ImaginAging – a collaborative project involving Sunway University on aging-related issues in older adults in an urban city

Researchers from Lancaster University, Dr Emmanuel Tsekleves of Imagination Lancaster and Dr Sabir Giga from the Faculty of Health and Medicine were recently in Sunway University (23 to 27 April 2018) to work on the collaborative research project called ImaginAging. They were hosted by the Department of Psychology.

Dr Emmanuel Tsekleves and Dr Sabir Giga with Dr Yong Min Hooi

This project’s objective that involves Department of Psychology’s Dr Yong Min Hooi, is to empower citizens to act as co-designers in policy agenda setting. Using speculative design as both a process and outcome, we hope to engage senior citizens and relevant stakeholders to engage in policy agenda-setting on ageing well in the city.

The ImaginAging research team and the stakeholders from various groups.

Other academics from Sunway University who are involved in this interdisciplinary project are Dr Clarissa Lee from Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Associate Professor Lau Sian Lun from Department of Computing and Information Systems, and Associate Professor Hwang Jun Shan from Department of Medical Sciences, School of Healthcare and Medical Sciences, as well as Dr David Tan from United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH). As a group, these researchers collected data using the bottom-up approach from senior citizens (Workshop 1), and stakeholders interested in aging (e.g. Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, academicians, senior citizen clubs, private care homes) (Workshop 2). From our initial findings, Dr Clarissa Lee will be presenting our work in Making and Doing Exhibition, 4S - TRANSnational Science and Technology Studies (STS) in Sydney this August.

Participants of the workshop together with the researchers at Sunway University.

The project is part of the Lancaster University Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF seedcorn) that was awarded by Lancaster University in 2017 for collaborative research groups between Sunway University and Lancaster University on sustainable development goals. We wish this collaborative effort all the best of successes in obtaining results that contribute to improving the quality of life of senior citizens.