Author: Anna Jones

Assistive technologies HUG by LAUGH® and Milbotix SmartSocks® announce a Care Collaboration to improve quality of life for people living with dementia.

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

Dementia Action Week, 19-25 May

HUG®, a sensory device co-designed during the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded LAUGH project at Cardiff Metropolitan University, is transforming care for people living with dementia. HUG is a large cuddly sensory doll that people living with dementia find comforting and soothing to embrace.  HUG has long arms, a simulated heartbeat, and integrated customisable music and has achieved worldwide commercial success through spinout company HUG by LAUGH® (www.HUG.world).Lisa Hughes, manager of Llys y Seren care home, said “HUG is transformative for people who tend to become agitated when under stress, which happens frequently with people living with dementia. I honestly think HUG not only improves the quality of life for people using it but it’s also life prolonging.”

Building on this success, a 2022 study led by University of the West of England Bristol and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board adopted 500 HUGs across care settings, reporting positive outcomes. Findings were presented at the Senedd Welsh Parliament during an AHRC impact event, further validating HUG’s positive impact on wellbeing.

In an exciting new development, HUG by LAUGH® co-founder Dr Jac Fennell is partnering with med-tech start-up Milbotix and UWE expertise in Health and Computer Science. Milbotix, a spinout from research at UWE Bristol and the University of Bristol, develops wearable solutions that give insights on the wearer’s wellbeing, such as how anxious the person is feeling.

Dr Zeke Steer, Milbotix CEO

Commenting on the collaboration, Dr Zeke Steer, Milbotix CEO and inventor of SmartSocks® said: “This collaboration will use SmartSocks® technology  to monitor changes in the psychological wellbeing of HUG® users. The aim of the collaboration is to provide measurable, quantitative evidence of HUG’s effectiveness as a non-pharmacological intervention, potentially supporting its broader adoption in healthcare”

Dr. Jac Fennell, co-founder of HUG by LAUGH® and researcher at UWE Bristol, added: “This is an exciting opportunity to evaluate the emotional and sensory power of HUG® with innovative digital technology.  Using SmartSocks® to monitor the impact of HUG will enable us to generate meaningful data and insights for carers and clinicians.”

Dr Jac Fennell with the HUG

The project will also explore HUG’s benefits for people with autism, mental health challenges, and those receiving palliative care.

Vilans, the Dutch Centre of Expertise for Long-Term Care, will lead an evaluation of SmartSocks® and HUG® in two dementia care facilities. This Vilans study will assess patient wellbeing and potential cost savings, contributing evidence to inform dementia care and policy in the Netherlands.

Findings from both UK and Dutch evaluations will shape plans to trial HUG® with the SmartSocks® in NHS settings, with the goal of reducing agitation and anxiety, improving care outcomes, and supporting the wider use of non-pharmacological assistive technologies in health and social care.

HUG by LAUGH and Milbotix have been supported by Alzheimer’s Society’s award-winning Accelerator and this marks the first time two supported innovations have joined forces on a collaborative project. 

According to Alzheimer’s Society there are currently around one million people in the UK with dementia. This is projected to rise to 1.4 million people by 2040. 

Simon Lord, Alzheimer’s Society’s Head of Innovation said:

“At Alzheimer’s Society, we support and invest in innovative solutions to address the challenges people affected by dementia face today, while our world-class research helps to deliver the treatments of tomorrow. 

“This collaboration shows the power of innovation in dementia care. As we raise awareness this Dementia Action Week of the six most common symptoms, we’re urging anyone worried about themselves or a loved one to use our symptom checklist and speak to their GP. 

“An early and accurate diagnosis can open the door to vital treatment and support, including innovative products like SmartSocks and HUG. Technologies like this can significantly improve quality of life by addressing specific symptoms like anxiety. It’s inspiring to see our Accelerator partners working together to create solutions that support people with dementia.” 

If you’re worried about yourself, or someone close to you, then check your symptoms today. Visit alzheimers.org.uk/checklist or call Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Support Line on 0333 150 3456. 

This HUG by LAUGH and Milbotix collaboration project is supported by an Arts & Humanities Research Council Impact Accelerator Award.

