Webinars
Health Research from Home runs a webinar series that offers a unique insight into creating and running research studies using smartphones and wearables.
Our subject areas cover the lifecycle of a research study and delve deep into specific issues affecting our community.
Upcoming Webinars:
Webinar 12: Advancing cardiovascular monitoring: from radar sensing to wearable emergency detection
Who: Jake Sunshine, Associate Professor at University of Washington / Research Scientist at Google / Past Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Sound Life Sciences (acquired by Google) and Ela Gruzewska, Senior software Engineer at Google
Date: Wednesday 14 January, 2026, 3pm – 4pm GMT
About:
In this webinar, Ela Gruzewska (Google) and Jake Sunshine (University of Washington and Google), will explore new advances in using consumer devices aimed at improved cardiovascular monitoring. Their talks will range from heart-rate sensing using radar to detecting cardiac arrest using commodity sensors and wearables.
Jake Sunshine will explore how passive sensing on commodity devices can be employed to recognise life-threatening cardiac and breathing emergencies.
He will discuss:
● Research and development of systems to detect cardiopulmonary emergencies with a focus on watch-based detection of cardiac arrest.
● The challenges involved in constructing these systems as well as lessons learned in real world deployment.
Ela Gruzewska will explain how Google’s research demonstrated transfer learning between consumer-grade radar modalities, specifically from Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) to Ultra-Wideband (UWB) radar, for heart-rate monitoring. Drawing on this work, Ela will highlight how transfer learning can reduce the need for new, device-specific data collection, accelerating research and development in the field.
This session will be especially valuable for researchers, clinicians, digital-health developers.
Watch previous webinars
View our previous webinars on our YouTube Channel.
Webinar 11: Co-produced methods for longitudinal monitoring of sleep behaviours and brain activity with children and young people
Who: Matt Jones, The Sleep Detectives project and Lorna Caddick, Ambient Teens Sleep Study.
Date: Wednesday 5 November, 2025, 1pm-2pm.
About:
Matt Jones will introduce The Sleep Detectives Project, a Wellcome Trust-funded research project exploring sleep, cognition and mental health in 6 to 18-year-old children and young people who are at genetically high risk of psychotic disorders.
The project focuses on those living with copy number variants (CNVs) that significantly increase the likelihood of conditions such as schizophrenia – reaching as high as 40 in 100 by adolescence.
He will discuss how residentials workshops and pilot protocols helped to lay the framework for the project, shaping both the methods and technologies used.
Matt will also highlight resources such as preprints and protocols available on the Open Science Framework, while reflecting on the ethical and methodological considerations of working with children, including information governance and best practice in PPIE following NIHR guidance.
Lorna Caddick, a Research Assistant at the University of Edinburgh, will then discuss the Ambient Teens Sleep Study, an MRC-funded project that used contactless radar-based sleep sensors compared against wearables.
This study used contactless sleep sensors drawing on radar sensing to record data from 48 adolescents aged 8-18 years over four weeks to assess feasibility and acceptability of these devices to be used in future work to better understand the relationship between sleep and the impact it has on health before, during and after puberty.
Lorna will outline ways radar sensors can be used as an alternative where wearables are less suitable – for example, in people with Alzheimer’s or dementia, neurodivergent participants experiencing sensory sensitivities, or those with skin conditions. She will also reflect on the importance of coproduction, especially when sensors are less known about, and, like Matt, will also share experiences of navigating privacy issues and sustaining young people’s engagement throughout the study.
Watch the webinar now (YouTube)
Webinar 10: Criminals don’t care…calling it cyber just makes it worse
Who: Daniel Dresner, Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Manchester and David Willis, Cyber security expert in the NHS.
Date: Wednesday 3 September, 2025, 1pm-2pm.
About:
Smartphones and wearables are just the tip of the iceberg in today’s growing digital health environment – an environment where health data is increasingly easy to obtain.
But where is this data coming from? How comfortable are you that it is securely stored on systems and in devices? And what happens if it gets compromised?
As a researcher, this has real consequences for your work, and yet it can be overwhelming to even start thinking of how to strengthen your cyber security.
