Accelerator Grant Projects

This project aims to integrate specialist dementia support into the entire care team using Goldilocks technology (wearable monitor). By providing real-time insights, Goldilocks will help upskill care providers, ensuring that support workers, care co-ordinators, primary care givers and loved ones can access expert guidance and insights to enhance dementia care.

A trial will be conducted with ECH in SA, embedding Goldilocks into their care model to support aged care workers with continuous, data-driven insights. In China, Qingather Biotechnology will facilitate a parallel trial, adapting the solution for local aged care providers. These trials will assess how Goldilocks can bridge the gap between specialist dementia expertise and everyday care teams, improving workforce capability and care delivery.

The University of Adelaide will provide academic rigor, ensuring that the project is underpinned by evidence-based methodologies and thorough evaluation. By combining ECH’s expertise, Goldilocks’ technology, and academic validation, this project will enable aged care providers to deliver high-quality dementia care at scale, empowering care teams to provide more effective and timely support.

Lead Partner: Goldilocks Suit

Supporting Partners: ECH Inc, University of Adelaide, ThincLab, Shenzhen Qingather Biotechnology

"We’re incredibly excited to receive this grant from ARIIA and to bring Goldilocks smart clothing technology to Adelaide. Goldilocks has the potential to transform dementia care by turning passive monitoring into proactive support — something previous studies have shown can significantly improve outcomes. This is a big step forward for the future of aging in place and we are super excited to partner with ECH and University of Adelaide in this."

Shem, CEO of Goldilocks

This pilot tests the effectiveness of a scalable music technology within a dementia care ward, to address workforce shortages particularly for regional, remote, and rural areas. The MATCH (Music Attuned Technology Care via eHealth) platform combines caregiver training, with an adaptive integrated system which utilises wearable sensors, and an AI-biometrically driven system to deliver personalised, effective music therapy interventions on demand. MATCH aims to reduce behavioural symptoms of dementia, risk of injury, and medication use, while also reducing burnout and stress, risk of staff injury, staff turnover, and healthcare costs within the residential aged care sector.

Participants (staff) will deliver the MATCH program to people living with dementia over 8 weeks following a baseline period of 4 weeks. MATCH users will benefit from the adaptive system when it detects the emergence of behavioural symptoms early and activating personalised music interventions to avoid symptom escalation. The success of MATCH will be assessed by comparing differences with usual care on dementia symptoms captured at baseline, use of unscheduled medication, care costs, and workforce pressures.

Lead Partner: The University of Melbourne

Supporting Partners: Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

This project builds on the success of the previously developed Palliative Care Assessment Toolkit (PCAT) funded by ARIIA in 2023 by transforming it into an AI-driven, web-based application to support aged care clinicians in the early identification and management of residents requiring palliative care. The original PCAT demonstrated significant improvements in care coordination, symptom management, and workforce confidence, leading to better palliative care outcomes.

The proposed project will enhance its impact by digitalizing the toolkit and integrating AI-driven decision support to streamline assessments and improve efficiency. The digital PCAT will incorporate established palliative care assessment frameworks, including SPICT™ and Palliative Care Needs Rounds, ensuring standardized, evidence-based decision-making. The tool will be particularly beneficial for rural and regional aged care facilities, where access to specialist palliative care is limited and lack of access to skilled workforce. Following a structured  implementation approach, the project will include co-design with stakeholders, pilot testing, staff training, and rigorous evaluation through pre- and post-testing.

Lead Partner: La Trobe University

Supporting Partners: Sunraysia Community Health Services Ltd, Monash Health, Jacaranda Village, Regis Mildura Aged Care

This project addresses a critical gap in post-diagnostic dementia support and ensures skilled workforce resources are available to a rural locality with high demand for dementia services.

The Sustainable Personalised Interventions for Cognition, Care, and Engagement (SPICE) program is a comprehensive, multicomponent rehabilitation program delivered by a collaborative allied health team that enhances quality of life, independence, and well-being of people with dementia and their care partners. It contains evidence-based cognitive stimulation therapy, education, physical activity, personalised strategies, and dietary advice. SPICE is innovative as it ensures specialist workforce skills under high demand are made available to more people due to the group nature of the program. SPICE has been running since 2022 in the ACT and is funded to mid-2028, however, it is yet to be implemented beyond this region.

