News
June 2013
MICRA celebrates 1,000 members with two new Co-Directors
The Manchester Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Research on Ageing (MICRA) has celebrated its’ 1,000th member with the announcement of two new MICRA Co-Directors. Professors Cay Kielty and Dean Jackson representing the Faculty of Life Sciences have joined the existing leadership team of James Nazroo and Chris Phillipson (Humanities) and Alistair Burns and Neil Pendleton (Medical and Human Sciences) to support the continued development and growth of MICRA across the University and beyond. Until recently Cay was Associate Dean for Research in FLS and now leads on cross faculty working; she holds a chair in medical biochemistry with a focus on regenerative medicine. Dean is a cell biologist, Head of Section for Cellular Systems and a member of the FLS senior management team.
MICRA has built up a diverse membership over the past 3 years as a network promoting interdisciplinary research on all aspects of ageing. Membership is open to all with an interest in research on ageing and has attracted academics, students, voluntary sector providers, NHS, private sector, government and older people. The majority of members have attended MICRA events such as a monthly public seminar where academics from different disciplines present alongside practitioners on key issues in ageing. Seminars are now regularly attracting audiences approaching a 100 looking at questions such as ‘Ageing, Dementia, Creativity and Storytelling’ and ‘Population Ageing and the Future of Cities’, and 115 attended last month’s public lecture by Dr Aubrey de Grey.
March 2013
New Publication by Professor Chris Phillipson
Chris Phillipson’s new book Ageing has been published by Polity Press. The book examines a range of topics including demographic change across high and low-income countries, theories of social ageing, changing definitions of ‘age’, retirement trends, family and intergenerational relations, poverty and inequality, and health and social care in later life. The book also considers the key steps necessary in preparing for the social transformation which population ageing will bring. Further details are available on the Polity Press website:
https://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745630847
February 2013
Seedcorn Funding Awards
MICRA is pleased to announce that five exciting research projects have been funded through the MICRA 2012 Seedcorn calls. The joint MICRA/ Manchester City Council award went to a consortium lead by Dr Kostas Arvanitis and will examine digital cultural engagement of older audiences in conjunction with key cultural bodies in the city including the Manchester Museum and the Manchester Art Gallery. Tanja Bastia from the University of Manchester will be exploring how elderly people experience and deal with the lack of care resulting from the emigration of the younger generation. Emma Ferguson-Coleman from the University of Manchester will be leading a team looking into a dementia information portal, ideally with a mobile app, that will share information about dementia in British Sign Language. Dr Emma Stanmore, University of Manchester, will be looking at the use of virtual gaming to enhance physical activity levels amongst older people. Wuqiang Yang will be working with Hugh Devlin, both from the University of Manchester, to conduct a feasibility study of a real time visualisation tool for total hip revision related to ageing.
For details about each of the successful projects, visit http://www.ihs.manchester.ac.uk/MICRA/research/seedcornfunding/
January 2013
Professor Nazroo appears on BBC Breakfast
Professor James Nazroo, MICRA Co-director, appeared on the BBC Breakfast programme live on BBC1 on Thursday 24 January. He was discussing the idea that 40% of women born today will live until they are 100.
New Co-Director of MICRA
Professor Chris Phillipson has been named as a MICRA Co-director. Since joining the University of Manchester in November as Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology, Chris has had a very active role within MICRA and we are delighted that he is taking on this new role. Working alongside existing co-directors Professor James Nazroo, Professor Alistair Burns and Dr Neil Pendleton, Chris will provide strategic input as MICRA continues to expand and grow. Chris was the founding director of the Centre for Social Gerontology at Keele University (1986 – 1997) and is a former President of the British Society of Gerontology.