This theme delves into the intricate way technology intersects with the evolving landscape of care work, reshaping traditional definitions and categories across diverse care ecologies. It examines how technology can enhance collaboration among care workers and foster meaningful connections with care recipients, ultimately improving care practices through shared experiences and reflection. Recognising that care is fundamentally rooted in relationships, we will explore how technology influences not only care delivery but also the connections between care workers, stakeholders, and the broader service ecosystem. Additionally, we will broaden our understanding of care by considering various experiences and ways of materialising care in diverse settings, including community building, retirement spaces, hospitals, long-term care, daycare centres, and online platforms

This theme will enable participants to consider the ethical pitfalls of technology- mediated care within the workplace and map the considerations for the development of responsible and safe technology for mediation of care within care work. It deals with the questions: How to design care technologies to support ethical decisions or practice in care work across multiple dimensions and levels (including micro/personal, meso/institutional, and macro/societal)?

This theme focuses on the sustainable implications of technology within care workforces, emphasising growth, well-being, and worker rights. It examines how the social dimensions of care work, such as employment structures, skill training, and promotion pathways, interplay with the introduction of innovative technologies. Additionally, by framing care work within a neoliberal capitalistic mechanism, this theme prompts the exploration of disparities related to class, race, and gender, as well as the dynamics of global immigration.

Care work, characterised by sustained, intricate tasks with often delayed or intangible outcomes, can lead to exhaustion, lack of fulfilment, and self-doubt among caregivers. Co-design offers a vital opportunity to empower care workers, leveraging their unique capabilities and contributions to enhance the overall care ecosystem. This theme calls for discussions on the distinct challenges and values of co-design in care settings, such as making work outcomes more visible and adapting co-design tools for high-intensity environments. Recognising care workers as creative technologists , self-organising actors, and skilled caregivers, this theme aims to empower workers in designing and adapting technologies, enabling informed decisions about their own well-being and the care they provide.