From games, to museums, to theme parks, to television, the creativeindustries are increasingly focused on the need for personalisation. Peopleare no longer willing to be passive consumers of experiences, but ratherexpect to be able to interact, explore, participate, shape, share anddiscuss them, and also to tailor and personalise them to suit theirindividual preferences. But how do we learn about people's preferences? This proposal aims toexplore the feasibility of using wearable biosensing technologies to capturedetailed physiological responses from participants such as heart rate andgalvanic skin response (GSR) which, along with movement data and video andaudio recordings, might be used to personalise different aspects of anexperience from its design, to its operation, to the way in which it isdocumented and shared with others. We will take the themepark as a driving domain for exploring the role ofbiosensing in designing, documenting and adapting entertainment experiences.Specifically, we will collaborate with Alton Towers, the UK's best knownthemepark, to conduct a series of three short feasibility studies in orderto frame issues and questions for further in depth research. The first willcapture a variety of biosensing data from different riders across differentrides and will conduct a preliminary analysis of this with a view ofinforming discussions of how such data might potentially help in theanalysis of existing rides and the design of future ones. The second willexplore how such data might be combined with captured video and audio aspart of the automated documentation and remote sharing of experiences. Thethird will consider the potential of biosensing to create new rides thatdirectly adapt themselves to a rider's personal response, includingexploring the feasibility of future robotic rides to adapt in real-time,i.e. during the ride experience. This feasibility study will build on preliminary work that has established abaseline of robust wearable biosensing technology and a successful workingrelationship with Alton Towers. Thus this proposal is not about thetechnical feasibility of constructing wearable biosensing technologies or ofbeing able to experiment with these in a theme park - these have alreadybeen proven. Rather, it is about the feasibility of using the resultingbiosensing data to enhance entertainment experiences in different ways,initially in theme parks, but ultimately across the creative industries andthe wider Digital Economy. The proposal also involves collaboration with RoboCoaster, a world-leadingleading company in the research, development, and production of automatedrides and entertainment experiences based on industrial robots andconveyance systems.

Horizon will tackle the challenge of harnessing the power of ubiquitous computing for the digital economy in a way that is acceptable to our society and increases the quality of life for all. This will involve establishing a world-leading and sustainable centre of excellence for research and knowledge transfer for the ubiquitous digital economy. Horizon will conduct a five-year programme of research into the key scientific challenges involved in the widespread adoption of ubiquitous computing; collaborate with users to create, demonstrate and study next generation services; deliver a knowledge transfer programme that ensures that the results of our research are fully connected to the digital economy; train a new generation of researchers to meet the demands of industry for skilled interdisciplinary staff; engage with policy makers and the wider public in order to address societal concerns; and provide a focal point for international, national and regional research in this area.Horizon will exploit the distinctive nature of hub funding to develop a unique approach to this challenge. Our Collaborative Research Programme will be driven by the overarching concept of a lifelong contextual footprint, the idea that each of us throughout our lifetimes will lay down a digital trail that captures our patterns of interaction with digital services. Our research will explore the major infrastructural, human and business challenges associated with this concept, adopting a unique multidisciplinary approach that integrates insights from computer science, psychology, sociology, business, economics and the arts and humanities. We will collaborate with over 30 users from different sectors of the Digital Economy in order to create, deploy and study a series of next generation services 'in the wild' so as to drive our underlying research. We will initially focus on the creative industries and transportation sectors, but subsequently extend our focus to additional sectors in partnership with other hubs and major initiatives. In parallel, our Transformation Programme will drive knowledge transfer and long-term economic impact through partnership management, public engagement, international outreach, incubation of new ventures, the transfer of people, and training for 24 associated PhD students, funded by the University.Our team draws on leading groups at Nottingham spanning computer science, engineering, business, psychology and sociology, complemented by expertise at two spokes: distributed systems and communications at Cambridge, and mathematical modelling and advertising at Reading. A series of further mini-spokes will enable us to introduce other key individuals through hub fellowships.These multiple disciplines and partners will be brought together in a new centre at Nottingham where they will be able to engage with a critical-mass cohort of research staff and students to explore innovative and challenging new projects. The Hub will be directed by Professor Derek McAuley who brings extensive experience of working in academia, directing major industrial research laboratories, and also launching spin-out companies. He will be supported by Professor Tom Rodden, an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow who previously directed the Equator IRC. The net result will be a unique partnership between EPSRC, industry, the public, and the University, with the latter committing 16M of its own funds to match the 12M requested from EPSRC.