About Milbotix 

Milbotix is a fast growing, venture-backed digital health company with offices in Bristol, UK. We create accurate, AI-enabled wearable devices embedded in everyday items of clothing for use in research, social care and healthcare. Our first family of products is called SmartSocks®. Developed with support from Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, the socks are more familiar and less intrusive for people with conditions like dementia. 

www.milbotix.com Contact Dr Zeke Steer at zeke@milbotix.com  

About HUG-By-LAUGH 

HUG by LAUGH® is a UK-based company focused on improving quality of life through innovative, research-led products. Its flagship product, HUG®, is a sensory comfort device designed to reduce anxiety and enhance wellbeing, particularly for people living with dementia. Developed from academic research at Cardiff Metropolitan University, HUG has been trialled in hospitals, care homes, and domestic settings. HUG by LAUGH are Alzheimer’s Society UK Accelerator Partners. 

www.hug.world Contact Dr Jac Fennell at jac@hug.world  

About Vilans 

 Vilans is the national Centre of Expertise for Long-Term Care in the Netherlands. The organisation works to improve the quality of care through research, innovation, and knowledge sharing. Vilans collaborates with care providers, policymakers, and researchers to develop practical solutions that support people with complex care needs. As a leading voice in dementia care, Vilans conducts evaluations of innovative interventions and contributes evidence to inform national care policy and practice. 

www.vilans.org Contact Tom Van Hoesel at T.vanHoesel@vilans.nl  or Sima Ipakchian Askari S.IpakchianAskari@vilans.nl 

Empowering Neurodivergent Talent: Apprenticeship Inclusion

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

At UWE Bristol, we believe that a truly inclusive learning and working environment benefits everyone. In today’s diverse workforce, recognising and supporting neurodivergent individuals is not just a matter of inclusivity – it’s a strategic advantage.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where neurodivergent individuals can thrive academically and professionally. By understanding and supporting neurodivergent talent, we not only promote inclusivity but also unlock a wealth of potential.

Approximately 1 in 7 people in the UK are neurodivergent, encompassing conditions such as dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, and more. At UWE Bristol, we see the incredible value that neurodivergent students and apprentices bring to our community. These individuals often possess exceptional skills in areas like problem-solving, creativity, and holistic thinking—attributes highly valuable in the workplace.

Apprenticeships provide a practical pathway for neurodivergent individuals to apply their strengths in real-world settings. The hands-on experience, structured learning environment, and mentorship opportunities align well with the learning styles of many neurodivergent apprentices.

For businesses, embracing neurodiversity within apprenticeship programmes can lead to:

  • Enhanced Innovation: Diverse thinking styles contribute to creative problem-solving and innovation.
  • Improved Employee Retention: Inclusive practices foster a supportive environment, leading to higher job satisfaction and retention rates.
  • Greater Productivity: Unlocking the potential of the entire workforce is critical for effective and efficient ways of working and boosting outputs.

To reinforce the importance of understanding and supporting neurodivergent individuals within the apprenticeship landscape, Simon Flenley, Assistant Director of Research & External Engagement (Skills), Vanda Papafilippou, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Dr. Laura Fogg-Rogers, Associate Professor for Engineering in Society from UWE Bristol met with Inclusive Change.  The discussion covers the challenges neurodivergent apprentices face, the importance of disclosure, recruitment and retention strategies, and creating an inclusive learning and working environment. The video also highlights our initiatives and upcoming events aimed at fostering these discussions and practices.

Watch the full Film

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.  Our partnership managers can explore how we can support your business with our apprenticeship programmes.

Make a business enquiry

The Sibling Sexual Behaviour & Abuse (SSB-A) Practice Outcomes Framework for services and organisations supporting and responding to sibling sexual behaviour and abuse.

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

Guest blog by Amy Adams & Kieran McCartan.

Sibling sexual behaviour and abuse (SSB-A) is an emerging research area in the field of preventing and responding to harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) in children and young people (CYP). Over the last five years the authors have been involved in several research projects (including the first government commissioned national sibling sexual abuse project for the Home Office with SARSAS, Purple Leaf and Dr Sophie King-Hill from the University of Birmingham)have worked with a number of national and international organisations (#SiblingsToo and Thriving Survivors) and have published with others on SSB-A (including but not limited to Dr Sophie King-Hill, David Russell, Dr Peter Yates and Stuart Allardyce –  for a list of relevant publications please see the resource and the UWE repository). Over this period, it has occurred to the authors that while the research and evidence base on SSB-A is emerging and has long been central to the work of many professional organisations and frontline services, these services rarely carry out research or collate an evidence base on their practices and outcomes relating to SSB-A. This is mainly because frontline services lack time, resources, funding and research experience to carry out this work alongside their practice. To support services/organisations/professionals who want to become more outcomes focussed and evaluate their work regarding SSB-A, the authors using internal impact related funding from UWE, have developed a research and evaluation framework for SSB-A.

