Technology has long been a part of caring arrangements and networks, facilitating the organisation of support, connections between people and services, and helping with some key tasks. Technology is changing fast, as devices and systems advance at a rapid rate, and previously dominant ‘telecare’ and  ‘technology enabled care services’ models (often using analogue telephone lines) are being redesigned in response to the ‘digital switchover’.

New developments include growing deployment of artificial intelligence, robotics and ‘internet of things’ devices in care. These changes have implications for how care and support are experienced and provided. 

Our research asks:

• What digital technologies are being used in care. How and why is this happening?
• Do these developments bring new opportunities, barriers, benefits and risks?
• Do digital technologies support wellbeing outcomes in care – and if so, for whom, and in what circumstances?
• What are the social justice and equality implications of these developments? Who benefits? Who is exposed to risk?
• How does digital technology affect care relationships, the paid work of care and employment dynamics? 
• How do users of digital devices configure or ‘tinker’ with these technologies to produce outcomes that matter to them?

To answer these questions, we have so far carried out research about the care workforce, the wider care ecosystem and individuals who use care services and their family members.

The latter is a project ‘Technologies that matter – Care, technology and living a good life’, focussed on what people use to live full lives and co-produced with Think Local, Act Personal (TLAP). We have been working with a group of people from TLAP who have lived experience of care and support since April 2023.

After designing the project together, we started fieldwork in May 2024, and began working with our co-production team on the analysis in March 2025 – with co-produced outputs coming later in the year.

You can read more about our approach to co-production in a commentary here, and the creation of the ‘Mind the Gap: Tackling digital exclusion’ board game here.