David Prendergast

Intel Principal Investigator

Dr David Prendergast is a social anthropologist and a Principal Investigator in the Intel Collaborative Research Institute for Sustainable Connected Cities with Imperial College and University College London. He also holds the position of Visiting Professor of Healthcare Innovation at Trinity College Dublin. His research over the last fourteen years has focused on later life-course transitions and he has authored a number of books and articles on ageing, health, technology and social relationships. During his career David has been involved in several major research projects including: a multi-year ethnography of intergenerational relationships and family change in South Korea; the provision of paid home care services in Ireland; and a three year ESRC study into death, dying and bereavement in England and Scotland. After receiving his PhD from Cambridge University, Dr Prendergast held research posts at the University of Sheffield, and Trinity College Dublin.

David began working with Intel in 2006 attracted by the opportunity to utilize social research to design and develop culturally appropriate technologies. In recent years, David has been involved in a diverse range of research initiatives from the Global Ageing Project which explores the expectations and experiences of health and ageing around the world, to Irish and EU studies on pathways into health and social care, active retirement communities, loneliness, sleep and activity patterns, behavioural change, and social entrepreneurialism .