The research and evaluation framework has been developed and is underpinned by the authors’ research experience and knowledge of the area of SSB-A, as well as the extensive research and evaluation carried out by them in the field of sexual abuse. The framework provides the current research context of SSB-A and states why we need a better practice-based evidence base, before highlighting the most effective methodologies for doing this and how they can be best understood, interpreted and evidenced by practitioners. The framework is underpinned by a wellbeing and trauma-informed approach and a public health and development perspective.  Moreover, as SSB-A is a family systems issue it needs a family systems response, especially if uncovered or disclosed in childhood, as such the framework addresses and centralises a ‘whole family’ perspective.

Given the complicated nature of reporting and recording data on SSB-A, whether the behaviour and abuse was disclosed and reported in childhood (therefore framed as harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) and an ongoing child protection issue) or in adulthood (as a victim services issue as well as potentially a criminal justice issue), evaluating the topic can be challenging. The framework offers insights to collecting and evidencing outcomes for five distinct but interrelated populations:

  • Children and young people (CYP) who has been harmed
  • CYP responsible for the harm
  • Parent and carers of CYP impacted by SSB-A
  • Adults who as children were responsible for harm
  • Adult victim-survivors of SSB-A

The framework also provides examples of the research questions, data that needs to be collected for each of these groups, providing worked examples and data collection tools and analysis guidelines. It is hoped that this framework will be of use to practitioners in developing their own evidence base in SSB-A and that this in turn will feed into academic research as well as improving commission, evidence-based practice and improve outcomes for everyone impacted by SSB-A.

The framework is a free resource and can be found on the UWE website.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact the research team (Kieran.mccartan@uwe.ac.uk or axa1895@student.bham.ac.uk).

Amy and Kieran would like to thank New Wave , especially Jessica Jolliffe and Kaela Earl-Tester, for all their work on the production of the final document.

Project Zulu Choir returns to Bristol for the biennial tour – book your tickets

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

The incredible Project Zulu Choir returns to the region in May for their biennial tour.

Project Zulu is a suite of educational development projects run by UWE Bristol to promote lifelong learning opportunities across township schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The Project involves a choir of 20 children aged 11 to 14, from two of the township schools.

Over three weeks the choir will tour the South West, showcasing their traditional Zulu song and dance in concert halls, schools, and busking in busy city centres.

Every penny raised during the tour goes back into the project to help improve their educational facilities including helping to develop digital classrooms.

The tour will close with a gala concert at Bristol Beacon, marking 10 years since the choir’s last visit to the renowned venue. The performance features Britain’s Got Talent finalist and opera sensation, Innocent Masuku, who became a household name in 2024 after his performance on the ITV show. He will host the gala concert, perform solo and sing with the choir in what promises to be a truly unique collaboration.

View the 2023 finale concert for a taste of what to expect:

The tour dates are:
  • Saturday 24 May: Central Bath busking day*
  • FREE EVENT, public spaces all day (location to be confirmed)
  • Thursday 29 May: Central Bristol busking day*
  • FREE EVENT, public spaces all day (location to be confirmed)
  • Friday 30 May: Central Bristol busking day*
  • FREE EVENT, public spaces all day (location to be confirmed)
  • Plus, a performance at Bristol Old Vic Family Day
  • Saturday 31 May: Bristol Bears Game
  • Pre-game performance in the fan village and a half-time pitch-side performance.
  • Ashton Gate Stadium, 2pm. Buy Tickets
  • Thursday 5th June: Gala Concert featuring Britain’s Got Talent Finalist, Innocent Masuku.
  • Bristol Beacon, 7pm. Buy Tickets

*Busking days are weather permitting. Exact busking locations will be released on Project Zulu social media closer to the day.

When they’re not performing, the choir will visit primary and secondary schools across Bristol, offering cultural workshops and exchange opportunities. Generous hosts in Bristol will open their homes to the choir members, providing a reciprocal hosting experience.

Dr Benjamin Knight, Project Zulu Director, said: “The choir will bring boundless energy and charisma during their tour, projecting their incredible sound and thrilling audiences. But this tour isn’t just a must-see event – it plays a crucial role in supporting the children’s schools and education. Every ticket bought and every donation made will directly impact young people’s futures.”

For more information, visit the Project Zulu website.

