The Centre for Ageing Research and Development (CARDI) is delighted to announce the successful applicants for call 1 of its Research Grants Programme.

The programme aims to promote north-south research partnerships that bring together different subject areas to look at issues affecting older people in new ways. The research should involve older people themselves and the findings will be designed to improve policies and services for them.

Professor Bob Stout, Queen’s University Belfast, Co-chair of the grants panel, said:

“We were delighted to receive a very large number of applications. Clearly a lot of new contacts have been made between academics and representatives of the voluntary, public and private sectors on both sides of the border.  These grants, worth almost €90,000, will serve as pump-priming money. This fits well with CARDI’s wish to get all the partners together and stimulate research that will bring benefits to the daily lives of older people and ensure that both parts of Ireland are geared up to meet the needs of an ageing society.”

Grant winners

Together the six grant winners cover a wide spectrum of research, reflecting the huge range of topics covered by ageing research.

For example, experts in psychology, physiotherapy, neuroscience, medicine and electrical engineering in Queen’s, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin will pool their expertise to examine how physical exercise can promote brain function and help people recover from neurological illness.

The Irish Centre for Social Gerontology at the National University of Ireland Galway, with Queen’s University Belfast, Rural Community Network and FORUM and the Geography Department at the National University of Ireland Galway will establish a cross-border research network to explore healthy ageing in rural communities. The network will draw on interdisciplinary expertise in the areas of gerontology, economics, spatial planning, rural geography, social care, and public health.

The Dementia Service Information and Development Centre, Trinity College Dublin, Queen’s, the University of Ulster and Quality Initiatives consultancy will examine the different standards of care that exist for older people in long-stay care and work with older people to  draw up specific standards to meet the unique and complex end of life care needs of people with dementia.

University College Dublin, the University of Ulster and voluntary organisation Age Action Ireland will jointly investigate the transport needs of vulnerable older people, especially in rural areas and will make recommendations for improvements North and South of the border building on best practice internationally.

Trinity College Dublin, Queen’s and PLACE, the Architecture and Built Environment Centre for Northern Ireland, and the National Disability Authority plan to build a larger partnership that will study how the urban environment, not just housing, can be accessed and used to the greatest possible extent by people of all ages.

The University of Ulster and Trinity School of Nursing will form a reference group of older people with intellectual disability and their carers and bring together professionals and policy makers. It hopes to develop an all-Ireland module on intellectual disability that will be part of a long-term study of older people.

CARDI is delighted to announce that Call 2 of CARDI Grants Programme is now open. Go to www.cardi.ie/grantprogramme for full details.

For more information please contact:  Paul McGill, Strategic Research Officer, CARDI. Tel: 00353(0) 867 904 158

or

Kate Morris, Communications Officer, CARDI. Tel: 00353 (0) 867 927 684