The past decade has witnessed numerous developments in technology that can be applied to rehabilitation practice. The biennial International Conference for Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR) evolved from the desire and need for rehabilitation practitioners to play an integral role in the development and evaluation of new technologies, which incorporate virtual reality (VR) technology. One goal of the conference is to assist engineers who develop the technology to recognize the value they could derive by consulting with rehabilitation professionals in order to make their machine-user interfaces more efficient, user friendly, and effective for specific disabilities. Another goal is to advance translation efforts that bridge the gap between knowledge generation from research and knowledge uptake in clinical practice so that rehabilitation professionals become more comfortable with technology and recognize how to incorporate it into their individualized interactions with patients. ICVR 2013, the 9th conference in the series, will be collocated with the 8th annual Saffran conference entitled "Virtual Reality Technology and Rehabilitation of Speech and Language Disorders," which will focus on virtual reality applications being developed for rehabilitation of aphasia. The joint ICVR-Saffron conference is a 4-day event which will take place August 26-29, 2013, in Philadelphia. A combined attendance of approximately 150-200 at the two conferences is expected from clinical practitioners, scientists, faculty and students with interest in the many disciplines ICVR has historically embraced, such as motor rehabilitation with virtual technology, brain-computer interfaces, rehabilitation robotics, haptic interfaces, novel applications of game consoles, psychological and environmental rehabilitation in virtual reality, cognitive rehabilitation in virtual reality, tele-rehabilitation, balance and gait rehabilitation in virtual reality, regulatory and educational efforts to promote virtual rehabilitation, and sociological, demographic and legal aspects of virtual rehabilitation. More information about the ICVR conference is available online at http://virtual-rehab.org/2013.
This is funding to promote student involvement and educational initiatives in these conferences. Aside from the usual reduced student registration fees and stipends to assist with hotel and travel costs, four novel events are planned for ICVR 2013, three of which are specifically designed with student and post-doc advancement in mind. First, there will be two moderated poster sessions with one session dedicated specifically to student presenters. Posters will be grouped by topic area with teams of two senior investigators assigned to all posters within a topic area, who will facilitate discussion following a brief presentation by the investigator. Coffee breaks and dessert will be provided during poster sessions to encourage attendance. Second, lunch on Day 3 will be lengthened and held in the room with the commercial exhibitors, who will be encouraged to provide hands-on experiences with their technologies. Third, on Day 4 an oral platform session by graduate students and post-docs will give them the opportunity to present their research; student presentations will be selected by members of the organizing committee based on a written recommendation by the student's mentor and a one-page abstract. (these abstracts will be uploaded as part of the conference proceedings). Lastly, Day 4 will conclude with a panel-led discussion where clinicians, scientists, and technology developers can generate ideas about future promotion of technology transfer into the clinical environment; one student and one post-doc will be invited to serve on this panel. The net result of these innovations is that ample opportunities will exist for students and young investigators to interact with the keynote speakers, established scientists and clinicians throughout the conference. The organizers expect these initiatives will encourage more students to attend, both by reducing financial burden and by rewarding meritorious scientific achievements.
Broader Impacts: Raising awareness for science and technology students of the need for their skills in the interdisciplinary field of technology-oriented rehabilitation science is a necessary step to promoting interest in the field. Informing students at the earliest possible stages of their education about the opportunities that will be available to them later will help remove one major barrier to interdisciplinary collaboration, which is student readiness to engage in this type of research. This conference will create a forum whereby students and experts alike can gain interdisciplinary knowledge and develop a common language. Not only will this conference increase the opportunity to form interdisciplinary partnerships, but it will also help bridge any generational gap that exists as we transition from the traditional compartmentalized modes of research to new cross-disciplinary modes. The conference organizers will take special steps to encourage the participation of racial/ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) provided financial support to promote student involvement and educational initiatives to the International Conference for Virtual Rehabilitation (ICVR) and the 8th annual Saffran Conference for Cognitive Neuroscience, which took place 26-29 August 2013 in Philadelphia, PA (http://virtual-rehab.org/2013/). The ICVR evolved from the desire and need for rehabilitation practitioners to play an integral role in the development and evaluation of new technologies, which incorporate virtual reality (VR) technology. One goal of the conference is to assist engineers who develop the technology to recognize the value they could derive by consulting with rehabilitation professionals in order to make their machine-user interfaces more efficient, user friendly, and effective for specific disabilities. Another goal is to advance translation efforts that bridge the gap between knowledge generation from research and knowledge uptake in clinical practice so that rehabilitation professionals become more comfortable with technology and recognize how to incorporate it into their individualized interactions with patients. Thematically tied to ICVR, the 8th annual Saffran conference (titled "Virtual Reality Technology and Rehabilitation of Speech and Language Disorders") focused on VR applications that are being developed for rehabilitation of aphasia. This is an emerging field that has the potential to serve both as a clinical and a scientific tool. A valuable characteristic of VR relative to both language and motor skills is that it will support successful carry-over of residual skills to functional abilities in everyday situations. The student educational initiatives that were financially supported by the NSF included: 1) Reduced registration costs to students and post-docs. 2) Student stipends to assist with hotel and travel cost. 3) Travel scholarships to award to student and post-doc winners of the poster and paper competitions. 4) Travel scholarships to award to student and post-doc winners selected to be members of an expert panel discussion. 5) Free registration for student volunteers who help with organizational duties before, during, and after the conference. The educational goals are an important aspect of the conference’s broader impacts. Raising awareness for science and technology students of the need for their skills in the interdisciplinary field of technology-oriented rehabilitation science is a necessary step to promoting interest in the field. Informing students at the earliest possible stages of their education about the opportunities that will be available to them later will help remove one major barrier to interdisciplinary collaboration, which is student readiness to engage in this type of technical research. In order to encourage and support student involvement, we requested financial support from the NSF to accomplish our educational aims, recapitulated here: a) provide a forum to promote relationships among students and experts with interdisciplinary interests, b) bring to light the resources needed for students to pursue interdisciplinary training, c) increase student readiness to embark upon interdisciplinary research in this field. The conference was a great success in part due to the generous support of the NSF, which allowed student and post-doctoral trainee attendance from all over the world and surpassed attendance relative to any of the nine previous meetings in this conference series. Proceedings can be publicly accessed on the ICVR2013 website (http://virtual-rehab.org/2013/) and also through IEEE Xplore, which provides Web access to more than 3-million full-text documents from some of the world's most highly cited publications in electrical engineering, computer science and electronics.
