King's College London

The ‘Extending the Impact of a Lifelong Ageing Workshop’ initiative saw Dr Martina Zimmermann, Dr Joe Wood, and Dr Laura Hughes (Department of English), collaborate with the Science Gallery London, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and United for All Ages. Aimed at participants from charities and other third-sector organisations, Lifelong Ageing wanted to showcase up-and-coming researchers working on lifecourse approaches to ageing and enable conversations and collaborations within and across sectors.

The desire to hold a workshop focused on lifecourse approaches to ageing emerged from discussions during a Policy Lab held at King’s College London in September 2022, as part of The Sciences of Ageing and the Culture of Youth, 1880 to the present day, a research programme on ageing funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship awarded to Martina. SAACY examines the dynamic exchange between scientific, medical and wider cultural and societal discourses of ageing, and Lifelong Ageing was intended to explore the ways insights from a range of disciplinary perspectives can inform frameworks and practical methods adopted by those working with and for older people.

Lifelong Ageing was held at the Science Gallery London in May 2023. The event featured presentations from early career researchers working in disciplines including Neuroscience, Anthropology, Music, Medicine, and English, drawn from a range of UK-based and international higher education institutions. Representatives from over a dozen charities and other third-sector organisations, both locally based and from across the UK, including Ageing Well Brighton and Hove, Age UK, Centre for Ageing Better, Generations Working Together, InCommon, and OpenAge Westminster attended the event. Thanks to attendance at the workshop, several third-sector organisations have been able to hear about current research related to lifecourse approaches, widen their networks, and, based on this, enhance their future practice.