BATA Celebrates new Research Special Interest Group
In September, BATA approved proposals for a new Research Special Interest Group (SIG), which will be led by Rohan Slaughter from the University of Dundee.
The BATA Research SIG aims to bring together colleagues from academia, enterprise and from practice-based organisations such as mainstream and specialist schools, colleges, third-sector run provision and organisations such as social care providers. The purpose of this group is to map out the requirements for and to undertake practically focused research that aims to directly benefit assistive technology users.
Graphic of a hand holding a magnifying glass over a graph.
Commenting on why BATA decided to initiate the groups creation, BATA CEO, Katherine Perry said “It’s crucial to recognise the importance of data and evidence in creating effective solutions and advocating effectively for our sector. For BATA, initiating this group demonstrates our internal commitment to involve a greater number of perspectives in the future of the work we do. We remain committed to increasing value for members and the impact of our work at home and abroad.”
The primary aim of the group is to support the development of practically focussed technology and practice-based research projects that can be advanced through ensuring that disabled peoples experiences are at the heart of all proposed work.
Further to this, Rohan, the group’s new Lead empasised, “The University of Dundee has a long history of ensuring that disabled people’s expert experience of assistive technology and AAC (augmentative alternative communication) systems are effectively included in research. The User Centre is a unique feature of Computing at Dundee and facilitates co-production of teaching and research with disabled expert users of technology. We would like to move beyond co-production to co-investigation, where disabled people are part of the research team. We plan to bring this ethos to the BATA research SIG and look forward to working with partners to ensure future research positively benefits users of assistive technology. The group will provide a unique space for the partners to collaborate and propose work that can quickly move from the research stage to prototyping and implementation in real world research contexts.”
The Research SIG’s objectives include:
Identification of new or under researched areas of work.
To ensure that AT users / disabled people's experiences are at the heart of new project scoping and identification, through a genuine co-design process leading to co-investigation with disabled people.
Providing a forum for partners to come together around a project.
To undertake project scoping or feasibility studies.
To apply for project specific funding to enable research projects to be sustainably undertaken.
To enable knowledge sharing from the research initiatives are able to feed into BATA’s other work, inclusive of evidence-based policy development, user advocacy, and professional development
If you’re a member and would like to sign up to the new Research SIG, or would be interested in joining BATA as a member, please contact Lisa.Sampson@bataonline.org.