Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The world is experiencing a demographic shift, with people over age 65 expected to outnumber those under 15 within the next three decades. With unprecedented numbers of ageing individuals, issues that go beyond the pursuit of longevity will require addressing. Traditional ageing research has focused more on the avoidance of chronic disease than on the positive aspects of ageing. However, a slow holistic health and wellbeing has received increased attention, where researchers focus on fostering the processes of ageing well, or "successful ageing (SA)". The focus on my PhD research is on examining the ways in which people age well across the life course. Using a longitudinal population-based dataset that has followed people for the past two decades administering surveys of health and wellbeing, I will be able to examine how people are able to stay happy and healthy throughout later life. Additionally, many participants in this study donated their brains when they died, which will allow me to examine lifestyle effects on the brain as well as how successfully aging effects the brain. There is very little research into this area, despite the increasing numbers of people that this research will impact. As we move into an age where simply adding years to one's life is not enough, we need to focus on how to add life to those years through the fostering of successful ageing.