UWE Bristol researcher makes strides in ARC Accelerate programme

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

UWE Bristol is proud to highlight the achievements of Dr. Jack Lowe, based in the Digital Cultures Research Centre, who recently completed the prestigious ARC Accelerate programme. Jack spent six months transforming his innovative ideas into a scalable venture, with the support of this AHRC/ESRC-funded initiative.

About ARC Accelerate

ARC Accelerate is a 6-month accelerator programme designed to help researchers in social sciences, arts, and humanities transform their ideas into market-ready products and services. The programme offers up to £62,500 in funding, along with comprehensive support including training, mentorship, and networking opportunities.

Dr. Jack Lowe: Pin the Tale

Jack has developed Pin the Tale, a digital game that strengthens community ties to place using the what3words app. In the game, players use what3words addresses to write stories about specific locations, creating connections between narrative and place. This innovative approach encourages players to explore and share their experiences of different locations through storytelling.

For Jack, the ARC programme offered a transformative perspective on research commercialisation. He reflects:

“Commercialisation doesn’t have to mean profiteering. Instead, it is most useful as a lens for thinking about how to sustain the impact of your work, whatever form that might take.”

The programme’s structured support and resources proved invaluable:

“Having a dedicated period of paid time focused solely on my venture, and being able to fully pay my collaborators for their work, resulted in an outcome that simply would not have been possible otherwise.”

Through engaging with multiple stakeholders during the programme, Jack gained crucial insights into how his platform could meet real-world needs. Each public workshop has provided new learning opportunities about the challenges and possibilities his game presents.

Project Progress and Future Plans

Since completing the ARC Accelerate programme, Jack has successfully launched Pin the Tale in early-access to the public. The game is now freely available online, inviting users to discover and create stories connected to specific locations across the UK.

“At its heart, Pin the Tale is about re-connecting individuals and communities to the places they live in, visit or care about. It’s about going beyond the ‘official’ stories of places; the ones we might be familiar with from history lessons or books. Pin the Tale aims to be much more intimate, inspiring and creative, where ‘culture’ and ‘heritage’ is something to be uncovered in people’s own stories and the stories of others in their communities.”

The game offers two key experiences:

  • Discovering stories about places you’re interested in: Navigate on the map to an area of the UK that you’re interested in. Click the Find Stories button to read stories other people have written about places in that area. 
  • Share your own stories: Zoom into a UK location on the map that you want to write a story about. Click the square closest to the spot your story is about, then click ‘Write a story about this location’. Stories on Pin the Tale can take any creative form: fictional, poetic, historical, personal, informative, imaginative.

Jack emphasises the experiential nature of the game:

“When learning about the world around you feels like a process of discovery – when it engages your imagination – that’s when it becomes exciting. We want to evoke that feeling in our players.”

The project continues to gain recognition within the academic community, with Pin the Tale being selected as a featured project at this year’s Royal Geographical Society Annual International Conference, where it aligns perfectly with the conference theme of ‘Geography and Creativity.’

Support for UWE Researchers

UWE is committed to supporting our researchers in transforming their innovative ideas into real-world impact. Jack’s success in the ARC Accelerate programme demonstrates the potential of our research community to drive positive change through commercialisation.

Find out more about the ARC pathway here: https://arcaccelerator.io/

Key Dates:

  • Applications for the next cohort open in June 2025.
  • Programme start: February 2026

Get Support: To discuss your application and receive guidance on the process, contact UWE’s Impact and Innovation Team at ipteam@uwe.ac.uk

Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:

Using eye-tracking and machine learning technology to aid the early diagnosis of crippling neurodegenerative diseases

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

“Technology is a great enabler. It can make a real difference to our lives. That is why we are using eye-tracking technology and machine learning to aid the early diagnosis of crippling neurodegenerative diseases. ” 

Dr Wenhao Zhang, Associate Professor of Computer Vision and Machine Learning   

I currently have two main streams of research. One is around agriculture technology, using computer vision and machine learning. The other one is to adapt and apply a similar set of techniques to a very different interdisciplinary challenge: healthcare tech. I am looking at how we can use eye tracking and machine learning for disease diagnosis.   

The eyes have it   

  
Eye tracking is a really interesting area – for me personally and for useful, real-world applications – because eye movements are quite an important type of human behaviour. They tell people about your attention, for example, Are you interested? Are you tired? and potentially other clinical signs useful to disease diagnosis. We can absolutely read a lot from eye movements.   

