What kind of a problem is loneliness? Studying technology to understand policy concerns.

This talk by Dr Gemma Hughes is intended to show how problems, such as loneliness, can be understood and researched in multiple ways.

By outlining the methodology of the research programme Virtual Presence, and explaining the qualitative methods used to study the adoption of telepresence technologies designed to prevent loneliness, Dr Hughes will argue for the importance of interpretive approaches in health research.

Part of the Translational Health Sciences programme.

Dr Hughes is a social scientist concerned with the intersections between organisational practices, health and social care policy and people’s experiences. She has a professional background in the UK public sector, which informs her interest in tackling ‘real world’ problems of how to best organise care.

Dr Hughes completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford in 2019 under the supervision of Professors Sara Shaw and Trish Greenhalgh, after which she worked as a researcher in the IRIHS group until 2023 when she joined the University of Leicester School of Business as Associate Professor in Healthcare Management.