Accessibility in Action @TU Dublin
A World Sight Day Event
On Monday 13 & Tuesday 14 October 2025, we welcomed hundreds of people to Central Quad on our Grangegorman campus at Technological University Dublin to celebrate Accessibility in Action: A World Sight Day Event @ TU Dublin.
Hosted by the Digital Futures Research Hub, School of Computer Science and School of Media at TU Dublin, and organised in collaboration with Sight and Sound Technologies, the programme brought together students, researchers, educators and industry partners to explore the the latest developments in assistive technology research and innovation.
The event involved a two-day programme of talks, workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions exploring accessibility, inclusion, and innovation. Highlights included an assistive technology exhibition, a keynote by Professor Sile O’Modhrain, and a workshop marking 200 years of braille.
Key Highlights and Photos
Monday 13th October
Assistive Technology Exhibition
11:00 – 17:00 | Central Quad Foyer
On Monday 13th October the foyer of Central Quad was busy with the assistive technology exhibition where Sight and Sound led an exhibition demoing a range of hardware and software that can help people with low or no vision, including new multi-line Braille displays, the Paige Connect and the WeWalk 2 smart cane.
In addition to Sight and Sound’s technology exhibition, there were also displays and demos by:
- ChildVision
- Fighting Blindness
- Irish Guide Dogs
- Vision Ireland, the new name for NCBI
- Joe Geraghty, author of Out of Sight! Stories of Ireland’s Blind and Vision Impaired Sportspeople
- St John of God Community Services
- tPOT (TU Dublin) Spirit of Radio Dr Damon Berry
- Age Friendly AI (TU Dublin) Paula Kelly
- Smart Remote Monitoring for People Living with Dementia (TU Dublin) Dr Harish Kambampati
- Open-source Smart Mirror System for Persons Living with Dementia (TU Dublin) Dr Giulio Gabrieli
CHAT - AI and Accessibility: Innovation & Inclusion
13:15 – 2:45 | Central Quad Room 008
CHAT (Community Hub for Accessible Technology) Event
Accessibility in Action Interactive Presentations and Demos
15:00 – 17:00 | Central Quad Room 009
Chaired by Peterson Jean and Fatima Badmos
15:00 – 15:15 | Dr Annika Lindh – Automatically generated image descriptions – how does it work, and what can be improved?
15:15– 15:30 | Paula Kelly – Age-Friendly AI – a National Literacy Training Program
15:30 – 15:45 | Fatima Badmos – Designing Technology to Support Outdoor Activity for Older Adults through Music Interaction
15:45 – 16:00 | Dr Damon Berry – Spirit of Radio – an Age-Friendly AI Initiative
16:00 – 16:15 | Peterson Jean – Designing Multimodal Health Data Representation for Older Adults – a Semantic Approach
16:15 – 16:30 | Tlamelo Makati – Inclusive AI for Digital Accessibility
16:30 – 16:45 | Dr Harish Kambampati – Smart Remote Monitoring for People Living with Dementia: Enhancing Quality of Life through AI-Driven Voice Systems and Off-the-Shelf Sensors
16:45 – 17:00 | Dr Giulio Gabrieli – Open-source Smart Mirror System for Persons Living with Dementia (PLwD)
Reception and Poster Exhibition
17:00 – 18:00 | Central Quad Foyer
Reception Posters Exhibition of Accessibility research by TU Dublin PhD students, researchers and academic staff.
Keynote Lecture - Sile O'Modhrain
From Concept to Codex: The Design and Development of a Multi-Line Braille Display
18:00 – 19:30 | Intel Lecture Theatre Central Quad Ground Floor
It is rare to have the opportunity to present a research project that makes it out of the lab and into the marketplace because there are so many challenges and pitfalls involved in moving from concept to product. Sometimes these are because an idea just isn't a good fit with the needs of the population it is designed for, sometimes a concept fails because it is ahead of its time, and sometimes the funding just dries up. But when the stars align, it is a real privilege to design and develop something that can have a real impact in people's lives. In this talk, I present NewHaptics' journey from concept to product with the Codex multi-line braille display. I begin by introducing some of the basic research, from hardware to tactile perception studies to UX design, that informed the early development of the product. I then discuss some of the significant decisions we made along the way. Finally, I describe some of the features of the current device, to illustrate how the form and function of the product continue to evolve in response to an iterative design approach involving blind people at all levels including concept design, hardware specification, software development and user experience evaluation.
Sile O’Modhrain is a Professor in Performing Arts Technology at the school of Music, Theatre and Dance at the University of Michigan where she also holds an appointment as a professor in the School of Information.
Her research focuses on human-computer interaction, especially interfaces incorporating haptic and auditory feedback. She earned her master’s degree in music technology from the University of York and her PhD from Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). She has also worked as a sound engineer and producer for BBC Network Radio. In 1994, she received a Fulbright scholarship, and went to Stanford to develop a prototype haptic interface augmenting graphical user interfaces for blind computer users. In 2019, she co-founded NewHaptics, an Ann-Arbor-based start-up that is developing a full-page tactile display using microfluidic technology. Her forthcoming book, entitled ‘A Dialogue of the Senses,’ will be published by MIT press in spring 2026.
Photos of Keynote by Susan Kennedy
Tuesday 14th October
Co-design and Accessibility Workshop
10:00 – 12:30 | Central Quad Room 214F
Access2CS and Inclusion4EU project members
Braille Workshop
13:30 – 15:00 | Central Quad Room 214F
Workshop with Stuart Lawler Celebrating 200 Years of Braille: Past, Present, and Future
Workshop hosted by Stuart Lawler
200 Years of Braille: Past, Present, and Future
As we mark two centuries since the invention of the braille code, we are taking a moment to reflect—and to look ahead to the future.
Braille has revolutionised access to information for blind and visually impaired people, and its impact continues to grow. When paired with assistive technologies, the potential is truly limitless.
Sight and Sound Technology’s Head of Digital Content Stuart Lawler took us on a journey through the history of Refreshable braille technology, exploring today’s innovations in both single and multi-line braille displays, and offering a glimpse into what the future may hold.
Stuart Lawler is a lifelong braille user and, outside of his role at Sight and Sound Technology, he is Executive Director of INBAF, the Irish National Braille and Alternative Formats Authority. He also sits on the executive committee of the International Council on English Braille (ICEB), where he holds the position of Public Relations Officer
