Organisation & Executive Committee Members

President Elect

Professor Martin Hyde

Professor of Management

mh723@leicester.ac.uk

Martin Hyde is a Professor of Management at the University of Leicester. His main research interests are ageing and later life and he has published on a wide range of topics from quality of life, work and retirement, health inequalities and globalization. He has been involved in a number of large-scale studies including the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Survey for Health, Retirement and Ageing in Europe (SHARE) and the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Study of Health (SLOSH). He is the Chair of the British Society of Gerontology Work and Retirement Group and a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. He is a member of the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee for an Ageing Workforce. He has advised both national and local governments on their strategies to promote ageing well. He is the Editorial Lead for the Journal of Global Ageing, an Associate Editor for Social Theory and Health and on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology and Quality in Ageing and Older Adults.

The President works with the BSG Administrator, the Society’s officers and its Executive Committee members to pursue the BSG’s strategic objectives and ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the Society. The President chairs the Society’s Executive Committee Meetings and its Annual General Meeting, and contributes, where appropriate, to other meetings and events hosted by BSG. The President liaises with the Society’s partner organisations and represents BSG in a number of fora, including meetings of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics and the Academy of Social Sciences. The President and President Elect share responsibility for liaising with the local organising committee and BSG Conference Manager to ensure the success of the Society’s annual conferences. Professor Martin Hyde is also the BSG ICO Officer.

Secretary and participatory research Rep

Dr Linda Birt

Leicester University

bsg.secretary@britishgerontology.org

Linda Birt is an Associate Professor of Palliative Care and Frailty in the School of Healthcare at University of Leicester. She is affiliated with the LOROS Hospice Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Research in Palliative and End of Life Care.

Linda has been a member of BSG for over seventeen years, joining as a PhD student. The vibrant community of BSG members means she has been able to develop productive partnerships with others who are interested in the social structures that shape ageing in the community and care homes.

Linda is a member of the Care Home SIG and co-chair of the 2027 BSG conference to be held in Leicester.

The Honorary Secretary, manages the BSG secretariat, with responsibility for membership issues, member recruitment and communications to members (e.g. Newsletter). The Honorary Secretary liaises with the Charity Committee on behalf of BSG and ensures that the Society fulfils its charitable purpose. The Honorary Secretary works with the BSG Administrator to manage the Society’s annual timetable (small grant and bursary awards, nominations to the Academy of Social Sciences, the Outstanding Achievement Award, Executive Committee Meetings and Annual General Meeting). The remit of the Honorary Secretary includes reviewing the BSG’s constitution and managing elections.

Treasurer

Dr David Lain

Newcastle University

bsg.treasurer@britishgerontology.org

BSG Treasurer Elect

Junjie Huang

University of Stirling

junjie.huang@stir.ac.uk

Junjie will step in as Treasurer at the BSG AGM June 2027. 

BSG Executive Committee Member

Dr Amy Prescott

Research Fellow at Brunel University of London

BSG’s Social Media Activities

Dr Lisa Davison

University of Stirling

Lisa is also responsible for the BSG’s social media activities, including Twitter (@britgerontology), the Ageing Bites channel on You Tube, and the Ageing Issues blog series.

Incoming Chair of Emerging Researchers Into Ageing Group (ERA)

Dr Mengxing Joshi

Associate Lecturer University of St Andrews

mm525@st-andrews.ac.uk

BSG Publications

Dr Hannah Marston

The Open University

Hannah.Marston@open.ac.uk

BSG EDI Officer

Professor Andrew King

University of Surrey

andrew.king@surrey.ac.uk

Professor Andrew King l(he/him) leads the EDI portfolio for the BSG. Andrew was the lead organiser of the BSG Annual Conference 2025. He is a Deputy Editor of ‘Ageing and Society’ and Co-Director of the Centre of Excellence on Ageing at the University of Surrey. Andrew is a world leading researcher on LGBTQ+ ageing, a field he has contributed to for nearly twenty years.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

Professor Christine Brown Wilson

Queens University Belfast

c.brownwilson@qub.ac.uk

Professor Christine Brown Wilson is chair of the Special Interest Group (SIG)  for Care homes research and is the Executive committee representative for all SIGS.  The SIG representative is responsible for updating the SIG handbook, liaising with SIG leads and reporting activity of SIGs via the AGM. They provide support for new and existing SIGS. Liaison on behalf of BSG with the British Geriatrics Society. 

British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Liaison Officer
British Geriatrics Society (BGS) Liaison Officer

Dr Natasha Fothergill-Misbah

Newcastle University

Tash.Fothergill-Misbah@newcastle.ac.uk

Dr Tash Fothergill-Misbah is the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) - British Geriatrics Society (BGS) Liaison Officer, responsible for strengthening strategic links, collaboration, and mutual understanding between the BSG and BGS. The role supports BSG’s interdisciplinary mission by fostering productive engagement between social, behavioural, policy, and clinical perspectives on ageing, and by identifying opportunities for joint working that demonstrate shared value for members of both societies. Tash sits on the Research and Academic Development Committee of the BGS, serving as a key point of contact between the two societies. Tash is also on the Steering Committee of the BSG Special Interest Group on Ageing in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and is an Editorial Committee member and Regional Liaison for sub-Saharan Africa for the Journal of Global Ageing.

