In November 2019 Ageing Well National Science Challenge hosted our National Conference – Ageing Well Together: Science, Policy and Translation. 

The Honourable Tracey Martin, Minister for Seniors, opened our huihui with passionate words about the need for a Ministry of Seniors. She set the energy for the day by placing our seniors firmly at the centre of important conversations, such as the future of work, health and social connectedness. The huihui was closed by Dr Louise Parr-Brownlie, Co-Director, Māori, Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Drawing on the conversations throughout the day Dr Parr-Brownlie echoed the sentiment that, “loneliness [for older people] is considered the new smoking.” 

Dr Parr-Brownlie spoke of Ageing Well’s focus on enabling all New Zealanders to reach their full potential through the life course, with particular reference to the latter years of life, “we are achieving this by funding excellent research led by the right teams who are creative, rigorous, hard working and inspire the Directorate to work hard for the communities they and we are serving.”

Ageing Well, Director, Associate Professor Debra Waters remarked, “we were very pleased with this conference, which showcased the achievements and impact this research is having on communities across New Zealand.  The passion to achieve this impact was clear from both the researchers and the audience.”

You can find information about our speakers we had on the day and their abstracts at our conference website here. Conference presentations and photos will be made available shortly.