In this edition of the LEAPcast we talk to Dr Huw Day, Huw is a post-doctoral research associate in digital health at the VIVO Hub for Enhanced Independent Living. Having completed his PhD in Mathematics here at the University of Bristol, Huw began postdoctoral work in data science and machine learning. He also has a keen interest in data ethics, and advocate for outreach. You can find Huw via his LinkedIn profile here or email him on huw.day@bristol.ac.uk.

We discuss federated learning and why it matters for healthcare and other privacy-sensitive domains. Federated learning addresses situations where data can’t be centralised. Instead models are sent out to clients (e.g., hospitals or homes), trained locally, and then aggregated on a central server. Huw discusses real deployments, key barriers such as governance, and privacy limits. He also describes Vivo’s work using federated learning to train models that control soft wearable exosuits from sensor data, while keeping sensitive in-home data local.

Other useful links mentioned in this episode:

https://www.thevivohub.com/

https://docs.isambard.ac.uk/access/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/huw-day/

We explore operations research and how the smallest changes can make the biggest differences to the lives of patients, their families, and the healthcare professionals that look after them. Join us as we hear from Professor Daniel Gartner, LEAP Co_Investigator and lead for Cardiff University.

How can digital health genuinely engage populations often described as “hard to reach”?

In this episode of LEAPcast, we speak with Becky Cotton, co‑founder of Lumino Health, about designing digital health technologies that engage underserved populations in ethical, inclusive, and sustainable ways.