Age 3.0 Aging in the City – Concordia University, November 1

From age friendly cities, to smart cities to sustainable cities, how we live, work, play, engage and negotiate the urban environment is on the public agenda. On November 1, 2017, Age 3.0: Aging in the city will explore the multiple intersections of innovation, technologies and aging, and bring together voices from the university, Montreal-based community groups, and local businesses to explore what it means to grow older together in the city.

For full details, visit our project page: https://actproject.ca/act/age-3-0/

Annual ACT meeting at the University of Ottawa

The fourth annual ACT meeting will take place from October 13 to 15 at the University of Ottawa, Canada. The meeting is organized by local co-applicant Martine Lagacé, and brings together some 40 researchers from the ACT project, from ten different countries.

This year, we celebrate the midway point of the project, look back on what we have accomplished so far, and look ahead to the future as the priorities for the next few years begin to take shape. The meeting will begin with a keynote address by Marcel Mérette of the University of Ottawa, and a roundtable discussion featuring local and ACT researchers, and a representative from the National Research council. Both the keynote and the round-table discussion address the theme of “Bridging research and public policy: questions of aging and technology“.

The meeting continues with a working session on data management for partnerships and another on building and sharing pedagogical tools. A number of ACT researchers will take turns presenting their research to the group, and we will also provide the team with an overview of our midterm report. The tentative meeting agenda can be downloaded here.

ACT panel selected as a “divisional symposium” at CAG2017

The ACT Panel titled “Ageing, Communication, Technologies : Experiencing a Digital World in Later Life” has been selected as the divisional symposium for Social Sciences at the Canadian Association of Gerontology Conference (CAG), to be held from October 19 to 21 in Winnipeg, Canada. The panel will take place on October 21 from 11am to 12:30pm in the York room. You can consult the full program here.

Activist ageing and the “tactical theatrics” of RECAA
Kim Sawchuk,Concordia University,
Constance Lafontaine, Concordia University,

Signing, Ageing, Connecting: Intersections of Deafhood, Ageing and Technology
Line Grenier,Université de Montréal
Véronique Leduc, Université du Québec à Montréal

“A blessing and a curse”: Grandmothers reflections on digitally mediated family relationships
Shannon Hebblethwaite, Concordia University
Kelly Leonard, Concordia University

Aging and Technology Assistive Devices: Assessing the Role of Interpersonal Communication in the Context of Transitional Care 
Martine Lagacé, University of Ottawa
Sarah A. Fraser, University of Ottawa

Graduate and Postdoctoral Fellow Symposium: Emerging Research on Later Life

 

On October 5, ACT is hosting its first ever graduate student and postdoctoral fellow symposium at the Loyola campus of Concordia University, specifically in the Department of Communication Studies. With the exception of the public keynote by Josephine Dolan, this is a closed event.

SCHEDULE

9:30-10:00 (CJ 2.130) – Welcome and Introductions
Josephine Dolan and Kim Sawchuk

10:00am-11:00am – Exploring and challenging the normativities of later life

Older adults and videogames: at the margins of productivity and play. Exploring the intersecting normative discourses of digital games and ageing
Gabrielle Lavenir

Food Talks: when the successful ageing injunction is being reconfigured through a foodblog
Myriam Durocher

11:15am-12:45pm – Engagements and community connections

Intergenerational Community Connections
Don Rosenbaum and Shayne Zal

Old, crafty and connected: Cercle de Fermières; community and technologies
Nora Tremblay-Lamontagne

 Alternative Approaches to Engage People with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Through Imagination, Communication and Methods of Care
Carly McAskill

12:45pm-2:00pm – Lunch

2:00pm – 3:00pm – Aging and other-than-human attachments

Multispecied life courses and the dueling temporalities of bucket list adventures
Constance Lafontaine

 Aging Attachments and the ondes Martenot
David Madden

3:00pm – 3:15pm – Wrap-up

3:30pm-5:00pm (CJ 1.114) – Public Keynote

‘Old age’, gender and the silvering of contemporary Hollywood cinema: economics and ideologies
Josephine Dolan

5:00pm-7:00pm (CJ Atrium) – Reception

Kelly Leonard defending MA thesis on “Exploring Community Inclusion in Older Adulthood through the use of Computers and Tablets”

Kelly Leonard, a Research Assistant who has been working with ACT for two years, will soon defend her MA thesis titled “Exploring Community Inclusion in Older Adulthood through the use of Computers and Tablets” on August 21 at Concordia University. Her project was supervised by ACT co-applicant Shannon Hebblethwaite.

Exploring Community Inclusion in Older Adulthood through the use of Computers and Tablets

August 21, 2017, 10am
Concordia University, Loyola Campus
VE 317
7141 Sherbrooke Street West

CREATIVE METHODS IN HEALTH AND WELLBEING SEMINAR SERIES

Over two seminars in May and June 2017, this seminar series brought together inter/national researchers, social scientists, artists, policymakers and practitioners to explore and document the possibilities and limitations of a diverse range of creative methods and key methodological issues when researching health and wellbeing and everyday life. In particular, the seminar series focused on sensory, material, visual and digital methods. The seminar series was well attended and led to stimulating and engaging debates amongst and between the speakers and audiences and was positively evaluated. ACT members, Stephen Katz and Julia Twigg, provided excellent and thought-provoking presentations and discussions.

The seminar series was funded by the University Research Seminar Series Award, Brunel University London. 

Welfare, Health and Wellbeing Research Theme; Institute of Environment, Health and Societies; Brunel University London (Dr Wendy Martin, Dr Emma Wainwright, Dr Monica Degen and Dr Elizabeth McKay)

New Concordia University research centre on aging is looking for a coordinator

The newly-formed engAGE: Concordia Centre for Research on Aging at Concordia University in Montreal is looking to hire a coordinator to oversee and manage its daily administrative and research operations. The deadline for applications is August 1, 2017. Interested candidates are invited to apply, and can download the complete job posting by clicking here.

“Fingers on the Line” wins prize for best short documentary film

“Fingers on the line,” a short film by Line Grenier, Véro Leduc and Pamela Witcher, won the the prize for best short documentary film at the Toronto International Deaf Film & Arts on May 27, 2017. The film explores some communication technologies of yesterday and today, and brings to the fore some reflections on technologies and ageing from deaf seniors. “Fingers on the Line” is part of the ACT-funded research-creation project Les aînés Sourds et la technologie, and has been screened as part of various events Montreal and beyond. You can view the English version of the film here

During the same festival, affiliated researcher Véro Leduc also won a prize for best experimental film for the “C’est tombé dans l’oreille d’une sourde,” a film she created as part of her recently completed PhD project.