Dr. Leo Galway and Dr. Paul McCullagh from Ulster University, Jordanstown were recently welcomed to Cedar’s Balmoral Training and Research Centre. Their aim was to conduct research with the support of five Cedar service users who kindly gave time to participate in the study.

The overall goal was to assess the usefulness of commercial brain recording technology (Emotiv EPOC+) for use in the assessment of engagement with participants during a set of short, predefined activities e.g. reading a book, listening to music, playing a digital game.

Dr. Leo Galway, Lecturer in Computer Science, said:

“Working with Cedar provided an excellent opportunity to take part in research with a cohort of engaging and supportive volunteers, which will help provide a level of real-world credibility to the underlying Brain-Computer Interface-based research. My thanks and gratitude to the five participants and the support staff at Cedar who generously provided their time and support for the research study.”

Cedar has a long history with supporting dynamic and innovative research. Cedar’s dedication to delivering opportunity, choice and inclusion means that the organisation is particularly enthusiastic about research related to technology. Cedar values the benefits technology can offer to people living with disability, brain injury and autism.

Dr. Paul McCullagh, Reader, School of Computing and Mathematics, commented:

"Cedar’s experience with users and understanding of emerging assistive technology is essential in advancing this brain-computer interface research. The recording provided a valuable opportunity for researchers at Ulster University to engage with the service users and gain a better understanding of technology acceptance issues."

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