THE AGEING OF BRITISH GERONTOLOGY LEARNING FROM THE PAST TO INFORM THE FUTURE | Page 2

THE AGEING OF
BRITISH GERONTOLOGY
LE AR N I N G F ROM TH E PA S T TO I N F OR M TH E F U T U R E
Welcome to The Ageing of British Gerontology
project. complemented by this companion photographic
work.
In these pages you will find professional portraits of
people who have actively contributed to building our
knowledge base in ageing over the past 40-50 years.
Taken by artist, photographer and gerontologist,
Sukey Parnell, these images form the heart of
our Ageing of British Gerontology Exhibition.
The exhibition was launched at the 46th Annual
Conference of the British Society of Gerontology
hosted by Swansea University from July 5-7, 2017. The first phase of the two-year project (2015-17)
concentrated on exploring the archival materials
and charting the growth of research, policy and
practice initiatives in ageing. Key documents, and a
collection of other visual images, are now available
as an electronic exhibition. Likewise, the interviews
document people’s careers in ageing; seek their views
about the evolution of gerontology as a field of study;
record their involvements with the British Society of
Gerontology; and ask them to reflect on their own
ageing and the ways in which this has intersected – or
not – with their professional careers. We look too
at what these insights and experiences offer future
generations of students, academics, policy makers,
practitioners and others interested in studying, and
responding to, the challenges of population ageing.
Selected extracts from the interviews are the basis of a
series of short films.
At a time when it now seems that ageing is
everybody’s business, the project explores the
evolution of British gerontology from the founding
of the British Society of Gerontology in 1971, up to
the present day. It looks at what we can learn from the
experiences and motivations of people who have been
fundamental to the growth and development of this
increasingly important inter and multi-disciplinary
field. Examinations of the Society’s archives, and
50 filmed in-depth narrative interviews, have been
Project website: www.keele.ac.uk/abg
R E S E ARCH T E A M :
Dr Miriam Bernard, Professor of Social Gerontology, Keele University
Dr Mo Ray, Professor of Health and Social Care Integration, University of Lincoln
Dr Jackie Reynolds, Research Associate, Keele University
PH OTO GR APHY & D E S I G N :
Sukey Parnell
www.sukeyparnell.com
ACK N OW LE D GM E N T S : Our thanks and appreciation goes to the Leverhulme Trust who have funded
the project and to the British Society of Gerontology and the Centre for Policy on Ageing who have both
supported the work. We also warmly thank our 50 participants for allowing us into their lives and, often,
their homes, and for generously sharing their experiences and reflections with us. Being recorded, filmed and
then photographed is no small undertaking and we appreciate your enthusiasm and continuing interest in the
project, its outcomes and outputs.
THE AGEING OF BRITISH GERONTOLOGY / 02