As a result of the initial work done at the IDEAS Factory, on the New Dynamics of Nutrition held in January, three new Collaborative Research Projects (CRPs) have been commissioned:

• NANA: Novel Assessment of Nutrition and Ageing - Arlene Astell, University of St Andrews

• MAPP-MAL: Multidisciplinary Approaches to a Prototype for Prevention of Malnutrition in Older People: Products, Places, People and Procedures - Paula Moynihan, University of Newcastle

• MINA: Migration, Nutrition and Ageing Across the Lifecourse in Bangladeshi Families. A Transnational Perspective - Janice Thompson, University of Bristol

These multidisciplinary projects represent a major boost to research in the field of nutrition and ageing and will be linked with those on this topic supported by the Department of Health.

Then, as a result of the second call for CRPs last autumn, a further six projects have just been added to the NDA portfolio:

• SUS-IT: Sustaining IT Use by Older People to Promote Autonomy and Independence - Leela Damodaran, Loughborough University

• Working Late: Strategies to Enhance Productive and Healthy Environments for the Older Workforce - Cheryl Haslam, Loughborough University

• Grey and Pleasant Land? An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Connectivity of Older People in Rural Civic Society - Catherine Hennessy, University of Plymouth

• A Life Course Approach to Healthy Ageing: Capitalising on the Value of UK Life Course Cohorts - Diana Kuh, MRC National Survey of Health and Development

• Design for Ageing Well: Improving Quality of Life for the Ageing Population Using a Technology Enabled Garment System - Jane McCann, University of Wales, Newport

• Tackling Ageing Continence through Theory Tools and Technology TACT3 - Eleanor van den Heuvel, Brunel University

Finally there was a massive response to the final NDA call, with 189 proposals being submitted. As a result of this deluge the Commissioning Panel meeting had to be postponed, from July to September to allow the proposals to be processed. Not only was there a strong emphasis on multidisciplinary collaboration in a call that allowed mono-disciplinary applications but the overall quality was very high indeed. The call prioritised arts and humanities and biological sciences and there was significant interest from those research communities. A total of 40 proposals were shortlisted.

The Social Neuroscience of Ageing

On behalf of the ESRC the NDA Programme organised the UK's first workshop on this new area of scientific inquiry in July. It was a joint meeting between leading researchers from the UK and US and funded jointly by the ESRC and US National Institute of Aging. The goals of the workshop were to:

• Compare the state-of-the-art in the two countries in the application of social neuroscience to the ageing field.
• Pinpoint the major conceptual and methodological advances necessary to progress this application.
• Bridge scientific expertise such as population and experimental sciences.
• Highlight major gaps in knowledge and key priorities for research in this field over the next 5 years.
• Explore the potential for cross-national collaboration.
• Identify the main obstacles to progress.

A summary of the two days of intensive work, plus the workshop programme can be found on the NDA website, as can details of the new CRPs (www.newdynamics.group.shef.ac.uk).