Robert Douglas Ferguson PhD

New Care Tools, New Caregiving Responsibilities As people develop dementia, they increasingly depend on family carers such as their spouses, adult children, and extended relatives to help them complete everyday activities and meet their physical, cognitive, and social needs.  To cope with these changes, families affected by dementia increasingly use smart and digital assistive technologies in the home. These include everyday devices such as cellphones, computers, tablets, and smart appliances to more specialised tools such as personal sensors, alert devices, biomedical devices that track specific dimensions of a person’s health and wellbeing. But digital tools also create new tech support and information management responsibilities for family carers. Digital housekeeping refers to the responsibility for maintaining the digital infrastructure of a home similar to IT personnel in an office environment. Personal information management refers to when carers become responsible for mai...

How can Irish local libraries better support the needs of patrons living with Alzheimer's disease and dementia? We are looking to speak with community stakeholders about the role of libraries in living with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. We are interested in both the perspectives of library workers as well as those who provide information and support services for families touched by Alzheimer's and dementia. Click here for more information or to sign up for an online or telephone interview.

I learned a lot about data privacy and security at the Eyes Off Data Summit in Dublin held on 17-18 September 2025.

I recently completed University College Dublin's mandatory research integrity training at the comprehensive level.  

  I recently completed a Nature Masterclass in effective grant writing offered through the NeuroInsight MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

I was a participant at the launch and capacity-building event of UCD's Ageing Network, where scholars across UCD came together to discuss the importance of research on ageing and the service needs of older adults in Ireland. It was a pleasure to represent University College Dublin's School of Information Studies in brainstorming and networking activities.

Postdocs Spotlights Seminar 3:  “Data, data everywhere…” But what to do with it? May 30 2025 12:30 - 13:30 UCD Club, Cedar and Cypress Suite Join us in this even more interdisciplinary event, with postdocs from the Queen’s University Belfast! Make sure to register before May 29th at 1pm , using the following link , to hear about our amazing speakers: Dr Sabah Suhail (QUB SPRITE+ Hub, Digital Twin Hub)  Digital Twins: A Security-Enhancing Enabler for Cyber-Physical Systems! Dr Emma Humphries (QUB School of Arts, English and Languages, Leverhulme Trust) "This boy doesn't even know the difference between 'there', 'their' and 'they are'" (Sabrina Carpenter 2024): The role of popular culture in enforcing language rules. Dr Mike Hardy (QUB Centre for Quantum Materials and Technologies, School of Mathematics and Physics)  Smart Nano NI: Lighting up Irish Photonics! Their discussant will be Dr Robert Ferguson (UCD School of Information and Communication...