This is the final talk of this academic year.
Title: Redesigning music technologies to support agency, creativity and relationality in dementia
Abstract: The wellbeing benefits of music participation are well documented for older adults and people living with dementia, however, the use of traditional tools and instruments places limits on the extent to which an individual can be actively creating music. This talk draws on longitudinal data from studies of novice older adults making music for the first time, and participatory research with community-based groups and residential care homes in co-designing new music technologies. Here, Dr MacRitchie argues for a strength-based approach to underpin how we think about music participation in dementia care such that it includes not only therapeutic models, but makes space for genuine citizenship, agency, creativity and relationality.
Biography: Dr Jennifer MacRitchie is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Sheffield, director of the EPSRC-funded BRIDGES for dementia technology development network and co-director of the Muses, Mind, Machine research centre. Her work examines how interacting with the arts through technology for older adults can lead to human flourishing, and she uses participatory approaches in the co-design of new musical technologies that challenge current stereotypes of musical interaction particularly in dementia. The BRIDGES network seeks to broaden the perception and understanding of what it means to have a full life living with dementia and how technology may be co-designed to support this across indoor and outdoor spaces, arts, sports and culture, communication and digital technology translation.
Zoom details:
https://zoom.us/j/93711378882?pwd=ONUDhocbW7ucS5dRak0RGdZBC27ynz.1
Meeting ID: 937 1137 8882
Posted on 17/06/2026