Our ambition is to use eye movement information, combined with machine learning analysis, to tell you if you might have a neurodegenerative disease such as dementia or its early pre-disease stages. We are in the early stages of our research work, and we are taking a very novel approach to diagnosis. But we believe in what we are doing based on evidence shown in the relevant literature and the successes we have had with applying machine vision and machine learning to other research areas. The ultimate aim is to enable everyone to be able to undertake eye tracking tests in their own home.   

Pick up and play   

Essentially, we are working to create a kind of an eye tracking test for dementia. The current gold-standard tests commonly need to be administered by a clinician. It takes time. It is labour intensive. It’s inconvenient for everyone really. Despite the availability of newer forms of eye tracking tests, you have to sit there and complete a visual task, which can be tracking a dot moving in different directions on a screen. The task can be somewhat counterintuitive. And it’s not fully representative of your cognitive functions and higher-level thinking skills.   

What we want to do is build everything into a game. A game you can play on your laptop, phone and tablet. A game that uses the built-in camera to track and record your eye movements.   

Through machine learning analysis of subtle but high-speed eye movement, we aim to spot errors in movement trajectories, latencies in responses to stimuli, and other more complex eye movement patterns. We would then compare those patterns to a healthy group of people who are not cognitively impaired and also to people who have dementia.   

Increasing the data set   


Also, by making the test more accessible we can increase our data set which often improves machine learning performance. While there are already commercial eye trackers available, they are commonly very, very expensive. Also, people can’t get to or use them easily, especially people who have a neurodegenerative condition. Through our research work, we want to enable just a normal webcam, or the camera on your phone or tablet, to achieve accurate and ubiquitous eye tracking. And ultimately, the more accessible the test, the more people will use it, and the bigger difference we can make.   

Looking to tomorrow   

Once we are up and running, we want to conduct some kind of longitudinal study. To see, for example, what happens if you play the game once a day or a few times a day. What happens over the course of a year. Are there any neuropsychological changes detectable by our approach? Could playing the game delay the onset of dementia? How early could dementia be detected before clinical symptoms manifest?  Certain aspects of our future work are entirely hypothetical, but these are the kind of questions we want to ask of ourselves.   

 Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:

Working closely with minoritised communities around their sexual health and on marginalisation through sexual violence

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

“The work I do is applied real world change, in sexual health and sexual violence. We work with – and for – groups whose voices are seldom heard.”   

Dr Jane Meyrick, Associate Professor in Health Psychology  

I work closely with minoritised communities around their sexual health and on marginalisation through sexual violence.  Recent BMA award winning work has been with young survivors of sexual violence.   

Collaborating with local partners, the Greenhouse and the Bridge SARC via Bristol Health Partners Sexual Health Improvement Health Integration Team (SHIP HIT), we set out to put survivors of child sexual abuse in charge of improving sexual health services for survivors like them in the city.  

Their voice, their path  

We supported young survivors to redesign the way that their treatment worked. We paid attention to power dynamics to ensure real co-production. We produced a new patient pathway guided by a kind of a passport or map to help children, young people and their carers find their way through the service, through the journey.   

The map showed them all their options and put them in charge of decisions about where they could go and what it was like. We used bitesize videos to show them what they could expect, what the sexual health clinic looks like, who you’ll be meeting, here’s the room, here’s the process. For all of us involved, it was – always is – about finding the options that they like, what’s going to work for these young survivors.   

More power to the individual   

Throughout the design process, we used safe, trauma informed art based methods to uncover what survivors needed from a service. The young survivors designed different characters and imagined what each would need.   At the end, we also asked them to tell us how to evaluate the work, if it was for them, what do they think success looks like. 

For me, it’s about giving power to these unheard voices and in the case of trauma survivors, the process needs to be restorative, giving them back voice and options. And I guess that’s the thread in my work. I’m passionate about listening to people to find out what they need – not what we assume or think they need. That’s so important.   

This is true across a range of groups I work with, there’s never one answer. I have other research students working with minoritised groups including black men in London telling us what they need from sexual health services, sexual violence survivors telling us what stops them using healthcare and what support male sex workers need.  We are looking for funding to build a digital community around their sexual needs.   The latest project I am working on is to get refugee and asylum seekers better served by sexual health and gender-based violence services. 

Trusted to make a real difference   

I love what I do. I really love listening to people’s stories – and helping to tell them, to share them. It’s an honour in many ways. But there’s real responsibility too. I work with groups that have often suffered trauma. And so it’s incredibly important that these survivors can see that their stories making real world change. I recently handed over £2000 in BMA prize money to the young survivors at Greenhouse who co-produced the patient pathway and they will decide how to spend it.   

