Partners

Oslo Metropolitan University – Welfare Access Through Technology (WATT), Norway

The University Hospital of Copenhagen (Rigshospitalet)

The Danish Technological Institute, Denmark

Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark

Borgercenter Børn og Unge (BBU) is part of the Social Services in the municipality of Copenhagen. BBU is responsible for services targeting children under the age of eighteen with social or mental health problems as well as youths from the age of 18-22 years in the need of extra help with managing adult life.
BBU supports children, youths and their families in managing their lives when facing the challenges of being socially exposed and/or dealing with mental health problems. One of BBU’s main focus areas is to help secure schooling and education for all children and youths. BBU is a large organization with more than 50 specialized institutions and counseling services.

BBU has been looking into the use of telepresence technology the last couple of years to support efforts to keep children and youths in school during periods of instability due to challenges caused by social vulnerability and/or mental health problems.
As a partner in this project, BBU will be able to contribute with knowledge and concrete experiences and results of testing telepresence robots with children, youths and relevant professionals.

Line Rosenørn Engel, is the welfare technology coordinator in BBU and Telepresence project manager. Currently on leave.

City of Gothenburg, Sweden

The Department of Digitalization and Innovation (DoI) works to support and develop digital skills for pupils, teachers and school leaders. DoI also initiates innovation processes and it works to create the right conditions regarding infrastructure and the implementation of digital tools and resources within teaching with the goal of strengthening learning. One service that DoI offers is a robot for support. At present there are 32 robots which schools can apply for. The target group for the robots are children with problematic school attendance and children with serious illnesses.

Dominic Summerton is the project manager of the service; Robots as a support for pupils.

City of Malmö, Sweden

Grundskoleförvaltningens Digitaliseringsenhet in the city of Malmö is working on developing ICT as a tool for higher goal fulfillment and increasing inclusion for Malmö’s school students, increasing equality and sustainability to develop the students’ digital skills.

During the past few years, Grundskoleförvaltningens IT departement has purchased robots of various kinds to be able to lend them to the schools. They support the schools and are building a platform to collate pedagogical planning and work material on how the teachers use the robots to work with logical, critical and analytical thinking but also with problem solving, creativity and innovation.

Annie Bergh is working as an ICT advisor at Grundskoleförvaltningens Digitaliseringsenhet (Unit of Digitalisation), city of Malmö.

Annika Wibergh works as an ICT advisor at Grundskoleförvaltningens Digitaliseringsenhet (Unit of Digitalisation) city of Malmö.

Annika Emanuelsson works as an ICT advisor at Grundskoleförvaltningens Digitaliseringsenhet (Unit of Digitalisation) city of Malmö.

No Isolation, Norway

No Isolation is a Norwegian startup that developed the telepresence robot AV1 that acts as the child’s eyes, ears and voice in the classroom. They focus on the end user; new solutions and features are always tested with actual users.

The AV1 is being used across various markets and thousands of children use the avatar on a daily basis.

No Isolation want to put social isolation on the agenda and shine light on the issue of loneliness, and the effect of warm technology.

Anna Karlsson is Relations Manager for the Swedish market and is regularly in contact with municipalities and schools.

Johanna Dovander is Marketing Manager for the Nordic countries in No Isolation.

Oslo Metropolitan University – Welfare Access Through Technology (WATT), Norway

Oslo Met is a research group where researchers, users, and producers of technology together will develop knowledge on welfare technology targeted to socially isolated members of society.

The group’s thematic interests cover the intersection of technology and society, particularly in the pressing areas of education, elder care and needs, and integration of immigrants and refugees. Our main focus is on people who, for various reasons, are socially isolated, including children and adults with long-term illness or disabilities, the elderly, immigrants, and refugees. Today’s tech revolution offers new opportunities for inclusion of these groups, but we know little about the longer-term and unintended consequences they entail

Marit Haldar is a professor of sociology. Important themes in her research are childhood, elderly, gender and family, social inequality, social isolation and telepresence. Vulnerable subjects in the welfare state and health care system. Marit is head of the interdisciplinary research group Welfare Access Through Technology (WATT), she is the president of Norwegian Sociological Association, and a member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Kindergarten Research (REACH).

Lars E. F. Johannessen is a postdoc and sociologist with research on professions, culture, interaction and technology. He has done several ethnographic studies of health and social care, including a PhD on the relationship between discretion and standardization in the decision making of healthcare professionals.

Rigshospitalet

The University Hospital of Copenhagen (Rigshospitalet) is the largest hospital in Denmark and well known for its research and patient treatment success. They have the largest population of children with rare diseases in Denmark.

Bonkolab (RH) is a research lab within the Hospital’s Clinic for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Rigshospitalet University Hospital of Copenhagen. The research performed in Bonkolab is multidisciplinary and covers cancer diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation. One of Bonkolab’s research sub-groups is “The psycho-social research group” that focuses on children and adolescents with cancer psychological, social and educational challenges.

Hanne Bækgaard Larsen, Post Doc, founded the psychosocial research group in 2011. Hanne has 26 peer review articles published as well as several book chapters on intervention research and supportive care in children with cancer and their families. Hanne is also an associated professor at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Health Science.

René Mathiasen, MD. Ph.D. Consultant, Group leader of 5C, Danish Collaborative Comprehensive Childhood CNS tumor Consortium. Has extensive experience in covering up children with brain tumors learning problems both during and after treatment for cancer as well as children with neuropediatric conditions including close collaboration with professionals at all levels. Learning problems that will affect how and if they can go to school using telepresence during their cancer treatment and following rehabilitation.

Nonni Camilla Steinrud Cand. Comm/ Master of Arts, Ba in Business. Nonni is the TEN Coordinator and responsible for financial management. Nonni has been involved in children’s learning for the past 20 years, including marginalized children, developing products for children, events and social activities for children. Furthermore creating teaching programs in private and public education environments. Nonni has experience in developing and managing information and dissemination. Nonni has worked on EU -funded projects and manages financial reports since 2017.

Mette Weibel is educated as a schoolteacher and has a master in education science. In her current PhD she specializes in schoolchildren with cancer learning and socialization by telepresence robots during treatment.

The Danish Technological Institute, Denmark

The Danish Technological Institute (DTI) is a self-owned and not-for-profit institution. DTI occupies a crucial position at the point where research, business, and the community converge. Its mission is to promote growth by improving interaction and encourage synergy between these three areas.

DTI’s Centre for Robot Technology (DTI-RT) located in Odense with 50 experts, where they aim to be a pioneer in DK and abroad for application-orientated robot technology and knowledge transfer between research and business community.

Steen Harder Ulrichsen is Master of History and Nordic Languages from University of Southern Denmark from 1987. He has primarily worked within the fields of education and has been employed at DTI, center for robot technology. He has also been working with implementing technologies to the Danish education- and healthcare sector.

Birgitte Østergård Sørensen, Master of Arts, is business manager in relation to healthcare robotics at Danish Technological Institute. She has worked with strategy, management, and innovation in the field of combining deep knowledge of human behavior and needs with technological possibilities. She has a strong connection to the Danish and European healthcare sector and participates in relevant networks in this sector, e.g. CareNet and DIH-HERO, where DTI is a partner.