Events

Digital Health Seminar Series: Christopher Baleke

Developing a Digital Maternal and Child Health record system for a Linked Birth Cohort in Rural Uganda: A call for support.

Adverse pregnancy outcomes continue to pose serious risks to maternal and child health, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where mortality rates remain high. Digital health tools have shown promise, but their success depends on co-design with local communities.

At Mayuge Health Centre IV and St. Francis Hospital Buluba in rural Eastern Uganda, reviews of medical records reveal fragmented paper-based records and highlight barriers to continuity of care and data-driven interventions.

In this talk, Christopher will share ongoing work, highlight challenges, and outline the technical and financial support needed. Building on the medical records reviews, the project aims to co-design a digital tool tailored to local needs that will standardise routine clinical data capture, support continuity of care, and establish a linked birth cohort to generate robust evidence.

Bio: Christopher Baleke is a postgraduate researcher at Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, enrolled in the Molecular, Genetic and Life-Course Epidemiology program.

He is the Co-founder and organizational lead of the Mayuge Institute for Global Health Sciences Research and Innovations (MIHRI), a social research enterprise in Uganda dedicated to advancing maternal and child health.

Tuesday 14 October 2025
14:00 – 15:00 (BST)
Online (Microsoft Teams)

Digital Health Seminar Series: Darren Scott

Making the House a Home for Habits: Components and Characteristics for Home-Based Exercise Snacking

In this talk Darren will explore the societal crisis of limited daily physical activity and introduce exercise snacking – short, accessible exercises integrated into everyday routines, often at home. He will be sharing insights from a six-workshop series undertaken to address the lack of technical exploration in this area.

The first three workshops focused on designing for diverse groups and environments, while the latter three examined low-fidelity prototypes, revealing preferences for exercise formats and how they can fit within existing routines and shared living spaces.

Bio: Darren is a Postdoctoral Researcher currently working at Cardiff University as part of the EPSRC-funded Smart Cues project, looking at developing home-based habit formation and physical activity tools.

Tuesday 28 October 2025
14:00 – 15:00 (GMT)
Online (Microsoft Teams)

Getting Ethical Approval in Digital Health: An In-Person Workshop

Hub Researcher in Residence Matt Wragg will guide you through the process of preparing and submitting an ethics application and getting approval for your digital health research. This 2 hour workshop will provide an overview of research ethics in general, and guidance on creating ethics applications. We are also planning to allocate some time at the end for one-to-one support, where we will discuss any specific queries you may have regarding your own project or ethics application.

This workshop will be most useful for those working in digital health and want to carry out research, product trials, or clinical studies with people. Whether you are working with the general public, vulnerable populations, or NHS patients, this interactive session will provide guidance and support.

Wednesday 29 October 2025
16:00 – 18:00 (GMT)
In-person (Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RJ)

How could technology support people who are experiencing loneliness?

Join the team behind the LEAP-funded project Co-designing technological solutions to loneliness with at-risk populations for this in-person event at Bristol Digital Futures Institute.

Loneliness affects many people, but certain groups are particularly at risk and often overlooked in research and design. This event will share findings from work with three such groups and aims to spark new ideas. Following a short talk and Q&A, participants will take part in a hands-on design jam – a creative session focused on brainstorming tech-based solutions.

Part of the Festival of Social Science.

Wednesday 5 November 2025
16:00 – 18:00 (GMT)
In-person (Bristol Digital Futures Institute, Bristol BS2 0PZ)

Find out more and book a place

LEAP Community Sandpit

As part of our Digital Health Community Innovators scheme, we’ll be hosting an in-person Community Sandpit event in Bristol this November.

This interactive session will bring together our successful Community Innovators, who will present the challenges they’re exploring. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage in in-depth discussions around these challenges, with the aim of forming diverse project teams that combine lived experience, technical expertise, and community insight.

Participants in the Sandpit may come from a range of backgrounds, including academia, industry, the NHS, social care, health charities, and community organisations – anyone with an interest in contributing to challenge-led, lived experience–driven research.

Please note that the challenges will be defined by the Community Innovators; there will not be an opportunity to present new challenges at the event. More information about the selected challenges will be shared as part of the Sandpit application process.

Attendance will be by application only, to ensure a balanced mix of participants. While we welcome all expressions of interest, places are limited and cannot be guaranteed.

Teams formed at the Sandpit will be invited to apply for £10,000 seedcorn funding to further investigate and develop their chosen challenge.

Friday 14 November 2025
10:30 – 14:30 (GMT)
In-person (Trinity Centre, Trinity Rd, St Jude’s, Bristol BS2 0NW)