Easter Greetings.
With spring comes new life and the re-generation of
activity and campaigning; for the Society this means a new round of
conference planning and strategy development.
Conferences
Hopefully you have visited the web site and seen the annual conference activities of our ERA group http://www.britishgerontology.org/index.asp?PageID=86
. The meeting will be held in Cardiff on May 14th and 15th and promises
to be a great opportunity for emerging researchers to explore the
research policy interface through meeting the Deputy Minister for Older
People and the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales (the first such
appointment in the world). The meetings will be held in the iconic
Sennedd building in Cardiff Bay and will be topped and tailed with
presentations from myself (as President) and Mim Bernard (as President
elect). Last years ERA members presented excellent papers on their
research and we are again looking forward to a feast of top quality
papers and lively discussion from our emerging scholars. My thanks go to
Christian Beech, Paul Nash and Kelly Fitzgerald at Swansea University
for organising this event.
I would also like to thank Ian Sidney who has
steered the ERA group over the last two years for his work; Ian leaves
for a sabbatical in Kentucky shortly and so our incoming ERA President,
Christian Beech, will be taking over the reigns of the ERA group.
Moving from Wales to Scotland thanks also go to Sue
Tester for organising the Scottish members seminar which will take
place in Edinburgh at the end of April.
A variety of other conferences and seminars are
highlighted on our web page with the IAGG Paris (July 5-9th) being one
of the key opportunities for us to present and showcase our research in
the UK. As part of the British Council on Ageing the BSG will be sharing
an exhibition stand at the event with the BGS and the BSRA and we hope
all members attending will support BSG by visiting us. For further
details on the conference see http://www.gerontologyparis2009.com
Our own conference again in Bristol this year
(September 2-4th) also promises a feast of high quality presentations
and exhibitions on themes such as: Cultures of ageing; research methods;
health and wellbeing for older people; ageing and technology; long-term
health and social care and diversity and discrimination. We are
grateful to Simon Evans and the team at Bristol for all their hard work
in organising this event. The Reading team who are hosting the 2010
conference also have an impressive line up of speakers and I encourage
members to look on the web site for further details of the conference on
‘Identities, Care and Everyday Life’.
In relation to future BSG events, we are exploring a
joint BSG-Irish Gerontological Society/CARDI conference with the
possibility of holding this in Ireland! We are also inviting any
institutions/teams who would like to organise the 2011 annual conference
to let us know as soon as possible.
Executive meetings
Our executive meetings have centred on the
development of the Society’s strategy and additional new action groups
have been established. These will specifically address issues in
relation to:
- Sharpening our identity and communicating our mission;
- Building capacity through the ERA group;
- Lobbying and advising Research Councils and other influential stakeholders
- Producing an impact brochure showcasing UK research
- Securing sponsorship
- Linking with other societies.
The groups are developing terms of reference and
are keen to co-opt additional members to work with them. Please let me
know if you are interested in contributing to any of the above groups. I
am sure we are not tapping into the vast expertise we have amongst our
members to take these areas of work forward. Your Exec needs you!
Alan Walker Prize
The announcement for invitations to nominate an
individual or an organisation (who have made a significant and lasting
contribution to British Social Gerontology) for the AW Prize is on our
web site. The prize will be presented at the conference in Bristol. Tony
Maltby at NIACE is the secretary of the awards committee, and any nominations should be sent to him by noon on the 16th June 2009.
Finally congratulations go to both Professor Sheila
Peace and Professor Vanessa Burholt, both long standing members of the
Society, who recently gave their inaugural lectures at their respective
universities. Environmental gerontology is certainly growing in the UK!
Best wishes
Judith