Ageing

Summary

We support and promote research into ageing across health and social care settings, including hospitals and care homes.

Areas of focus include:

  • healthy ageing and frailty
  • organising and delivering interventions for health promotion
  • ageing process and early markers of ill health
  • modelling links between disease and functioning
  • clinical trials or specific interventions
  • education and lifelong learning
  • environmental conditions for ageing well
  • effectiveness of clinical and social care

National Specialty Lead

Professor Terry Quinn is the interim Clinical Research Network (CRN) National Speciality Lead for Ageing.

Funding opportunities / funding calls

See the latest funding opportunities for ageing research

Associate Principal Investigator (PI) Scheme

If you’re a healthcare professional, you could be eligible for our Associate PI Scheme

Help with research

Through the Clinical Research Network (CRN), you can get help with:

  • planning and delivering your research to achieve the greatest impact
  • recruiting patients for your study
  • costs for your study, if you are eligible. This could include money for extra staff, facilities or equipment

Find out more about the Services to support study delivery

Latest news about ageing

News

NIHR-funded calculator uses NHS data to predict patients’ risk of falling

News

Antipsychotics pose previously unknown risks to dementia patients, NIHR study finds

News

Playing an instrument linked to better brain health in older adults

Case studies

Stories

Supporting the continence of people living with dementia in hospital

NIHR-funded researchers are changing the course of continence care for people living with dementia in hospital after finding that usual care cultures are promoting incontinence.

Stories

Relational working key in delivering high-quality healthcare in care homes

The NIHR-funded Optimal study showed how care home and NHS services can work together to improve residents’ care. Its results have informed national policy and shaped changes to service delivery to improve the quality of life, health care and health planning for people living in care homes.

Stories

Impact of trained volunteers on the care of older patients - the Southampton Mealtime Assistance and Mobility Programme

The Impact of trained volunteers on the care of older patients - the Southampton Mealtime Assistance and Mobility Programme is a programme of research which started in 2010. A 12 month feasibility study recruited 29 volunteers who assisted 3911 patients, including 386 who were fed. A subsequent implementation study across four departments demonstrated a cost-effective improvement in quality of care for older inpatients with trained volunteers.

Latest blogs about ageing

Blog

Creating conversations: Connecting life science companies and patients to improve research

Blog

How I've kept patients at the heart of my research career

Blog

Increasing diversity in design to accelerate research into practice