In this talk, Health Research from Home are partnering with Danny Dresner and David Willis from SPRITE+, who will help you to understand what you can do to prevent these risks. Together, they will give you an increased awareness of patient-supportive secure architecture and cyber essentials to prevent risk, instilling confidence in your study partners. They will also identify who you can work with to ensure patient data is secure and the key questions you should be asking.
Daniel is The University of Manchester’s first Professor of Cyber Security, following 22 years at the National Computing Centre. He champions a community-based approach to cyber security, co-founding IASME to support SMEs and advocating for sociotechnical balance. He drives cyber innovation through DiSH and the Centre for Digital Trust and Society, and lectures on risk and defence to international Chevening cohorts. Daniel also revived the Ratio Club and has been recognised as a top 20 global cyber security influencer (2018–2021) and Security Serious Awards Best Educator (2022).
David is a certified cyber security veteran with four decades of experience. Currently he works in the NHS National Cyber Improvement program, and has a wealth of experience working in health and social care, having previously worked in Chief Information Security Officer roles across the NHS in the North West of England.
Whether you’re just getting started or already engaged in health-related research, this talk will help you understand the importance of robust security for patients, staff, and your work.
Watch the webinar now (Youtube)
About SPRITE+
SPRITE+ brings together people involved in research, practice, and policy with a focus on digital contexts. They are a ‘one stop shop’ for engagement between academic and non-academic communities – a way for these communities to connect and a platform for building collaborations across the spectrum of issues relating to security, privacy, identity and trust.
They are funded until 31 August 2027 under the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Digital Security and Resilience Theme (grant reference EP/W020408/1).
SPRITE+ is led by a consortium of five universities: University of Manchester (lead institution), Imperial College London, Lancaster University, Queen’s University Belfast, and University of Southampton. Our Management Team is supported by a multi-disciplinary group of more than 190 Expert Fellows and 24 Project Partners from different sectors, including industry, government, law enforcement, and civil society.
Learn more about SPRITE+: https://www.spritehub.org/
Webinar 9: Smart-Health – An infrastructure for collecting and linking smartphone and wearable data for research
Who: Tim Chico and Ellen Buckley
About: We’re excited to invite you to our next webinar introducing Smart-Health; an infrastructure for collecting and linking smartphone and wearable data for research health records.
Professor Tim Chico, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Sheffield, will speak about the Research database ethics and governance approach, highlighting the process of securing broad NHS data access and the importance of a robust consent model. He’ll also discuss lessons learned along the way and signpost towards people who have similarly gone through these experiences.
In addition, he’ll introduce how Smart-Health works with sub-regional care boards, along with navigating the complex but evolving NHS data landscape.
Ellen Buckley is a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield with experience in sensor based digital mobility assessment in the real world, particularly the Mobilise-D Consortium.
She will explore how detailed gait analysis using lumbar sensors can be linked with smartphone-based data collection to create a more continuous, long-term picture of mobility and activity. This approach gives researchers a more home-based understanding more reflective of people’s lived experiences rather than the standard clinical assessments.
Together, they’ll discuss how these technologies and datasets can be embedded into clinical trials, support self-management of symptoms, and ultimately move toward real-world application and regulatory approval.
Watch the webinar now (YouTube)
Webinar 7: Digital Phenotyping in Mental Health
Who: John Ainsworth, Professor of Health Informatics, University of Manchester and Dr James Cunningham, Research Fellow, University of Manchester.
About: John’s career history is not that of a conventional academic; he has a diverse education (BSc Physics, MSc Cognitive Science, PhD Health Informatics) and worked for ten years in industry prior to his academic career. John has worked for Bell Northern Research, Cisco Systems and PA Consulting Group in a wide range of R&D roles in telecoms and data networking. John has been involved in two spin-out companies to develop and commercialise his research – North West eHealth and Affigo CIC.
John works at the intersection of information technology and healthcare research focusing on applying information technology to improving health care and includes:
- Harnessing computing technology to enhance data science
- Using information technology to improve health services
- Applying emerging computing technologies to create novel interventions
Watch the webinar (YouTube)
Webinar 6: Assessing Body Composition, Fitness and Physical Activity using Smartphones and Wearables
Who: Soren Brage, Physical Activity Epidemiology Program Lead at MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge and Tomas Gonzalez, Research Associate in the Physical Activity Epidemiology, University of Cambridge.
