UBC IDEA Lab

@idea.nursing.ubc.ca

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Advancing dementia and aging care through patient-oriented research and technology innovation. Learn more at idea.nursing.ubc.ca.

Members of the UBC IDEA Lab community smiling together in a sunny backyard garden during a summer gathering, with food on the table and greenery in the background.
Two UBC IDEA Lab team members, Veronica and Amber, smile while sitting at a Hong Kong-style café table with Zee, a SmartLittle Doll, placed between them. The table includes pineapple buns, egg tarts, and a glass of Hong Kong-style milk tea.
PhD candidate Joey Wong standing and smiling in front of a CASN/ACESI conference backdrop.
PhD candidate Lily Haopu Ren and PhD student Yong Zhao stand side by side with arms crossed. Lily, an Asian woman, wears glasses, a beige blazer, and a cream turtleneck; Yong, an Asian man, wears a light blue dress shirt and red tie.
Vanessa Lo, Co-Founder and CEO of VanTech Med, speaks to students beside a UBC IDEA Lab laptop as Dr. Lillian Hung smiles while holding the Sunny-1 humanoid companion robot toward the online audience.
UBC IDEA Lab Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Yi-ting (Joyce) Chiu presented findings on “Technology-Enabled Community Resilience for Aging in Place: Evidence from Older-Adult–Led Village Organizations” at the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging Research Day 2026.
Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jiangning Fu (centre), along with older adult partners Lily Wong (left) and Zarina Chan (right) standing in front of their poster, “Implementing immersive projection technology in dementia care: Staff perspectives from long-term care and hospital settings,” at the INCREASE BC 2026 Conference in Vancouver.
Visiting students, researchers, and partners pose together in the UBC IDEA Lab around the Aether robot, which is decorated with a purple skirt and colorful flowers. The visiting students on the left are holding ice cream.
A screenshot from a CIHR virtual networking event with a slide titled “Revolutionizing Dementia Care Transition through the Learning Health System (LHS) model at Vancouver Coastal Health.” It lists research goals, implementation progress (patient journey mapping, system mapping, EDI advisory, learning community education), knowledge mobilization strategies, the population of interest, and challenges/opportunities. A small video tile shows Dr. Lillian Hung speaking.
Graphic with a navy background. At left, a group photo of the UBC IDEA Lab team standing and sitting around a decorated Christmas tree, framed by a colourful holiday border. At right, large text reads “Happy Holidays from the UBC IDEA Lab,” beside a cartoon character wearing a Santa hat and scarf. A gold banner along the bottom reads: “Read our 2025 year-end message from Dr. Lillian Hung.”
A group of long-term care staff, researchers, and patient partners sit in a bright lounge at Opal Vancouver, listening to Dr. Jim Mann, an older adult patient partner, standing and speaking at the front of the room during a long-term care clinical huddle.
Sena Kholmatov speaks at a wood-paneled lectern with a laptop and mic during SFU’s Research Day on Aging.
Dr. Lillian Hung and Yuka Ohno stand smiling on either side of their research poster titled “Long-term care residents and staff perspectives on PARO using video reflexive ethnography” at GSA 2025.
Five panelists seated on stage in front of a large purple screen displaying ‘The Future of Nursing in the Age of AI – Marion Woodward Lecture & Symposium 2025, The University of British Columbia, School of Nursing.’ From left to right: Dr. Emily Jenkins (chair), Dr. Bernie Garrett, Dr. Lillian Hung speaking into a microphone, Prof. Ash Scott, and Dr. Charlene Chu, who later delivered the keynote lecture.
Dr. Karen L.Y. Wong stands smiling outside the UBC Thea Koerner House Graduate Student Centre holding a bouquet of flowers, with PhD students Lily Ren (left) and Joey Wong (right) beside her.
South Asian community Healthy Aging workshop participants sit at round tables while a facilitator presents a slide titled “Knowledge Exchange — Summary,” with flip-charts and workshop materials in the background.
Jeffrey Wong and Lynn Jackson stand beside their poster “Co-Designing Immersive Virtual Reality With Indigenous Communities” at the TWU CREATE Conference 2025.
