Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Rolf Black Dipl.-Ing. MSc is a member of the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Research Group (aac.dundee.ac.uk) at Dundee University and holds an honorary contract with NHS Tayside as a researcher.
Current Projects:
- ACE-LP: Enhancing Augmentative Communication. The ACE-LP Project (Augmenting Communication using Environmental Data to drive Language Prediction) brings together research expertise in Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) (University of Dundee), Intelligent Interactive Systems (University of Cambridge), and Computer Vision and Image Processing (University of Dundee) to develop a predictive AAC system that will address these prohibitively slow communication rates by introducing the use of multimodal sensor data to inform state of the art language prediction (for more details please visit the project page).
- Tap and Talk. The Tap and Talk project supports adults with aphasia through group sessions with the use of iPads. iPads can help when communicating by giving access to images, speech output of written text and communication programs such email and web browsers (for more details please visit the project page).
- Outer Space | Inner Space (OSIS). This award winning public engagement project brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers with one of Dundee's iconic landmarks, The Mills Observatory - Britain’s first purpose-built public observatory on the summit of Balgay Hill in the heart of Dundee. In this project we have developed an adaptable space and activities under the theme "Ways of Seeing" the invisible universe (for more details please visit the project page).
Rolf is a Mechanical Engineer (University of Hanover, Germany, 1996) and Bioengineer (MSc, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, 1995, with a grant of the German Academic Exchange Service). For his undergraduate thesis he developed the mechanism for a bi-axial orthotic hip joint which has been patented and is being successfully marketed by a leading provider of Orthotics and Prosthetics, Otto Bock Healthcare GmbH. He has a professional background as a rehabilitation engineer and extensive experience with children with complex communication needs (CCN).
He co-founded EO-Funktion GmbH in Germany in 1999 (now “Made for Movement”), a leading company in supplying dynamic walking frames for children with complex motor disabilities. After his move from Germany to Scotland he joined Prof Annalu Waller and her team in 2005, now researching in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). He is has been leading the evaluation phases of research projects under Prof Waller such as
- "How was School today…?" - Supporting narrative for non-speaking children (as Researcher Co-Investigator),
- "STANDUP" - System To Augment Non-speakers' Dialogue Using Puns, and
- "The PhonicStick" - Providing Children with CCN with access to Phonemic Speech Output.
The first two projects were funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; all evaluations incorporated extensive interaction with children with CCN and were partially based at Capability Scotland sites.
"How was School today…?" is an award winning cutting-edge project aimed to help children with CCN to share their experiences from school with parents. It won the 2010 TES Schools Award for Outstanding ICT Learning Initiative of the Year for project partner Capability Scotland (Corseford School) and was shortlisted for the BCS UK IT Industry Awards 2010.
The PhonicStick pilot project (funded by Capability Scotland), which Rolf co-initiated, led to a patent application in 2006 (granted for the US in 2012) and to an international travel grant by the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2008 to present at the international conference of the International Society of Alternative and Augmentative Communications.
Education/Academic qualification
Master in Science, University of Strathclyde
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- 17 Similar Profiles
Projects 2013 2014
Research Output 2008 2019
Supporting personal narrative for children with complex communication needs
Black, R., Waller, A., Turner, R. & Reiter, E., Jul 2012, In : ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 19, 2, p. - 35 p., 15.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Presentation Matters: A Design Study of Different Keyboard Layouts to Investigate the Use of Prediction for AAC
Black, R., Waller, A. & Mckillop, C., 27 Aug 2019, AAATE 2019 Conference: Global Challenges in Assistive Technology: Research, Policy & Practice. Desideri, L., de Witte, L., Chattat, R. & Hoogerwerf, E-J. (eds.). Supp 1 ed. Holland: IOS Press, Vol. 31. p. 141-142 2 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
Gathering egocentric video and other sensor data with AAC users to inform narrative prediction
Black, R., Rashid, Z. & Waller, A., 21 Jul 2018.Research output: Contribution to conference › Abstract
I have Aphasia: An app designed by people with aphasia for people with aphasia
Black, R. & Kelly, C., 23 Jul 2018.Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster
User Centred Design with Disabled Participants: A New SGD Interface Supporting Narrative Prediction
Black, R., Rashid, Z. & Waller, A., 21 Jul 2018.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
Prizes
Commendation: Stephen Fry Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement with Research
Rolf Black (Recipient), 11 Jan 2019
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Brian Cox Prize - Public Engagement Project of the Year
Rolf Black (Recipient) & Amy Cameron (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
1st Place, Student Research Competition Graduate Award
Rolf Black (Recipient), 24 Oct 2011
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Commendation: Stephen Fry Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement with Research
Rolf Black (Recipient), Amy Cameron (Recipient) & Christine Millar (Recipient), 13 Jan 2017
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Activities 2013 2019
Science Saturdays: Guardians of the Genome
Rolf Black (Organiser), Christine Millar (Host), Nicola Wiechens (Presenter), Thomas Owen-Hughes (Contributor), Abigail Corsie (Contributor), Matthias Toman (Contributor), Meng-Ying Wu (Contributor), Seraina Blümli (Contributor), Mahamadou-Lamine Niakate (Contributor), Jason Sharpe (Contributor)Activity: Other activity types › Public engagement and outreach - festival/exhibition
Lee Ridley, aka Lost Voice Guy
Lee Ridley (Presenter), Rolf Black (Organiser), Annalu Waller (Contributor)Activity: Other activity types › Public engagement and outreach - festival/exhibition
Science Saturday at the National Museum Scotland - Communicating Differently
Rolf Black (Organiser), Annalu Waller (Contributor)Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Science Saturday: Physics at Mills
Aurora Sicilia Aguilar (Organiser), Rolf Black (Organiser), Amy Cameron (Host), Christine Millar (Host)Activity: Other activity types › Public engagement and outreach - festival/exhibition
Lego Mindstorms Robot Challenges
Keith Johnston (Organiser), Rolf Black (Organiser), Sara Nobel (Host)Activity: Other activity types › Public engagement and outreach - festival/exhibition
Press / Media
Aphasia group launches app to explain the condition
30/06/17 → 3/07/17
3 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Other
Celebrating 80 years of stargazing at Mills Observatory
Rolf Black & Sarah Hussain
26/10/15
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Other
New app relieves patients’ fear of the dentist
Rolf Black, Annalu Waller, Rachel Menzies & Daniel Herron
17/06/14
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
New app relieves patients’ fear of the dentist
Rolf Black, Annalu Waller, Rachel Menzies, Daniel Herron & Daniel Herron
17/06/14
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research