March 2026

March brought significant progress on multiple fronts. Let me walk you through what’s happened, where we’re headed, and some interesting opportunities in digital mental health.

🎓 ICURe Engage Programme: Complete

I’ve completed the ICURe Engage programme by Innovate UK Business Connect and SETsquared Partnership, a gentle introduction exploring MEMoPAD’s commercial viability. Conversations with mentors Katharine Bourke, Joe Pearce, Chris Lorimer, Gurmit Kler and the other participants helped clarify what real-world implementation would require: not just technical functionality, but sustainable business models, regulatory pathways, and integration into existing clinical workflows.

Thank you to the mentors who challenged assumptions, asked hard questions, and provided frameworks for thinking beyond research outputs to actual products people use.

📋 Phase V Surveys: Last Call for Input

This is the final opportunity to contribute to Phase V before we move into full data analysis and begin developing the prototype for Phase VI.

If you’re a patient who didn’t attend in-lab sessions or a clinician, please complete the Phase V survey if you haven’t already. Your input directly shapes the next -and final- iteration of the MEMoPAD prototype for this PhD project. £5 vouchers are available as a form of thank you.

Haven’t received the survey link? Please reply to this email and I’ll resend it immediately.

This matters: Phase VI will involve multi-week real-world prototype testing based on what we learn from Phase V. The insights we gather now determine what gets built next.

📰 Featured in UWE News

MEMoPAD was featured in an article on the UWE Bristol news site, sharing the personal motivations behind the project and how co-design is shaping wearable emotion monitoring for anxiety disorders. It’s meaningful to see the project recognized by my university. 👉 Read the full article

📄 CHI 2026 Workshop Paper Accepted

Our short paper on MEMoPAD’s co-design journey has been accepted to the “Engagement in Digital Health Interventions Workshop” at CHI 2026. The paper documents how we’ve engaged patients, carers, and clinicians across multiple co-design phases. I won’t be able to attend the conference due to budget constraints, but the good news is the paper will be published anyway in the workshop proceedings. 👉 Read our contribution on page 77

🧦 HUG×SmartSocks Study: Complete (photo)

Data collection for the HUG×SmartSocks study wrapped up in March with enthusiastic participation. We gathered interesting insights about the study protocol, the HUG by LAUGH therapeutic comfort object, and the use of Milbotix SmartSocks, all valuable for designing future studies exploring comfort-based interventions and cuddling technologies.

Thank you to everyone who participated, and to Jac Fennell for offering me this research opportunity and Giorgio Alfarano for joining me!

🔬 What I’m Working On Now

Data analysis for Phase V is underway: I’m currently analyzing physiological data from in-lab sessions alongside qualitative insights from focus groups and surveys.

Simultaneously, I’m drafting the ethics application for Phase VI, which will involve multi-week real-world prototype use. Phase VI builds directly on Phase V insights: taking what worked in controlled lab sessions and testing whether it holds up in everyday life.

I’ve also passed my final PhD progress review before the viva, the last formal checkpoint before thesis submission. The PhD project is expected to conclude by the end of 2026, bringing almost four years of co-design, prototyping, and testing to formal completion.

🌐 Resources & Opportunities

National AI & Mental Health Community of Practice

A 300+ member community of NHS healthcare leaders, academics, and innovators committed to responsible AI use in mental health. The community offers resources, networking, and ways to get involved in the National AI & Mental Health Community of Practice. 👉 Apply for membership | NHS AI Ambassadors info | Read the 2026 Guide

BNSSG ICB Research Showcase – June 1, 2026

Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB is hosting a free one-day event celebrating local research that improves care. Expect research highlights, insights from researchers and clinicians, networking across NHS/universities/voluntary sector, and themes spanning community health, population health, and evidence into practice. 📅 Sunday, June 1, 2026 | 📍 BAWA, Bristol 👉 Register your interest, opportunity to apply as a presenter!

Podcast episode: Turning Academic Projects into Real-World Tools

An insightful video podcast by DATAMIND UK, where Marcos Del Pozo Baños interviews Pauline Whelan (founder of CareLoop Health | B Corp™, digital advisor at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust ) about how digital innovation is transforming mental health research and care, building collaboration across academia, industry, and lived experience to turn research into tools people actually use. Relevant to recent conversations about real-world implementation and worth watching for anyone interested in digital mental health innovation. 👉 Watch on YouTube

The Centre for Health and Clinical Research (CHCR) at UWE Bristol Annual Showcase Conference 2026 will take place at UWE Bristol Frenchay Campus on Wednesday 8th July 2026. It will include oral presentations from Centre members with each theme being represented. There will also be time for networking and poster viewing over lunch. Registration and a full agenda will be available soon.

Responses to the Phase V survey are pivotal in defining what the Phase VI prototype will look like! If you’ve received a survey link, please complete it. If you haven’t but think you should have, reply and let me know. 🙂