A time of change; A time to change?

The Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research (CADR) will be holding its first Zoom conference to coincide with the anniversary of the start of national lockdown.

The overall theme of the conference is Past, Present and Future in relation to the global pandemic and the effect that it has had on the lives and livelihoods of older people. The event will cover topics such as environments of ageing, housing, transport, cognition and dementia, employment and creative arts.

It will be held over three days to share as much information as possible. Heléna Herklots, Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, will be opening the conference with a keynote presentation.

The first day will discuss housing and transport, with speakers including Jeremy Porteus of Housing LIN (Learning and Improvement Network) and Annette Edwards of GWR (Great Western Rail).

The second day will cover a wide range of topics from technology, retirement, older workers, volunteering and various research projects, with presentations from Health Technology Wales and Digital Communities Wales.

The final day will discuss cognition and dementia, and creative arts, with presentations from cARTrefu, the Get There Together project and the Intergenerational project.

The whole event will be interspersed with real life stories from older people, sharing their experiences of life during the pandemic.

Sessions will be interactive with the opportunity to get involved.