Associate Professor Mio Ito, Gunma University
Associate Professor Ito is a member of the Graduate School of Health Sciences at Gunma University in Maebashi, Japan. She works specialises in nursing science, and exploring the impact of practice on the experiences of people living with dementia.
Her research includes collecting real-world data through observing interactions between healthcare professionals and people living with dementia as they happen. This research has allowed Dr Ito to identify situations which may lead to people living with dementia to become frustrated or angry while receiving care and suggest changes to practice that improve the experience for both the person with dementia and their healthcare provider.
Dr Ito’s involvement on the DesHCA project provides an important insight into how different modifications might influence the interactions and relationships between care providers and people living with dementia.
Professor Satoko Hotta, Keio University
Professor Hotta is a member of the Graduate School of Health Management at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. Her work around creating a compassionate, dementia friendly community has led her to become a member of Keio University’s School of Medicine and Wellbeing Research Centre and the leader of the Co-Creation Hub for a Dementia-Friendly Future.
Her work involves exploring the experiences of people who are living in the community with dementia, including issues around care, isolation, and social prescription.
Professor Hotta’s position as a partner on the DesHCA project provides a valuable insight into the ways that the principles of supportive design may be applied differently in international contexts to support older people across the globe.
Assistant Professor Mitsuhiro Sado, Keio University
Dr Mitsuhiro Sado is a member of the Department of Neuropsychiatry and Centre for Stress Research at Keio University School of Medicine at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. His work focuses on issues of wellbeing, learning, mindfulness, and the use of mindfulness-based interventions for people with health conditions.
Dr Sado’s research explores how the way we think and use our minds might impact our cognitive health. This includes researching the ways in which mindfulness practices can support people with anxiety and cancer, as well as how learning activities and therapies can help people living with dementia to manage their condition.
His presence as a partner on the DesHCA project provides a unique insight into the different ways that home adaptation might support people living with dementia to think and use their minds in different ways to maintain their independence.
Assistant Professor Shogo Ishikawa, Shizuoka University
Assistant Professor Ishikawa is a member of the Department of Computer Science at Shizuoka University in Shizuoka, Japan. He specialises in informatics, artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction.
His work focuses on using computational, or computer based, analysis to explore issues that impact older people living with dementia in Japan. This has included research into how people communicate while providing care to people living with dementia, and how different approaches to communication can help people living with dementia to more readily engage with and accept care.
Dr Ishikawa’s contributions as one of DesHCA’s partners, and a member of MEDIVA, provides an important perspective into the different ways we can measure, analyse, and support better communication with older people living with dementia.