeda). The project also involves a major international follower port city on the East China Sea (Ningbo). Thanks to the Civitas Initiative, the partner cities expect to prove that more efficient and sustainable mobility is conducive to the establishment of vital and multi-modal hubs for urban, regional, national and International movements of passengers and goods. To do this, they establish integrated living laboratories clustering local measures according to four major aspects of sustainable urban mobility: 1. Governance: to increase port-city collaborative planning and participation, leading to enhanced forms of SUMPs. 2. People: to foster less car-dependent mobility styles, leading to modal shift in favour of collective and more active transport. 3. Transport system: to strengthen the efficiency of road traffic management to/from the port and through the city, and foster the use of clean vehicles. 4. Goods: to enhance logistics and freight transport, improving the efficiency and coordination of city, port and regional freight movements. Working with port cities, Civitas PORTIS will generate a strong and twofold replication potential: 1) specifically to other port cities, and 2) more generally to cities presenting major transport nodes and attractors for the benefit of the whole CIVITAS Initiative.

To determine the technical issues in making an e-house 95% energy self-sufficient using demand reduction, onsite generation, and energy storage in an integrated system.

To develop a user centred blended learning system through the development of learning pedagogies and exploitation of appropriate technology platforms resulting in industry leading products.