“Save the Date” DOCTRID VI Conference, September 19th & 20th, 2019, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland

• Theme: Transitions across the Lifespan
• DOCTRID is a unique Irish-led international research network of scientists, disability service providers, practitioners, and industry partners; established in 2010 by RESPECT and the Daughters of Charity Disability Support Services to coordinate and support cutting-edge research and training in intellectual disabilities and/or autism.
• DOCTRID is one of the largest programs in the world devoted to ID and/or autism research consisting of 20 institutions and organizations across Ireland, the UK and US. Its aims are to:
  • Train the future leaders in ID research and practice
  • Promote multidisciplinary research to ensure quality and relevance. This means psychologists, engineers, occupational therapists, computer scientists, educators, disability services, speech and language therapists all working together
  • Produce top quality research which will inform policy and practice
  • Have person centered research at the heart of all we do
  • Raise awareness of the potential of technology as a tool to enhance opportunities for communication, education, employment, independent living and social inclusion but to also:
  • Remember that technology is not a magic solution-it is a tool which needs to meet the needs of the individual
  • Increase society’s expectations of what people with ID or autism can achieve with the right supports
• The two main research programs currently running within the DOCTRID Research Institute are the €9M EU Marie Curie ASSISTID program, co-funded by RESPECT and the EU, and the Michigan State University (MSU)-DOCTRID Hegarty Fellowship program. Up to 49 researchers will be funded over the next 3 years to investigate how assistive technologies and other supports can be used to increase communication, social inclusion, education, and employment for people with ID or autism.