02.10.2024SNSF grants CHF 1.3 million to develop a voice assistant that provides lifestyle and cognitive interventions for people with early dementia.

Prof. Nikola Biller-Andorno (from the IBME), together with Prof. Tobias Kowatsch (from the IfIS, MED-HSG and CDHI) have been granted project funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) for their project titled, ‘GRACE: A Voice Assistant for Improving the Quality of Life in People with Early Dementia’. 

Led by IBME postdoc, Dr. Rasita Vinay, the GRACE project will follow Phase 1 of the Multiphase Optimisation Strategy and incorporate Value Sensitive Design to develop and evaluate the sociotechnical artefact, identifying key intervention components and conducting necessary user testing with the target population. Dr. Vinay will be supported by two new PhD students (in bioethics and digital health intervention), and project partners Dr. Andrea Horn, Dr. Mathias Schlögl, and Dr. Thomas Münzer.

This collaborative project aims to empower people with early dementia, by promoting independence and enabling aging-in-place, and ultimately improving their quality of life. The GRACE project will leverage the Ethics by Design for AI framework and its Assessment List for Trustworthy AI to develop ethical design considerations necessary for such technologies. GRACE is envisioned to primarily be a rule-based voice assistant, powered by generative-AI and large language models (LLMs) to enhance the level of personalisation and increase conversational abilities, adhering to the needs of those with a cognitive impairment. Following Phase 1 of the MOST framework, main project deliverables will include a conceptual model highlighting intervention components and their mechanisms of action, GRACE prototype v2, an optimisation criterion and results from a feasibility study.

We look forward to working with people with early dementia, their carers and family members, healthcare workers, dementia advocates and research experts to help create an innovative solution for individuals living with cognitive impairments.

The project will run from March 2025 until February 2029. More information about the project can be found here and with our collaborator’s CDHI GRACE project page.