News & Resources

MATCH is a music therapy informed training program and mobile app designed to guide carers of people living with dementia in the strategic use of music to support care and enhance wellbeing. We are currently seeking people living with dementia and carers to trial using the app at home over a 12-week period. You may also be eligible to participate if the person you care for is transitioning from home to aged care.

If you or someone you know might be interested, please see the flyer and register to participate to find out more!

Today, Google.org announced that MATCH was awarded US$1.3M (AUS$2M) as part of the AI for the Global Goals Impact Challenge! Out of many submitted proposals, the MATCH project was one of 15 that were selected for funding. This funding will help accelerate the development of the sensor technology and AI-enabled music adaptive system, as well as support a pilot study in Australia to prepare the project to scale globally.

AI for the Global Goals is part of Google’s company-wide commitment to help accelerate progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This $25 million philanthropy challenge supports projects that use artificial intelligence to accelerate progress towards these goals. Importantly, all of the projects will be open-sourced, so other organisations can build upon the work. You can read more about Google.org AI for the Global Goals here.

The MATCH team are excited to announce that we have been awarded an Aged Care Research and Industry Innovation Australia (ARIIA) grant of $156,000. This will support a new arm of MATCH, called MATCH-H, which will focus on implementing the MATCH Music Training Program in a specialist advanced dementia inpatient hospital unit. The study will be carried out in partnership with SA Health - Southern Adelaide Local Health Network. Read about the ARIIA Grant recipients here.

This week, MATCH has been featured in both the University of Melbourne's Pursuit publication and in the Aged Care Guide! The two articles give insight into the research behind MATCH and how MATCH aims to empower carers of people living with dementia to use music in mindful and strategic ways to support care at home. Read the full Pursuit article here and the Aged Care Guide article here.

We are excited to announce the official launch of our first trial of MATCH – a mobile application that can help carers learn to use music to support people living with dementia. We are currently seeking people living with dementia and carers to trial using the app at home over an 8-week period. If you or someone you know might be interested in MATCH, please see the flyer and contact us to learn more!

MATCH Project Leader, Prof Felicity Baker, was a guest on The Conversation Hour on 774 ABC Melbourne as part of a 1-hour special on how music and art can help people living with dementia. Listen here.

This month, the MATCH Advisory Committee met for the first time. Felicity gave an overview of the project and committee members engaged in a lively dialogue about their first impressions of the project. Read more about the Advisory Committee here.