Tash is a postdoctoral research associate at Newcastle University in the Population Health Sciences Institute. She has a multidisciplinary background in biomedical sciences, anthropology, gerontology and global public health. Her research primarily uses qualitative methods, and increasingly participatory and creative approaches, to understand the experiences of ageing in Africa, and of living with Parkinson’s disease in Africa. Tash’s work takes a critical gerontology approach with a commitment to moving beyond describing the social construct of ageing and towards effecting change, through a grounding in values of social justice.

BSG Internationalisation Lead

Dr Matthew Lariviere

Associate Professor of Gerontology Northumbria University

matthew.lariviere@northumbria.ac.uk

Matthew Lariviere is Associate Professor of Gerontology at Northumbria University. He is a social anthropologist and gerontologist whose research explores the possibilities of ageing and care futures through qualitative and creative research methods. His primary empirical focus has been ethnographic engagement with adult social care services, exploring the roles and possibilities of digital technologies in mediating care arrangements and systems that support older people and their families.

Matthew serves as the British Society of Gerontology’s current Internationalisation Officer, on behalf of the Society and its Executive Committee. In this role, he provides strategic leadership to extend and enhance the our global engagement, focusing on building and sustaining relationships with international gerontology societies, facilitating collaboration, and identifying opportunities that support our members at all career stages. In addition to his Internationalisation portfolio, Matthew is co-founder and convenor of the Society’s Ageing Futures Special Interest Group.

Beyond his responsibilities for the British Society of Gerontology, he currently serves as a Board Member of Research Committee 11 – Sociology of Ageing for the International Sociological Association, and as co-editor of the Journal of Global Ageing.

Averil Osborn Fund

Fawn Harrad-Hyde

LOROS Research Associate in Palliative Care and Frailty, University of Leicester

Dr Fawn Harrad-Hyde chairs the ‘Averil Osborn Award for Participatory Research’ panel. This award promotes and supports work which enhances the participation and leadership of older people in research through awards ranging for £500 to £3000. 

Fawn is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Leicester who is especially interested in research in care home settings. Fawn’s work draws upon theories and concepts from across the social sciences to explore and understand how decisions are made when people who live in care homes experiences deteriorations in their health. Fawn’s PhD explored care home decision-making during occasions residents experience deteriorations in their health. After completing her PhD, Fawn continued to work at University of Leicester - part funded by a Mildred Blaxter fellowship from the Foundation of Sociology and Health and Illness - leading projects related to supporting older people with complex health and care needs. Fawn is also a member of the BSG’s Care Home Research Special Interest Group committee.

Co-Opted BSG Executive Member

Rob Walton

Founder & Principal, Covostra Ltd

Co-Opted BSG Executive Member

Paul Nash

Instructional Professor

pnash@usc.edu

Dr Nash is a Professor in the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California and a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the Academy of Gerontology in Higher Education. His research is focused on ageism, intersectional discrimination and stigma as well as health inequity predominantly for older minority and ‘at risk’ communities living with HIV. Paul is also a commissioner and co-chair of the ageing caucus for the Los Angeles County Commission on HIV as well as being actively involved with many local advocacy and patient centered organizations. He works collaboratively and utilizes multi-disciplinary approaches to further translational and community engagement within Geroscience. Paul is committed to not only furthering the research agenda but also to widening accessibility to research, leading to evidence based practice and policy formation, as well as new academic and professional gerontological programs to translate research into accessible education.

Chair of the Emerging Researcher in Ageing (ERA)
BSGs Education Officer

Christoph Heuser

University of Southampton

Christoph.heuser@soton.ac.uk

Dr Christoph Heuser is the current Chair of the Emerging Researcher in Ageing (ERA) and the BSGs Education Officer.

He is a Research Fellow at the University of Southampton and specialises in qualitative and quantitative research on mental health, perception of time and long-term conditions. His methodological expertise includes ethnography, interviews, focus groups, reflexive thematic analysis, statistical analysis, and community-engaged research, with a particular interest in applying mixed-methods approaches to improve health and social care for older adults. His research interests span mental health in later life, temporality over the life course, healthcare access, growing old in sub-Saharan Africa and ageing across diverse social and cultural contexts. Christoph is an Assessing Editor and former Book Review Editor for Ageing & Society, an Editorial Board Member of Educational Gerontology, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and a peer reviewer for a range of journals.

Chair, Emerging Researchers in Ageing (ERA)
The ERA Chair serves as the link between the British Society of Gerontology (BSG) Executive Board and the ERA Committee. The Chair leads the development and delivery of initiatives that support early-career researchers, including career development, networking opportunities, and collaborations with national and international research networks, think tanks, and other early-career organisations. Working closely with the ERA Committee, the Chair also oversees the organisation of the annual ERA Conference.

Education Officer
The Education Officer works with a range of stakeholders, including universities, professional societies, and other organisations (e.g. the British Geriatrics Society and the Social Policy Association), to address the decline of ageing-related teaching across UK higher education and to promote gerontological education. The role also involves working closely with the BSG President to develop educational pathways beyond universities, including continuing professional development and accreditation opportunities that recognise expertise in gerontology across professions such as social work, care management, and the allied health professions.