This project aims to establish SPICE in a rural aged care setting with the addition of rehabilitative technology (Motiview) where twenty-one people from the community with dementia along with their care partners will participate to access effectiveness and provide feedback.

Lead Partner: Harbison Memorial Retirement Village

Supporting Partners: University of Canberra, University of Technology Sydney

"Receiving the ARIIA grant is a significant milestone for Harbison and the Southern Highlands community. This funding enables us to bring the SPICE program, an evidence-based dementia rehabilitation-focused model, to a rural setting for the first time. It addresses a critical gap in post-diagnostic support and ensures that specialist allied health expertise reaches the people who need it most. Through this project, we hope to deliver real improvements in quality of life, independence, and wellbeing for people living with dementia and their care partners in our region, while contributing to research to support a scalable intervention that can make a positive impact more broadly."

Harbison Memorial Retirement Village

This project promotes Elder-led cultural storytelling to guide care for Aboriginal people with dementia in residential communities. While Aboriginal people with dementia prefer care from Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services, data show that most access care from mainstream organisations and from non-Indigenous staff. There is an urgent need to ensure that non-Indigenous staff understand and can provide culturally safe care. Storytelling is a powerful, compelling and authentic way for non-Indigenous staff to learn new ways of thinking about care.

Elder-led storytelling ensures the spirit, voices, and cultures of Aboriginal people guide culturally respectful and safe dementia care. Stories highlight deep, spiritual connections to lands, with allegory and metaphor illustrating the science behind each story. In this innovative digital technology project, Aboriginal Elders will guide non-Indigenous staff in storytelling through a series of audio podcasts and an audio-visual vodcast enriched with Aboriginal music, art, and dance, to come together to learn, build respectful and caring relationships and share the cultural knowledge and framework needed for optimal care.

Lead Partner: University of Tasmania

Supporting Partners: Emmerton Park, Inc.

"It's the connections we make and the stories we hear that are vital for the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. It is a privilege to connect and partner with staff at Emmerton Park to ensure culturally safe care for Aboriginal people who live there."

Lyn Goldberg, Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania 

This project will assist the aged care workforce to improve their efficiency and effectiveness by using AI digital technology to deliver best practice interventions to older Australians living at home.

We will pilot AI-driven speech recognition software to bridge language barriers, and reduce administrative workloads in home care and increase technology skills of care staff. Integrated with the Care Window platform, this solution provides real-time translation, transcription, and a user-friendly video calling device, enhancing staff communication, streamlining case notes, and improving care plan accuracy—allowing staff to focus on direct care.

During the evaluation trial, AMCS staff will integrate the solution into daily workflows to capture conversations and generate transcripts with next-action summaries. Expected outcomes include reduced staff stress, higher retention, improved culturally sensitive communication, and increased workforce efficiency ultimately leading to increased quality of care.

Lead Partner: Australian Multicultural Community Services

Supporting Partners: Swinburne University of Technology

There is a paucity of existing, fit-for-purpose, guidance to effectively support the aged care workforce to deliver evidence-based practice. Decision Support Tools (DST) can improve the accessibility and usefulness of research evidence by incorporating easy-to-follow diagrams that depict a comprehensive workflow. The key aim of DSTs is to optimise clinical outcomes and thereby reduce clinical incidents/complaints by building aged care workforce capacity.

Therefore, this project aims to design, implement and evaluate a DST to assist aged care staff to utilise an evidence-based and person-centred approach to care. Collaborating with frontline staff and other stakeholders, the project team will carry out the following activities:

• Phase 1: Co-designing a decision support tool, testing it, learning, and adapting;
• Phase 2: Preparing for implementation with the co-design of an implementation playbook;
• Phase 3: DST implementation and evaluation.

Over 12-months, this project will generate 1) a co-designed and ready-to-implement DST addressing a prioritised problem in the context of the residential and/or community care setting, 2) co-designed implementation strategies to support the adoption and penetration of DSTs, 3) a DST that is usable, acceptable and have impact in the aged care context, and 4) ultimately, a playbook to plan and execute the implementation of forthcoming DSTs.

