What happens to Ageing Well from July 2024?

All eleven National Science Challenges are ending on June 30 following a decade of innovative, mission-led research.

So what does this mean for Ageing Well mahi that is yet to be completed?
What happens to Ageing Well’s website, newsletter, social media pages, and documents?
What of our robust whananungatanga?

Here are some answers to the varied questions about our kaupapa.

Why is Ageing Well ending?

Ageing Well, as one of the 11 National Science Challenges, was established in 2014 for a ten-year period until June 2024.

The gazetted aim of the National Science Challenges were to tackle the biggest science-based issues and opportunities facing Aotearoa New Zealand. We have utilised the nation’s top researchers to work in a multidisciplinary, collaboratively way across disciplines, institutions, and borders to achieve the unique objectives of each Challenge.

Ageing Well was one of the first Challenges to start our mahi and have enjoyed doing science differently.

When does Ageing Well finish up?

Our funding expires on June 30, 2024. This means that all our research projects must be completed by this date.

However, the Ageing Well team has been contracted through to the end of August to allow for reporting activities and wrap-up mahi to be completed.

What about the Ageing Well website?

We are proud of our website and it is a valuable resource for many of our researchers and community partners.

As such, our website will continue to be hosted for another five years, through to June 2029.  With some minor changes, the site will be kept in a static state from 2026 onwards, with content still accessible to the general public, until 2029.

As information is constantly changing, we can guarantee that our internal links will be operational for the 5-year period post-Challenge though we cannot guarantee any external facing links.

Will you still be publishing your newsletter?

Our final newsletter will be published in August 2024. We will be posting a few updates as we approach the administrative end of the Challenge.

Copies of our older newsletter issues and email communications can be found on our website under the resources tab.

Please note: due to some technical difficulties using Mailchimp, we have recently migrated our data to a new email service called SendGrid. If you would like to add your name to the list during this transition period, please email our Comms Advisor directly.

What about all the Ageing Well social media accounts?

Our social media accounts will be ‘frozen’ (meaning that commenting and messaging options will be turned off, though the content will still be available and searchable).

We have built strong networks of researchers, scientists, kaumātua service providers, anti-ageism advocates, healthy ageing champions, non-profit organisations, mātauranga Māori practitioners, and other allied organisations. We hope that you continue to engage with this network as they will continue our kaupapa into the future.

Will your content be archived?

As our host organisation, the University of Otago is housing our collection in the OUR Archives. This ensures all the publications and associated data that is linked to Ageing Well can be easily accessed in one place.

Additionally, the National Library will be harvesting our website in the latter half of 2024 for their collection.

What about the mahi of Ageing Well?

Much of the research funded by Ageing Well is complete, though there a handful of projects that are due to finish on June 30. We will be posting updates and any information relating to this final work up until August 30, 2024.

As a research organisation, we acknowledge that research outputs and peer-reviewed academic outputs may be published after the end of Ageing Well due to journal processes and publishing schedules. We will endeavour to include them on our website and in OUR archive, where possible.

We have spent a decade building and cultivating a network of highly engaged researchers and community partners. Our relationships have been central to the success of Ageing Well. We are infinitely proud of the mahi achieved by our whānau. We are hoping to continue our network and kaupapa in some way, in some form. Nevertheless, we will support our partners in continuing their important mahi in new projects sustained by other funders.

Any questions?

Please contact us with any questions you may have about this transitional period.

This email will be monitored until August 30, 2024.

Ngā mihi nui.