About: In our sixth webinar we welcome Dr Soren Brage and Dr Tomas Gonzales from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. They shared details of past, present and future research in which they have collected meaningful data from peoples’ consumer devices as well as research grade wearable devices.
The discussion included why, based on conversations with public and patient contributors, using at-home methods of collecting research data can be beneficial and the areas of concern for those they are hoping to engage. They also talked about what can be measured using consumer devices, how to make sense of the diversity of consumer devices on the market, and if the data can ever be as scientifically meaningful as research grade models.
Watch webinar now (YouTube)
Webinar 5: Developing Digital Biomarkers to support Drug Development in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Parkinson’s Disease
Who: Valentin Hamy, Director of Digital Biomarkers Data Analytics at GSK and Aidan Acquah, final year PhD student from the University of Oxford.
About: In this webinar we’re looking at how health research using smartphones and wearables is being delivered in the pharmaceutical industry and academia. We’re very proud to have Valentin Hamy, Director of Digital Biomarkers Data Analytics at GSK presenting, he shares his perspective on how technology can be used to support drug development.
We also hear from a future leader in our field, Aiden Acquah, a final year PhD student from the University of Oxford. He shares his research in the use of wrist worn accelerometery to predict Parkinson’s disease.
Watch webinar now (YouTube)
Webinar 4: Considering Health Equity When Using Digital Technology for Research Data Collection
Who: Dr Sabine van der Veer, Senior Lecturer in Health Informatics, University of Manchester and Research Associate, Syed Mustafa Ali, University of Manchester.
About: One of the most contentious issues in health research using smartphones and wearables is how it may benefit some people while digitally excluding others. We have two expert speakers who will share the methods they employ to design digital tools for collecting patient-generated data for health research in a fair way.
Whether you work in industry or academia, this webinar will help you to design a digital health study that better serves all members of society.
Watch webinar now (YouTube)
Webinar 3: Predicting COPD Exacerbations Using Personal Sensors
Who: Jennifer Quint, Professor of Respiratory Epidemiology and Research Fellow Dimitris Evangelopoulos from Imperial College London.
About: We were thrilled to welcome our partners at Imperial College London for the third webinar in the Health Research from Home series.
Attendees heard how Professor Jennifer Quint, Research Fellow Dimitris Evangelopoulos and their team used wearable technology to discover exacerbations in COPD or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. If you want to learn more about how to successfully integrate self-reported data and GPS data into a research project, as well as descriptive and time series data analysis, you can’t miss this webinar recording.
Watch webinar now (YouTube)
Webinar 2: Digital Measures in Parkinson’s Disease
Who: Erin Rainaldi, Head of Sensors Data Science, and Senior Data Scientist, Johnny Ho from Verily.
About: In our second Health Research from Home webinar, we do an in-depth analysis of Verily’s ‘Study Watch and Virtual Motor Exam’ clinical trial.
Living with Parkinson’s disease can be cruel and painful. Through this trial, Verily worked with patients to find ways to make their journey less difficult. From conception and design, to developing and validating digital measures, to lessons learnt and future opportunities. Our speakers share their experiences of using wearable devices to help inform your future research.
Watch webinar now (YouTube)
Webinar 1: Health Research from Home
Who: Health Research from Home Lead, Professor Will Dixon
About: Introducing Health Research from Home – the revolutionary new partnership that will transform the future of health research using smartphones and wearables.
Our first webinar featured Health Research from Home Lead, Professor Will Dixon, who explained why our partnership was created and how we plan to revolutionise the future of health research.
He also shared how he ran his successful research project, Cloudy With a Chance of Pain? The research showed that people with long-term health conditions are 20% more likely to suffer from pain on days that are humid and windy with low atmospheric pressure. This was done using a smartphone app developed by healthcare software company uMotif, participants recorded daily symptoms while the local weather was determined from location data provided by the smartphone’s GPS.
Watch webinar now (YouTube)
If you have any questions about our webinars or you would like to suggest a topic for a future webinar, please email hrfh@manchester.ac.uk.
Contact Us
Email: hrfh@manchester.ac.uk
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