SCIENCE ADVICE FOR POLICY
BY EUROPEAN ACADEMIES

The Future of Ageing discussed in Europe and beyond

 

  • Lisbon: This event took place on 21 May at Infarmed, the government agency accountable to the Health Ministry, and had a strong turn-out of 130 people. It was split into 3 sessions focusing on the following areas: Ageing across the Life course, Health and Social care, and Technological Advances and Ageing. A range of local speakers addressed the audience, in addition to the Chair and vice- Chairs of the SAPEA Working Group. Silvia Nunes, winner of the 2019 UK Good Nurse Award, moved to the UK from Portugal and spoke about the importance of person-centred care, promoting good nutrition and her personal experience as a Deputy Manager in a nursing home. After a lively panel discussion, Dr Francisco Ramos, Secretary of State Assistant and of Health, Ministry of Health, also addressed the audience.
  • Bucharest: On 20 June the report was discussed at the Library of the Romanian Academy. The event was moderated by Brussels-based journalist, Brian Maguire. In addition to SAPEA experts, there were talks by Romanian speakers on Defensive medicine and risks associated with hospital admissions amongst older people.
  • Paris: First event coincided with the online publication of the TFA report on 27 June. It took place at the French Academy of Medicine.  The second event took place the next day. Following an introduction by the working group chair Jean-Pierre Michel, 6 key themes from the report were debated by experts and proposals were made for each. In total 160 people attended these events.
  • Jerusalem: On 23 July an event was hosted at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Jerusalem. A working group member, Professor Liat Ayalon gave a presentation on addressing the challenges of ageing across the life course and Alan Gow discussed cognitive decline and protective factors associated with this. Professor Galit Nimrod, from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, gave an insightful talk on the dark side of technology use in later life.

In addition to those past events, the report will be also in the spotlight in Madrid and Rome:

  • Madrid: This will take place on 1 October to coincide with the International Day of Older People. It will take place at the Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine and during this meeting the report will be officially handed over to Professor Pearl Dykstra, one of the Chief Scientific Advisors.
  • Rome: The report will be presented and discussed on 5 November during a 3 day International Feltrinelli Conference in Rome. The event is dedicated to reviewing and discussing the multifaceted aspects of the ageing process and will take place at the Academia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome.