This project promotes smell culture awareness through community building and public engagement.
Grant
Grant: Grand Challenges Mental Health and Wellbeing Network Building
Year awarded: 2023-24
Amount awarded: £2,500.00
Academics
Professor Ava Fatah gen Schieck, The Bartlett
Professor Marianna Obrist, Department of Computer Science, Engineering
This proposal unites UCL's faculties of the Built Environment, Computer Science, and Medical Sciences to enhance awareness and policymaking regarding the significance of smell for wellbeing through workshops and public events. Building on the Smell Care project, led by Professor Marianna Obrist, the initiative aims to address the neglect of the sense of smell in various fields and promote innovative approaches for rehabilitation and public understanding. Collaborations with organizations like Fifth Sense and Future Care Capital will facilitate outreach, aiming to foster a culture of smell care and improve overall quality of life.
Image credit: iStock
Outputs and Impact
The team has raised awareness of the importance of smell and its role in health and wellbeing through the following key outreach efforts:
- BADU Community Workshop: Engaged middle and high school students from underprivileged backgrounds in discussions on the significance of smell and digital smell training. Technology demonstrations and speculative design activities sparked curiosity and continued conversations, supported by UCL’s Institute of Healthcare Engineering.
- UCL Festival of Engineering: In collaboration with project partner OWidgets, showcased the smell delivery device as part of UCL’s 150th-anniversary celebrations. The event was well attended by academics and industry professionals, including the UCL Provost and President, who personally experienced the smell training technology.
- UCLIC Outreach Day: Introduced their digital smell training to over 40 students from ACOMPS and In2Science, emphasizing the importance of protecting and actively training one’s sense of smell. The event sparked engaging discussions and thoughtful questions from attendees.
These activities helped build on existing collaborations across UCL’s faculties of Built Environment, Computer Science, and Medical Sciences, reinforcing interdisciplinary connections. Through workshops and public engagement, the project raised awareness, expanded professional networks, and informed policymaking on smell and wellbeing in healthcare and the built environment.
The initiative also extended the impact of the UCL-Tohoku Strategic Partnership Award, facilitating cross-cultural dialogue on smell and wellbeing. This network fostered new partnerships between UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture and Tohoku University, leading to further research opportunities.
Additionally, the outreach efforts provided capacity-building opportunities for Smell Care researchers, enabling engagement with broader audiences and strengthening their role in interdisciplinary collaborations.
Looking Ahead
Future efforts will focus on expanding dissemination and ensuring long-term impact. A White Paper, developed from workshop findings, will explore the role of smell care in health and wellbeing, advocating for a technology-enabled smell care culture while integrating smell awareness into built environment policymaking.
For updates, visit the Smell Care website or follow @smellcareUK on Twitter.
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