The Institute of Social Work

prof. Malcolm Fisk (winter semester 2021/2022)

Prof Fisk taught a course on Digital Health: Theory and Practice at the Department of Social Work that was attended by undergraduate and Masters degree students. In the course, Prof Fisk gave special attention to the challenges and opportunities of digital health (telehealth) at the ‘interface’ of health and social care. Important issues were addressed including the lack of a coherent social theoretical framework that could guide social workers and social care staff in their advocacy and/or use of relevant technologies (from portable smartphones, wearables and apps to devices that can monitor people’s physiological signs at home). Such technologies, it was pointed out, can on the one hand provide health and social care service staff with a means of monitoring and surveillance; and on the other hand, can enable, empower and motivate people through their enhanced access to networks, services, knowledge, work and training opportunities. 

Malcolm Fisk is Professor of Ageing and Digital Health at De Montfort University, Leicester (United Kingdom) but has a ‘rounded’ portfolio that includes extensive periods of work in municipal government (housing and social services) and the private sector (research and the electronics industry). He has a long track record with regard to the use of technologies by or provided for older people and recently led two major European Commission funded projects (TeleSCoPE and PROGRESSIVE) that addressed some of the challenges. His various expert UK appointments include NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) and (formerly) government-appointed Chair of the National Partnership Forum for Older People in Wales.

Prof Fisk is well published in academic and professional journals and he is a regular, often keynote, speaker at international conferences. His new book ‘The Telehealth Paradigm: Time to Care Differently’ is due for publication in 2022.