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International Panel of Policy and Research Experts

Purpose:

To ensure the scientific rigour and quality of the training an International Panel of Policy and Research Experts (IPPRE). The IPPRE will lead a peer-review process providing a critique of learning materials and the learning outcomes for network-wide training. Comprising of academic and non-academic experts, five panel members will support HOMeAGE to deliver gold-standard transferable training that fosters cross-sector innovation.
  • Patricia Conboy, formerly of HelpAge; Ireland
  • Norah Keating, Global Social Initiative on Ageing; Canada
  • Malcolm Cutchin, Pacific North West University; USA
  • Vanessa Burholt, University of Auckland; New Zealand
  • Susanne Iwarsson, Lund University; Sweden 


P
atricia Conboy
 is an adjunct lecturer with the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG). Previously Interim Director of Global Ageing, Advocacy, and Campaigns at HelpAge International (London), Patricia has extensive professional experience in the policy arena, ranging from partnership working at community level through to policy influencing at national, European and global levels. In her role with the ICSG, Patricia advises on strategic areas of research development with a view to informing policy change in the area of ageing, human rights and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Patricia is also a key contributor to ICSG’s MSc in Ageing and Public Policy.  

Norah Keating holds academic appointments at University of Alberta, Canada; Stirling University, UK; and North-West University, South Africa and is director of the IAGG Global Social Issues on Ageing. Her research interests are in families and ageing and in the physical and social contexts that can include or exclude older persons. She has longstanding relationships with the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization and has recently written a research agenda to frame the action items on the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2022). She is advisor to research programmes on social aspects of ageing in Indonesia, UK, Netherlands and South Africa.

Malcolm Cutchin is the director of Research, School of Occupational Therapy in Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Kentucky. He has nearly 30 years of teaching, research, and administrative experience at four previous academic institutions: Middlebury College, University of Texas Medical Branch, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wayne State University. He has been the Principal Investigator or Co Investigator on 10 NIH research awards and has published over 100 peer reviewed articles, book chapters, and edited volumes. In addition to occupational science and occupational therapy, he has research interests in health geography, environmental gerontology, population health and health disparities, and social determinants of health.

Susanne Iwarsson holds Ribbing’s endowed chair in gerontology and care for older people at the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University (LU), Sweden, and is Doctor Honoris Causa at Riga Stradins University, Latvia (2014). She has a PhD in medical science (1997) and is a registered occupational therapist (1979) with clinical experience in geriatrics and primary care. Iwarsson is Head of the Active and Healthy Ageing research group at the Department of Health Sciences, LU, focusing on environmental gerontology integrated with health sciences. Her current research line includes studies on ageing and health, housing and neighborhoods, technology use, and user involvement in research. She founded the Centre for Ageing and Supportive Environments (CASE) (2007) and is since 2014 the Coordinator of Swedish National Graduate School on Ageing and Health (SWEAH) and the profile area Proactive Ageing (2022) at LU.


Vanessa Burholt
 is Professor of Gerontology in the School of Nursing/School of Population Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine at the University of Auckland and is a Co-Director of the Centre for Co-created Ageing Research. She has overseen the integration of transdisciplinary research in ageing and dementia, and is committed to co-production of research on ageing. She has published on dementia, rurality, social exclusion, loneliness, support networks, intergenerational relationships, ethnicity and migration. Since 2013 she has been a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (in the UK).