Ageing Health and Society Research Group

The Ageing, Health and Society Research Group was established to provide an interdisciplinary cross-faculty collaboration between clinical scientists, behavioural and social scientists.

Research achievements

  • Our studies have informed the development of dementia care services in the United Kingdom; contributed to the Department of Health’s National Dementia Strategy for England and NICE-SCIE guidelines on supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care; influenced the creation of the Department of Health’s GP Commissioning programme on early diagnosis and intervention in dementia; and facilitated the forecasting of future service provision through the Wanless Review of Social Care and the Dilnot Commission.
  • We are internationally know for our work on healthy life expectancy (HLE) and participate in the Joint European Health and Life Expectancy Information System (JA EHLEIS) that has highlighted inequalities in HLE the societal drivers of HLE across Europe.
  • We have contributed significantly to increasing the public’s understandings of cognitive impairment and dementia through our work on the meaning of dementia; the emergence of MCI as a diagnostic category; the biomedicalisation and stigma of cognitive impairment and quality of life while living with dementia.
  • Our scholarship and research on the social world and social connectedness of older people has led to the development of public health interventions targeted at those at risk of loneliness or social isolation. Our work on attitudes to ageing joins with other work through Changing Age to encourage more positive attitudes to ageing.
  • Our work in ethics reflects our commitment to the development of person-centred care and underpins our goal to increase public participation in the management of our research

Research strategy

Our mission is to promote interdisciplinary research on applied policy research that has an impact on the lives of older people. The core of our work is situated in the ‘Life-course and Ageing’ strand within the Institute of Health and Society and focuses on the policy and practice implications of an ageing society. We are closely linked to basic and clinical scientists within the Institute for Ageing and Health and to scientists working the ‘Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy’ strand of the Digital Institute.

Our strategy is to continue to develop our influence on public policy and practice in the key areas of cognitive impairment and dementia, disability and healthy life expectancy, quality of life and well being, social inclusion and exclusion and ethics. We wish to develop our interest in environmental gerontology through research on digital and other assisted technologies. Underpinning our strategy is closer collaboration and involvement of public and patient interests and older people themselves.

Related Websites

Staff List

Rg_agehealth

Susan Abley
Associate Clinical Researcher

Claire Bamford
Senior Research Associate

Professor John Bond
Prof of Social Gerontology and Health Services Research

Dr Katie Brittain
Lecturer in Social Gerontology

Dr Lynne Corner
Director of Engagement - Changing Age

Dr Claire Dickinson
Research Associate

Dr Rachel Duncan
Clinical Senior Lecturer in Ageing Research in Primary Care

Dr Katie Haighton
Lecturer in Public Health Research (Evaluation of Complex Interventions)

Professor Carol Jagger
AXA Prof of Epidemiology of Ageing

Professor Ian McKeith
Professor of Old Age Psychiatry

Dr Suzanne Moffatt
Senior Lecturer

Professor Patrick Olivier
Professor of Human-Computer Interaction

Marie Poole
Junior Research Associate

Professor Louise Robinson
Professor of Primary Care and Ageing

Professor Peter Wright
Prof of Social Computing