Because that’s what it’s all about. What we do has to make a change. It has to result in improvements.  So yes, I tell my students that we’re here to change the world. Not just here to find out about it, but to make it better.   

Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:

Developing environmentally friendly, highly effective liquid robots

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

Dr. Noushin Raeisi Kheirabadi, Research Fellow, Unconventional Computing Lab   

I’m a research fellow in the Unconventional Computing Lab. It’s a European funded project (COGiTOR) to make liquid robots.   

We are working to produce liquid computing and biological computers. Holonomic memory and computing, pressure sensing, and energy harvesting from thermal gradients will be achieved using colloids. These will have a lot of benefits for the environment. Liquid robots are completely environmentally friendly too. They can be recycled easily in the environment.    

New, novel, next   

My great passion is to change the world and help the environment. I believe that through our work we can make a very big difference in the future. This is exciting to me. What we are doing is new and novel.  

I love what I do. And being in research at UWE Bristol is very inspiring and you’re constantly learning.  

Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:

Knowledge Transfer Partnership Case Study – Taro Agric Farm

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between University of the West of England (UWE), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), the Taro Agric Farm (TAF) was established to harness data-enabled innovations (DEI) for the commercial poultry industry in Nigeria. The project aimed to enhance chicken production efficiency and optimise overall business operations through the strategic application of data-driven technologies and academic expertise. Kamran Munir (Professor of Data Science) led the collaborative relationship with the Nigerian partners and the project from UWE. Saidu Oseni (Professor of Animal Sciences) led the project from OAU.

The Company

Taro Agric Farm (TAF), is a broiler chicken production company based in Southwest Nigeria. With over a decade of experience, TAF specialises in commercial broiler farming, operating concurrent batches of 2,000 birds per cycle. The company has multiple production centres, including its main base in Ile-Ife, Osun State, and outgrower units in Ilesa (Osun State) and Ibadan (Oyo State). Beyond production, TAF is actively engaged in consulting services, capacity building, and training for poultry farmers, offering expertise across the entire broiler chicken value chain—including input supply, production, processing, distribution, and marketing. A defining characteristic of TAF is its forward-thinking approach to poultry farming. Through the African Agriculture Knowledge Transfer Partnership (AAKTP), TAF successfully integrated smart technologies such as IoT-enabled sensors, a data storage for real-time data management, and predictive analytics to enhance decision-making in poultry production. This has positioned TAF as one of the leaders in leveraging data-driven solutions for sustainable poultry farming in Nigeria.

7 people from UWE Bristol and Taro Agric Farm stood together smiling at the camera

The Challenge

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between Taro Agric Farm (TAF), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), and the University of the West of England (UWE) was initiated to apply data-enabled innovations (DEI) to commercial chicken production in Nigeria and to improve and optimise business operations. A key focus was developing a strategy for embedding DEI to create sustainable broiler chicken operations over the long term. The poultry industry in Nigeria faces multiple constraints, including high mortality rates, inefficient farm management practices, limited use of data in decision-making, and poor environmental conditions affecting broiler chicken welfare and productivity. In the past, TAF like many others in the industry, relied on conventional methods of managing poultry production, which lacked the real-time monitoring and predictive capabilities needed to optimise productivity and farm environment. Farmers and farm managers had to rely on manual data collection and experience-based intuition, making it difficult to identify early warning signs of health risks or performance inefficiencies. Without data-driven insights, farm operations were reactive rather than proactive, often leading to delayed interventions and losses. In addition, one of the biggest challenges TAF faced in the past was high mortality and morbidity rates in broiler production. Various environmental factors, such as poor ventilation, excessive heat, high humidity, and exposure to noxious gases, particularly ammonia, significantly affected bird health. Without a robust system to monitor and control these environmental conditions, broiler chickens were at risk of disease outbreaks, respiratory problems, and stress, which ultimately led to economic losses.