Lead Partner: Bolton Clarke

Supporting Partners: QUT

"This grant will assist Bolton Clarke in the co-design and implementation of a decision support tool intended to promote best practices in aged and community care settings. The project aims to provide a resource that supports high standards of care for older Australians, regardless of their location."

Stuart Donohoe, Acting head of Clinical &Service Governance at Bolton Clarke

Homeara+ will integrate machine learning (ML) to augment the efforts of nurses and support workers by identifying behavioural changes based on sensor data. This enables timely, targeted interventions while minimising false alerts, helping care teams focus where they are needed and reducing preventable hospitalisations.

The system will be trialled in partnership with Suncare Community Services, a regional aged care provider. Built using a Design Thinking approach, Homeara+ reflects insights from users, ensuring the system is practical and accessible. This strong user-centred foundation ensures that the integration of ML is technically sound and aligns with the workflows and needs of real-world home care settings. To support implementation, the project will produce a Homeara+ Implementation Toolkit, offering practical guidance on ML-enhanced monitoring and dashboard interpretation. Structured training will also be delivered to home care staff, clients, and families. By embedding ML to augment aged care delivery, this project establishes a scalable model that strengthens workforce capability and supports sustainable, technology-enabled care for older Australians ageing in place.

Lead Partner: University of the Sunshine Coast

Supporting Partners: Suncare Community Services, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, University of California, Davis

"This grant enables the Homeara Research Collective’s multidisciplinary team to advance new "Smart" models of home care that reflect older Australians’ desire to age in place, respond to critical workforce challenges, address monitoring health in more rural and remote areas, and provide peace of mind to families. By integrating machine learning into sensor-enabled home monitoring, Homeara+ will deliver scalable, nurse-led innovations that strengthen the quality, responsiveness, and sustainability of aged care in a variety of and home settings."

Dana, Academic Lead Healthy Ageing Gympie/ Senior Lecturer; A/Prof Rania Shibl, Technology Discipline Lead; Senior Lecturer Dr Gordana Dermody at University of the Sunshine Coast

The aged-care sector, particularly in rural and regional areas, is increasingly challenged by job turnover. Sundale Pty Ltd, a large regional aged-care provider in south east Queensland are not immune to these challenges. Work stress is a major contributor to job turnover, but as the inherent demands of the job may be difficult to modify, efforts to reduce the effects of work stress may go a long way to improving retention. Recent research has shown how physiological measures of stress can assist with identifying stressed employees and how stress can be reduced by even just 10 minutes of guided breathing or immersion in nature. The CONVIRT virtual reality program will be used to assist in identifying stressed employees. This program uses embedded eye-tracking and provides a combination of guided breathing within a serene nature environment. The research aims to reduce stress among Sundale employees using a state-of-the art virtual reality technology that is easily administered in the workplace - potentially lowering rates of job turnover.

Lead Partner: Deakin University

Supporting Partners: La Trobe University, Sundale Ltd.

"This project funding from ARIIA is going to allow us to undertake important work using virtual reality to help identify and reduce stress and job turnover for aged care workers. The project brings together a fantastic team and its really exciting to be working with Associate Professor Brad Wright and team at La Trobe University and Sundale on these important challenges"

Professor Ben Horan, Deakin University 

The Project aims to tackle access issues to hearing care services experienced by older Australians in rural and remote areas. Building on a successful pilot funded by ARIIA, this initiative will demonstrate the integration of Sound Scouts Hearing Screening Service at the point of care in collaboration with Whiddon, a regional aged care provider, with clinical support provided by Hearing Australia.

Many regional communities lack accessible hearing services due to workforce shortages and distance from urban centres. This Project addresses these issues by providing an easy-to-use, clinically validated digital hearing test, directly into aged care facilities and community care services, removing the need for residents to travel for assessments. Aged care staff working in homes, and across community care services, will be trained to conduct hearing screenings, allowing ongoing monitoring and timely intervention.

Test results will inform personalised care plans, ensure prompt referrals to Hearing Australia and other specialists, and improve communication strategies. The Project will also investigate how digital screenings can ease the pressure on local, regional healthcare systems.

Lead Partner: Sound Scouts

Supporting Partners: Whiddon, Hearing Australia, Macquarie University