Surrey Academic Joins The British Society of Gerontology Leadership Team

Lorna  said ‘’It is an honour and a privilege to be invited to join the team, chaired by Professor Ian Philp, CBE. We will be working to improve the connectivity and engagement between business, gerontology and public policy communities for the benefit of all.” 

Lorna will be serving on the SIG alongside two senior academics from University of Manchester and University of Sussex, joining some of the most influential leaders in the field of healthy ageing including the UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge Director, George MacGinnis.  

The SIG aims to forge connections by generating a new constructive, outcomes-focused dialogue among social gerontologists, business and third sector leaders by focusing on three key areas: 

1. Fostering the career development of social gerontologists through collaboration with businesses or though pursuing a career in business while retaining a connection with the gerontology community.
2. Supporting businesses to better understand older people and ageing to help with business development.
3. Contributing to the WHO Decade for Healthy Ageing and the UN Sustainable Development Goals for Health and Wellbeing and Reducing Inequalities.

It is hoped that through better understanding the demands of ageing and an older society, the SIG will highlight the emerging opportunities and threats for innovators and entrepreneurs, researchers and policy leaders to meet the needs of older people and ageing populations.  

As the only member of the leadership team with a background of managing and researching hospitality and tourism businesses, Lorna is very much looking forward to taking on her first public engagement role, as one of the workshop facilitators at the Innovation Summit, Discovery Park on 20 June 2024. The workshop will focus on the intersection of ageing, business and society and explore how ageing populations influence business and societal structures. Lorna will take the opportunity to highlight the social value of the hospitality venues.  Often under-used, more thought need to be given to how these commercial spaces could be utilised and optimised to become a  cost-effective solution to offer social support to older people across different communities in the UK. 

Lorna  hopes that her involvement in the SIG will help to build connections between academics, businesses, third sector organisations and policy influencers to co-develop solutions in combining social purpose and economic goals of the service industries globally. This appointment also presents another opportunity for the University of Surrey to further increase our external visibility as a Centre of Excellence on Ageing, which will be the proud host of BSG Annual Conference in June 2025!