Tackling these constraints required innovation in both poultry management and business practices to enhance the viability and profitability of operations. The KTP project activities included setting up an IoT platform, configuring sensor nodes, and establishing a database to record and store data on various parameters such as chicken welfare, input supplies, production, processing, distribution, and marketing. The project also involved the development of dashboards for monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs), the use of predictive analytics, and conducting performance comparisons across production batches. Additional activities included stakeholder engagement through workshops to build and embed capacity. The key accomplishments of KTP project include the successful setup, testing, and deployment of a IoT platform in a broiler chicken unit in southwest Nigeria, where key variables related to chicken welfare and performance were captured and monitored. Company data was archived in a database, and a dashboard was developed to track temperature, relative humidity, air quality and noxious gas parameters. An end of project Stakeholders’ Engagement Workshop aiming towards widening participation and sustainability with approximately ~100 participants, including poultry farmers and industry professionals, was also successfully conducted.

“This project equipped TAF staff with advanced digital farming skills, enhanced OAU’s research capacity and curriculum, and strengthened international collaboration—demonstrating how innovation and partnership can drive sustainable agricultural development.”

Prof. Kamran Munir (Professor of Data Science, University of the West of England, UWE Bristol)

Benefits and Changes

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between Taro Agric Farm (TAF), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), and the University of the West of England (UWE) has led to significant improvements in broiler chicken production, farm efficiency, and data-driven decision-making at TAF. As a result of the KTP, Taro Agric Farm and its staff have acquired several new knowledge areas and capabilities. These include (but not limited to):

  1. The staff gained expertise in deploying sensor nodes to monitor key health and welfare indicators of broiler chickens. This application of digital technology is directly contributing to improved productivity and profit margins by enabling real-time data collection and analysis of poultry welfare to guide operations at the unit.
  2. TAF implemented a smart farm infrastructure, incorporating WiFi, inverters, and clusters of sensor nodes, along with smart cameras to monitor the comfort, welfare, and performance of chickens. This integration allows for continuous, remote monitoring, improving operational control and decision-making.
  3. The business acquired the capability to track, manage, and analyse its data assets—spanning performance, ambient conditions, costs, and returns—via a MySQL database. This centralised data storage allows for enhanced data organisation, retrieval, and long-term analysis.
  4. A key capability gained was the deployment of a real-time dashboard that tracks health and welfare indicators of broiler chickens. This dashboard offers a user-friendly interface for staff to monitor key variables and make informed decisions regarding poultry welfare and management.
  5. The staff were trained to track and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) across production batches and historical data. This has allowed TAF to benchmark performance, identify trends, and adjust improve the consistency and quality of production, while also enabling more accurate forecasting and strategic planning
  6. TAF’s adoption of data-enabled innovations (DEI) and IoT technologies positioned it as a leader in digital poultry farming in Nigeria. Sales turnover is expected to increase by 30%-40% within three years, due to improved efficiency and scalability. Profit before tax is projected to grow by 20%, within the next three years. Increased demand for TAF’s consulting services, as other poultry farms seek to implement similar digital solutions.

Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) updated its Animal Sciences curriculum to incorporate digital technologies. The project also strengthened ties between OAU and UWE, fostering international collaboration in poultry technology research. The project research outcomes are being published as open access where possible which cover the use of digital technologies and data-enabled innovations for the enhancement of the welfare and performance of broiler chickens – as a case study in Nigeria.

“The KTP was an excellent opportunity to blend academic research with industry application. At OAU, we have always been committed to advancing precision livestock farming, and this project allowed us to practically demonstrate the power of digital transformation in poultry production.”

Prof. Saidu Oseni (Professor of Animal Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Nigeria)

Key Facts

  • To best of our knowledge, TAF is the first poultry farm in Nigeria to integrate IoT and digital technologies into broiler production to this scale.
  • IoT-enabled sensors deployed to monitor temperature, humidity, air quality, and toxic gases in real-time.
  • A database established for real-time data collection and performance tracking
  • Decision Support Dashboard developed, allowing farmers to make data-driven decisions
  • Sales turnover expected to grow by 30 – 40%within three years
  • Profit before tax projected to increase by 20%
  • 100+ poultry farmers and industry professionals trained on smart poultry farming
  • 19 undergraduate & 2 MSc projects initiated on digital poultry farming at OAU
  • Presented findings at the Nigerian Poultry Show (NPS) 2024, reinforcing industry leadership
  • OAU integrated digital technologies into its Animal Sciences curriculum, influencing future research.

Find out more about the Knowledge Transfer Partnership in the Case Study below.

Knowledge Transfer Partnership – Case Study – TaroDownload

This partnership received financial support from the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships programme (KTP).  KTP aims to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base.  This successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership project, funded by UK Research and Innovation through Innovate UK, is part of the government’s Industrial Strategy.

