In October, the TORUS team from the University of Bristol and Newcastle University got together in central Bristol for a two-day project collaboration event. We were very grateful to have the chair of the Patient Council present, who kicked off the two-day event by discussing his experience with Parkinson’s, emphasising the current limitations in developing treatment and highlighting the importance of TORUS. It was valuable having this reminder of why we are here and the real-life impact that TORUS could have for people with Parkinson’s.
The Director and Principal Investigator of the project, Professor Ian Craddock, then went over the project’s progress and presented the technical documents that the team have been working on, to frame the topics for the two days. It was great to see how much progress had been made over the first year to narrow down areas of research to focus on and inform the development of the TORUS system.
This was followed by two exciting interactive workshops. Firstly, Amir and Jingjing from the video package team showcased the facial-recognition technology that will be used in TORUS. This involved team members having their faces logged onto the program and then trying to trick the program by changing their appearance to see if they could still be recognised. It was an interesting demonstration of how it can identify multiple different people in a shot and also highlighted where there are challenges.
Secondly, Duke from the wearable team demonstrated the wearable prototype and used it in a ‘guess the activity’ game. Our Senior Engagement Officer, Louise Duncan, expertly performed a variety of actions from an activity list and the team had to guess what she was doing based on the live readings of the wearable’s activity. It was helpful to see what the data looks like during different types of movement and highlighted that to the naked eye it can be difficult to determine what the different movements are!
Both these activities were insightful into seeing what has been developed, and how technology will actually work in real life, causing some thought-provoking questions and discussions. The formal part of the first day was closed by Ian Craddock, with some of the team meeting up for dinner in the evening.
The second day started with the postdoctoral researchers giving a short presentation on their work, TORUS or otherwise. It was a great opportunity for everyone to practice their presentation skills, answer questions and receive feedback from other members of the team. It was a fascinating insight into everyone’s knowledge and experience, really highlighting just how broad the areas of expertise are!
The majority of the second day was spent in four different meetings covering key challenge areas and providing an opportunity for in-person, cross-work package discussions. The day then culminated in an interaction workshop, giving everyone the chance to showcase their acting skills! Groups were asked to prepare and perform “a day in the life of TORUS…” to show how two typical TORUS participants could interact with the system over the course of the day. This included incorporating different interaction methods (e.g., app, voice assistant, diaries) to carry out certain required tasks of the TORUS system (e.g., administer consent, charge wearable, confirm if the system is working correctly). Everyone gave it their all, and the performances were both entertaining and informative, highlighting some of the opportunities we have for interaction, but also where there may be challenges. It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm that everyone gave it, particularly after two long days.
Overall, it was an engaging and successful two-day event, informing the future directions of the project and also giving everyone the opportunity to get to know one another better. Due to the nature of working across Newcastle and Bristol, this was the first time a lot of colleagues met each other in person and building these relationships is an important part of ensuring the success of TORUS.
