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Recently our CDT students had the opportunity to explore the SPHERE house here in Bristol. They got to see the range of technology deployed in the house, and many came away with ideas to inform their PhD research. This is what some of them had to say about their visit:  

I am currently writing a grant proposal to the British Lung Foundation to conduct a feasibility study to see if sensing technologies can be used to predict exacerbations of COPD. Seeing the SPHERE house has given me some good insight into how to conduct this study and will hopefully help me secure the grant. - Henry, Cohort 1 

It has given me a real-life contextual understanding of smart homes and what our future might look like. Most of us had the opportunity to ask questions from the experts and pioneers of the project, enabling us to get a broader overview of the process involved in creating such a platform. It helped me realise the importance of collaborative work when it comes to developing something novel and scalable like this. I feel fortunate to have had this first-hand experience, it helped me to generate ideas and to see how I could use the facility to maximise my research impact by integrating it into my PhD project. - Immi, Cohort 2 

I was particularly impressed with the placement and location of the silhouette sensors. It represented an attempt to get a fair balance between obtaining accurate results from pattern recognition and preventing the Hawthorne effect. It was also interesting to learn about environmental sensors and how they could be combined with wearables. Generally, the idea of conducting research in the wild and designing technology based on relatable problems excites me. - Tim, Cohort 3