Uncovering unheard stories and amplifying voices that haven’t been heard in the mainstream

Author Anna Jones | Posted on

Professor Shawn Sobers, Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice   

I’m an anthropologist, so for me there’s no separation between the personal and the practice. That’s why I call my research heart work. Because it’s directly connected to me, myself, my cultural identity.   

Through my work, I want to tell stories that need to be told.  Some call them untold stories, but I prefer to call them unheard stories rather than untold, because often I’m not the first person ever to tell them, but I bring the stories to light in different ways. They’ve already been told in the oral tradition, so they’ve been heard, but not by everyone. Often communities don’t have the mechanisms to share these stories, tin the mainstream, in the media, or other formats. To get the stories out there for more people to hear. I’m keen to help them do just that.   

The Emperor’s best friend   

An example: a big part of my research work has been around a space in Bath called Fairfield House. It’s where Emperor Haile Selassie lived for four years when he came to England to campaign for allied support to liberate his country from Mussolini’s invasion. The Emperor left his former home Fairfield House to the city of Bath for aged citizens. My own parents spent much time there too at the day centre, when they were alive.   

Back in 2016, I was at Fairfield House for an Ethiopian cultural day. I got talking to a lady around my mum’s age. Her name was Emeyou Teklamariam. She mentioned how her great grandfather used to live at Fairfield House. She told me his name: Blattenguetta Herouy. I knew about him because I made a documentary film in 1999 called Footsteps of the Emperor for ITV West, which featured his grave in Bath and the speech the Emperor gave at the graveside.   

He was the emperor’s closest friend, his foreign minister, his trusted advisor. And at a time when the emperor was at one of his lowest points in his life following the invasion of his country , his friend Blattenguetta Herouy died. He was buried about 10 minutes down the road from where we were in Fairfield House. But when I mentioned it, Emeyou didn’t believe me. Nor did everyone else! She told me his body was now in Ethiopia, not Bath. And she was right, his body was exuhmed by the Emperor in 1947, butut his elaborate grave, which contains beautiful Ethiopian writing, is still there. To prove it, about half an hour after meeting Emeyou, I took her and her family and friends  down to the graveyard, and they were shocked to see it there.   

Restoring, re-telling   

While there was no longer a body in the grave, and it needed repair, as the large cross and surroundings had all toppled over. Blattenguetta Herouy was a much-loved and respected man, so this was sad to see. So, after talking to the community, I secured some research funding for a project around Ethiopian culture and its connection to the city of Bath. I used some of this funding, as well as additional money raised, to restore Blattenguetta Herouy’s grave.   
  
When the restoration work was finished, we organised an unveiling, with Haile Selassie’s grandson leading the ceremony. It was a very personal, significant moment for Blattenguetta Herouy’s family, many generations of which were present, and the wider Ethiopian community in the country.    
  
Then, as a very generous thank you, the family invited me out to Ethiopia for a memorial service for Blattenguetta Herouy, and for his official reburial. I was also asked to say a few words. This was in 2023,  seven years after I first met Emeyou, and 24 years after I first found the grave myself and featured in my film for ITV in 1999, (which was the first time the Emperor’s stay in Bath, and also anything about Blattenguetta Herouy, had featured on British television It is these forms of slow unravelling, moments of serendipity, and relationship building, that I find fascinating in research, and that I build into my work. Sometimes research projects can be quite fast, but even then, I look for the longer threads than can evolve and become something quite unknown in the future. For me that is where the beauty in research resides. As it lives and breathes and takes on a life of its own. Taken ownership by people and communities themselves, rather than me the researcher. 

Little moments and small anthropology  

Hopefully that  shows you what really inspires and motivates me: sharing these unheard stories and helping to connect the dots between different generations. I call my work  small anthropology. My way of seeing these little moments in history, these small details in life, and connecting them to now, to current and future generations.   

And I’m much more interested in these small aspects of culture, because they still speak to bigger themes. For example, how central the radiogram was to life in my childhood home, and for many other Black British and working-class families. Or the souvenirs my mum collected, and what they meant to her – and their relevance to me, to our community, today. These everyday objects can tell us so much about our culture, heritage and value systems.   

Our never-ending stories  

I want to keep shining a light on these stories. To connect the dots from then, to now, to next generations.  It’s so important that communities can tell and share their own stories. Because if they can’t, who will?  

Contribution to the UN 2030 sustainable development goals

UWE Bristol is proud to align our research to the UN sustainable development goals. The above research aligns with the following goals:

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