NEWS & EVENTS

Our project proposal, 'Enhancing Smell Culture Awareness through Community Building and Public Engagement,' has just secured funding from UCL's Grand Challenge of Mental Health & Wellbeing Network and Community Building funding call! This milestone highlights our commitment to advocating for the importance of scent awareness and community engagement.

We presented our Smell Care research at the Early Career Researcher Festival hosted by UCL's Institute of Healthcare Engineering (IHE). The event featured keynote speakers engaged in cutting-edge research and industry advancements in healthcare engineering, along with presentations from early career researchers. We thank the organizers for facilitating an environment conducive to networking and collaboration.

We're thrilled to announce that our proposal, 'Smell Culture Futuring: Probing Future Research Framework for the Built Environment and Wellbeing,' has secured funding from the UCL Bartlett Architecture Research Fund. Stay tuned for our upcoming research on the Built Environment and Wellbeing through workshops, exhibitions, and public engagement. (The image is taken from the Bartlett website.)

Christmas is a tough time for those living with a smell or taste disorder. Smells and tastes are such a big part of the festive season, and not being able to taste your Christmas meal, enjoy the scent of the fragrance purchased for a loved one or even smell your Christmas tree can make it a difficult, isolating time. And it is even harder when there is such a lack of recognition, support, and treatments for these sensory impairments. 

Fifth Sense, despite being a small team, has made a significant impact, but there is much more work to be done, and they need your support. This Christmas, they invite us to demonstrate our support for Fifth Sense through donations, fundraising efforts, or spreading the word. Click here to find out more and contribute to their cause.

We are delighted to announce our success in securing the UCL-Tohoku University Strategic Partner Fund 2023 for our project: 'A Cross-Cultural Dialogue on the Potential of the Sense of Smell for Health and Wellbeing.' The project aims to to foster a cross-cultural dialogue on the possibilities around the sense of smell both from the perspective of co-creating and shaping a culture of ‘smell care’ (i.e. enhanced appreciation for the sense of smell in everyday life, wellbeing, and health) and​ exploring the importance of smell as a nonverbal communication medium. We look forward to advancing meaningful discussions and insights through this exciting cross-cultural endeavor!

We participated in the Towards Universal Chemosensory Testing (TUCT) Conference held at the Monell Center in Philadelphia. The TUCT conference is a multi-stakeholder series of events aimed at enhancing disease risk detection and overall well-being through smell and taste screening. 

Our primary investigator, Marianna Obrist, and project partner, Duncan Boak, were speakers in the event. Marianna delivered a presentation on the emergence of digital technology for smell health and well-being. Duncan shared Fifth Sense’s collaborative work with the NHS, Cadent Gas Ltd. (the UK’s largest gas distribution network), Fire and Rescue Service, and others to pilot smell testing in home, workplace, and public health settings.

We took part in the Fifth Sense Conference, held at Sheffield Hallam University. The event served as a crucial platform for individuals with smell or taste disorders and their families to connect, exchange experiences, and delve into the latest advancements in research. 

During the conference, we presented our research and showcased a demo, receiving significant interest from the Fifth Sense community. Attendees had the privilege of hearing from leading researchers and gaining valuable perspectives on the most recent developments in sensory disorder research both in the UK and globally.

Smell Care was at this year's UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering symposium. We showcased our prototype with a live demonstration and took part in a dynamic Q&A panel discussion alongside our project partner, Duncan Boak, Chief Executive and Founder of Fifth Sense. Our participation added to the event's exciting lineup, which featured talks from leading healthcare researchers, and engaging presentations by researchers and patient duos sharing their experiences and the value of patient engagement.

In addition to our presence at the event, our very own Giada Brianza was featured in the Health in a Handbasket podcast series by IHE. She discussed our project, providing valuable insights into our work. To listen to her podcast episode, click here. 

Our primary investigator, Marianna Obrist, and project partner, Emanuela Maggioni from OWidgets, recently participated in the 9th International Symposium on Dialogue for Global Innovation (DFGI-9) at the University of Oxford. This year's symposium, themed 'Technology and Humanity - Part 5: Advanced AI vs. Well-being, and Quantum Computing,' featured Emanuela as a panelist and Marianna as a speaker on multisensory interfaces for sensory well-being on digital smell technology.  

We were thrilled to be part of the Collaborate to Innovate event: Enabling Citizen-Centred Care, organized by the University of East Anglia (UEA) Health and Social Care Partners along with UEA Citizens Academy. Our contribution involved presenting our poster on the topic 'Screen Sharing and Joint Editing for Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)'. The feedback we received on our engagement with PPI was incredibly valuable, further enhancing our approach to fostering effective patient involvement.

We were delighted to participate in the Smell and Taste Disorders Symposium organized by the University of East Anglia and Fifth Sense. It was an enriching experience where we heard patient perspectives and gained insights from experts worldwide in the field of smell and taste. We also had the chance to showcase our prototype and received valuable feedback for our upcoming field study. Furthermore, we had the privilege of being featured on BBC Look East! We are already excitedly anticipating next year's event!

We have conducted two participatory workshops with potential users of digital smell training. The invaluable contribution of the participants allow us to shape our next steps, in preparing I-smell for the six-month deployment study.

Many thanks to our wonderful participants!  

We will have more opportunities to engage. Upcoming events will be announced here. If you want to stay in touch please sign up for our newsletter that is coming along very soon!