In the Summer of 2022, I attended a conference in Geneva, the theme was "Leveraging the use of AI to improve the quality of life of aging persons”. I learnt a wide range of topics on opportunities for using AI to monitor, prevent, and improve the quality of life of older people. These topics resonated with observations made in my previous research on quality of life, in Kenya which evidenced a notable gap in use of technology among the elderly and communities in resource poor settings. These communities have strong social ties and bonds. The take home from this conference was that such social engagement is critical for superior quality of life and mental health outcomes for the elderly, and there are great opportunities, which AI can help to enhance this.

In addition, I also attended Dr. Heather Carter’s (Assistant Professor Interior Design) presentation on November 7th, 2022, titled -"Rightsizing home while upsizing well-being; Re-imaging older adult possession management" which presented evidence for redesigning smart homes for older adults to improve their well-being and quality of life. This presentation gave a new perspective for how smart homes can include technology in their design, which can facilitate and enhance social engagement for wellbeing and mental health of older persons and help to prevent the debilitating effects of chronic illnesses associated with aging. 

This PLD session will provide an opportunity to share lessons learned from the conference in Geneva and disseminate evidence-based research on how designing smart homes improves the mental health and quality of life of older persons.