Screenshot of the article title: “Virtual Team-Based Care Planning for Older Adults with Dementia: Enablers, Barriers, and Lessons from Hospital-to-Long-Term Care Transitions.” Authors listed include Lillian Hung, Paulina Santella, Denise Connelly, Mariko Sakamoto, Jim Mann, Ian Chan, Karen Lok Yi Wong, Mona Upreti, Harleen Hundal, Marie Lee Yous, and others.
Joey Wong, Lily Haopu Ren, and Dr. Lillian Hung (from left to right) smiling together in an airport jet bridge with an airplane visible outside the windows, traveling to Sweden for the Socio-Gerontechnology Network’s 7th Annual Meeting.
Image of a person holding a transistor radio.
PhD students Joey Wong and Lily Haopu Ren present behind a lectern with a large slide of their VR dementia care poster projected behind them at the 2nd International Conference on Forest Therapy.
Promotional graphic for the UBC IDEA Lab July 2025 Newsletter. Yellow background with an envelope icon and a “Subscribe Now” button.
Dr. Lillian Hung speaking on stage at a podium labeled “AAIC 25,” with a large presentation slide behind her titled “Co-Create VR with Indigenous.” The slide includes a photo of a totem pole and a bulleted list outlining the goals of co-creating VR content with Indigenous older adults.
Mario Gregorio, a smiling older man wearing a cap and striped shirt, stands at a podium holding a microphone. Beside him is Dr. Lillian Hung, also smiling, in a pink blazer and glasses. They are co-presenting at the 2025 West Coast Conference on Aging.
Dr. Lillian Hung and Dr. Jim Mann, a patient partner living with dementia, standing in front of their poster on improving dementia care transitions.
Screenshot of the Bluesky Alt Text Rating tool showing results for the account @idea.nursing.ubc.ca. The tool analyzed 22 of our posts, 8 of which contain images, and all 8 have alt text. The final score is 100.00% with a smiling face emoji. A gauge graphic at the bottom shows the score in the green zone, indicating excellent performance.
Dr. Lillian Hung, Canada Research Chair in Senior Care, speaks at a podium during the CIHR Institute of Aging Summer Program in Aging 2025 in Toronto. A large screen behind her displays a slide featuring two smiling family partners and co-researchers, Bubli Chakraborty and Lynn Jackson.
Joey Wong stands smiling beside a large academic poster titled “Staff retention among long-term care staff: A qualitative study” at the CGNA 2025 conference. The poster summarizes key themes like relational joy in caregiving, respectful workplace culture, and opportunities for professional growth.
Group photo of the UBC IDEA Lab team smiling in a classroom. Some are seated at a table with snacks and sushi-making ingredients, while others stand behind them. Several members are wearing white IDEA Lab hoodies, and the atmosphere is friendly and festive.
Undergraduate research assistant Julia Banco smiling and standing in front of her poster presentation titled “Student Reflections and Lessons Learned in Deploying an AI-Enabled Service Robot Within Long-Term Care.”
Two photos from the ENAS & NANAS 2025 Conference in Lleida, Spain. Left: Dr. Lillian Hung and Dr. Julia Henderson, smiling in front of a historic stone building. Right: Dr. Hung and IDEA Lab alum Hiro Ito posing together inside the conference venue, a large stone hall filled with attendees and round tables.
A bright yellow graphic shows an older woman smiling and interacting with two social robots—PARO, a fluffy white seal, and LOVOT, a small green robot. On the left, bold text reads: ‘Ethical Considerations for Social Robots in Long-Term Care’ with four bullet points: Inequitable access, Consent, Substitution of human care, and Infantilization. A small orange label says ‘New Article’.
A speaker announcement for Providence Health Care’s West Coast Conference on Aging featuring Dr. Lillian Hung. On the left, a circular portrait shows Dr. Hung smiling with short auburn hair and glasses. To the right, bold black text announces the conference. Below, her title and affiliation with UBC’s Innovation in Dementia and Aging Lab are listed. A yellow box at the bottom highlights the event dates: June 19-20.
A group of robots takes flight in a bright blue sky. PARO, the fluffy robotic seal, leads the way, carrying a VR headset. Two LOVOT robots, one in red and one in green, hover nearby with wide, curious eyes. The Aether robot, screen beaming with a big smile, floats alongside them. The UBC IDEA Lab logo sits in the bottom left corner.