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GOALD is run collaboratively by the University of Stirling’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport and the SPARKLE research group, as well as Stirling’s Centre for Environment, Dementia and Ageing Research in partnership with the University of Plymouth’s Centre for Health Technology (CHT). Funding comes from UK Research and Innovation’s Healthy Ageing Challenge via the Economic and Social Research Council’s Social Behavioural and Design Research Programme.

GOALD have partnered with three national strategic partners: ukactive, Sporting Heritage, Generations Working Together and seven local community groups: Sports Heritage Scotland, Active Stirling; Cornwall Rural Community Charity, Devon and Cornwall South Asian Society, Hearing Loss Cornwall, iSight Cornwall and Nudge. We are also working with 12 care homes, four in Scotland and eight in the South West. You can find a list of the GOALD partners on our partners page. Over the course of the three-year project, the research team will record the different groups’ experiences of digital resources and assistive technologies and then share their findings with business partners – small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to develop new technologies, product ideas and test design concepts.

The work is aligned to the University of Plymouth's existing EPIC project and the University of Stirling’s The Stirling 1000 Elders and will expand on the networks within them both.

Phase 1

Phase 1 of the project is multifaceted, it involves:

  • working with our seven local community groups and 12 care homes to recruit them as partners on our project, to later help recruit older and younger people for the Intergenerational Co-production Groups (ICGs) in Phase 2
  • identifying innovative technologies which could be used to encourage greater physical activity in older people, to be tested by the ICGs
  • establishing an advisory group made up of care home staff and community group members to advise on all aspects of the project from research methods, promotion and webinar content to technology suitability for older adults and the ICGs.

Phase 2

In Phase 2 we will begin to recruit our older and younger participants, working closely with our community groups and care homes to create Intergenerational Co-production Groups. These ICGs will become a pivotal resource for the project.

ICG participants will have opportunities to engage in various experiences focused on physical activity, sports, reminiscence, health and wellbeing, many of which will involve the use of novel digital health technologies. The ICG's will test and feedback on the experiences, and help develop and improve the ideas to best support their health and wellbeing. We will encourage engagement of businesses to participate in the co-production process, receiving valuable feedback from ICG's on their interventions or technologies, meaning experiences will better suit the needs and desires of the potential end-users.

As part of our learning from Phase 2, we will seek to build on best methodological practice for establishing intergenerational connections using the internet and technologies. This will be valuable knowledge to support in social connectedness and reducing loneliness through remote means.

Phase 3

In Phase 3 we will present our research findings, paying particular attention to the health outcomes of ICG participants. We hope that this will provide a valuable resource for SMEs and researchers looking to find innovative eHealth solutions to older people’s needs.

Phase 4

In Phase 4, new protypes from SMEs and our researchers will be tested and their effectiveness measured.

Phase 5  

The last phase of the project, Phase 5, will see the dissemination of our findings.

Contact us

If you would like to get in touch with our researchers about the GOALD project please contact: