Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity

Introduction

The third strand of SPARC activity was that of the advocacy of the needs of older people and an ageing society and of the role of research in understanding and providing support to these needs. This strand was designed to build directly on the approach and achievements of the EQUAL Network. It comprised a mixture of planned and opportunistic activities aimed at raising the profile of ageing research with, on the one hand, policy makers and policy influencers and, on the other, users and beneficiaries of research who through being better informed could bring their own influence to bear on policy makers, as well as with the media.

Advocacy took many forms, sometimes direct from SPARC, sometimes in response to others from those attracted to the mission of SPARC and who wished to support it. An example of the latter was the involvement of HRH The Princess Royal in a workshop Ageing Research and Occupational Therapy organised jointly with the College of Occupational Therapists, of which she is Patron, where she gave a keynote address on The importance of design to help people live independently at home. SPARC was subsequently involved with other activities hosted by HRH The Princess Royal.

Whilst it is impossible to summarise the content of most of the advocacy interactions there were a number of occasions when the vehicle was a formal presentation to a public audience, a professional body or an individual organisation. An even more formal method of advocacy was the publication of papers, typically in academic journals. These are listed in the subsequent tables.

As a consequence of its large membership and being generally well-known and easy to reach, for example, through the web, SPARC became a much used clearing house for information about ageing. It achieved this through posting information on the website about conferences and funding opportunities, acting as a broker for those interested in locating experts on a particular topic, suggesting names of potential consultants for specific assignments, speakers for public and private events, and signposting enquirers from both the UK and overseas to resources appropriate to their interests.

Main Contacts

The range of advocacy activities is summarised in the Tables 5.1 to 5.6, the first of which shows engagement with different types of organisation and a range of interactions with them. In the first table only those organisations and individuals with which there were at least two interactions are shown, and even so not all have been given.

The degree of interest of different groups in approaches made by SPARC to engage them in discussion about the needs of older people and the role of research varied considerably. In part this was related to their familiarity and concern for these issues. However, there was very little of preaching to the converted.

Generally, although there was a basic acceptance of the value of research to older people and an ageing society there was little understanding of the extent of ageing research in the UK, its culture or how it was organised. For example, many of those in organisations which were already engaged with ageing research, for example research councils, other funding bodies, and some charities, had relatively little appreciation of the breadth of ageing research, its recent history or patterns of funding. In part this may have been due to frequent changes in staff in these organisations and a poor organisational memory but it was also because ageing research was not a major priority. Many equated ageing research to social and clinical gerontology. That EPSRC and BBSRC were substantial funders of ageing research came as a surprise and, on occasion, was met with incredulity. In 2005, at the start of SPARC, some had read the House of Lords Select Committee report on ageing research but had difficulty relating it to the activities of their organisations. They were pleased to discuss the findings of this report and for these to be placed in a broader landscape.

Table 5.1: Examples of individuals and organisations with which SPARC has engaged

Group	Examples of organisations and contacts	Type of interaction – examples
Ministers and Members of Parliament	Lord Sainsbury, Lord Hunt, Baroness Andrews, Ian Pearson, John Denham, Malcolm Wicks, Phil Willis and other ministers at OST, DH, DWP, ODPM, DCLG, DIUS; Lord Sutherland, Baroness Greengross, Baroness Gardner, Baroness Howe, Baroness Perry, Paul Burstow, Eddie O’Hara	Meetings, frequent correspondence, provision of advice and contacts to SPARC, invitations to SPARC to join discussions and briefings SPARC initiated question in Parliament on the Older Worker asked by Baroness Gardner SPARC brochure preface and regular meetings with Lord Sutherland
Parliamentary Bodies	All Party Groups: Ageing and Older People; Grandparents	Attendance at meetings
Government Departments	Cabinet Office, OST, DWP, ODPM, DCLG, DH, FCO, CSIP, DfT , DTI	Correspondence, meetings, attendance at briefings
Welsh Assembly Government	Social Services	Correspondence, meetings, active involvement of minister and other officials in SPARC workshop Growing Old in Wales
Scottish Government	Public Health, Statistical Office	Correspondence, meetings, participation in workshop
Irish Government	National Disability Authority	Discussions, joint workshop, active involvement of minister for older people in SPARC workshop Showcasing Ageing and Disability Research – lessons for policy and practice
NHS and DH	Regional activities such as CSIP, SE Public Health Observatory	Correspondence, meetings, involvement of SPARC in various activities
Government –related bodies	Foresight, CABE, NESTA	Meetings, correspondence, provision of consultancy and advice by SPARC
Government enquiries	Dame Carol Black’s review, National Dementia Strategy House of Lords- Scientific Aspects of Ageing	Involvement with consultations, provision of briefings by SPARC, submission of evidence
Research Councils	EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, ESRC, AHRB	Considerable and very varied including extensive committee work; involvement with MRC/BBSRC enquiry into public attitudes to ageing research,; membership of single and cross-research council commissioning panels; frequent interaction with Press Offices of EPSRC and BBSRC
Overseas national research funding agencies	NIA (US), IA (Canada), EU (various)	Correspondence, meetings, committee work, joint activities
Research Initiatives and Networks	UKARF, OPAN Wales, CARDI, NDA, FAST Europe - ERA-AGE, POLIS, LARCI, EDEAN, Link-Age, ProteomAge, CIB, AgeAction	Correspondence, meetings, involvement with activities, some joint activities, committee work
Business and Science Networks	TVLSN, CCC, the BA	Correspondence, meetings, provision of advice, involvement with activities (in both directions)
Professional bodies and research associations	COT, RSC, RPS, RICS, BCA, BSRA Overseas – AAA, AFAR	Correspondence, meetings, provision of advice, involvement in joint activities (in both directions), committee work
Think Tanks	Fabian Society, ILC-UK	Attendance at meetings and events
Business	BT, Unilever, DEGW, Buro Happold, AZ, GSK, Eli Lilly, many small firms	Meetings, correspondence, involvement in for example, workshops such as the Business Case for Ageing Research, Biology and Business of Stroke, and Dementia and Cognitive Impairment

Table 5.1 (continued): Examples of individuals and organisations with which SPARC has engaged

Group	Examples of organisations and contacts	Type of interaction – examples
Housing Associations and related organisations	Housing 21/Dementia Voice, Housing for Women, Friends of the Elderly, Counsel and Care	Correspondence, meetings, provision of advice, involvement with activities (in both directions)
Associations of Charities	AMRC, ACF	Correspondence, meetings
Charities which fund research	Pocklington Trust, Nuffield, RSA, DMT, Daiwa Foundation, John Ellerman Foundation, RiA, JRF, UKOTRF, BRE Trust, Action Research, Arup Foundation	Correspondence, meetings, provision of advice, involvement in with activities (in both directions), extensive committee work by SPARC Directors
Charities	Ricability, RNIB, RNID, Stroke Association, Thrive, Help the Aged, TAEN	Correspondence, meetings, provision of advice, involvement with activities (in both directions)
Universities and Research Institutes	Many in UK and overseas	Considerable and very varied; joint proposals with overseas universities for support for bilateral research projects and networks
Press and Media	National, Local, Professional Press, National and Local Radio and TV	Press releases, discussions with journalists, occasional news articles - in all media (local press and radio – frequently; professional press and national TV – occasionally); involvement with production of documentaries for Discovery Channel.

Many organisations, especially funders of research, charities concerned with the needs of older people, housing associations, professionals in health and social services, professional bodies and business and research networks appreciated the opportunity to discuss ageing research. Generally their knowledge was rudimentary, although some had a good understanding of traditional areas of ageing research in medicine and the social sciences. They valued the opportunity to learn about the different research communities fostered by EPSRC and BBSRC and especially about that work which had already made a contribution to the independence and quality of life of older people. This interest was “across the board”. Whilst research councils and academics might observe disciplinary boundaries, the needs of older people do not. Thus, there was particular interest in multidisciplinary research in all areas, including those represented by SPARC.

In general, and with a few notable exceptions, although most Ministers from both Houses who were approached were encouraging, officials in government departments were less welcoming. Despite ageing being a Government Grand Challenge few of those responsible for pursuing this were keen to engage. Indeed, often it was only after correspondence or impromptu meetings with Ministers, that discussions took place with senior civil servants, and generally the outcome was disappointing. There were some exceptions. A close and easy rapport developed with ODPM which continued when it became DCLG, about various aspects of adaptations to homes and age-friendly neighbourhoods. Rather less straightforward was developing a close relationship with DWP and DH on the subject of the health of the older worker. After many false starts, a relationship eventually developed with DH, at regional level, in relation to dementia and mental health. This proved to be extremely rewarding for SPARC.

The general preference to keep SPARC and its mission for older people and for ageing research at arm’s length was also initially the case for the Scottish Government, but the opposite was the case for the Welsh Assembly Government which was extremely welcoming and supportive; so too was the Irish Government.

Finally, the reaction of politicians to SPARC also varied. Members of the House of Lords were invariably interested and supportive but members of the House of Commons varied in their response. Because of the recent House of Lords enquiry into ageing research it is understandable that many more contacts could be made with members of the Upper House. Such was the interest, that a briefing of one peeress about SPARC immediately led to a question being asked in Parliament and debate on the state of research to support the needs of the older worker. Another question about ageing research, initiated by a member of the advisory committee, was also asked in the House of Commons.

Main Themes

There were three main themes of interest to these other stakeholders.

Challenging the Status Quo

Firstly, there was much interest in the basic mission of SPARC and its aim to challenge the status quo of ageing research. In short, there was great sympathy for the view that older people deserve a better share of the benefits of scientific research, and should to be treated as experts in ageing, the equals of researchers, not as passive subjects or recipients of findings. So there was much attention paid to the way SPARC was pursuing this mission, its combination of pump-priming awards, workshops and advocacy, and its ability to move from research proposal to research findings accessible to all stakeholders within a very short time scale. SPARC’s encouragement of early-career researchers was attractive, partly because of the strategic importance of developing a cadre of researchers who would be involved with the area for the long term but also because of the polarity of ‘younger people working for older people’.

Whilst there was interest and encouragement for this new model for ageing research from virtually all non-academic stakeholders, it was not universally accepted by academics. It challenged too many of the ‘givens’ and ‘constraints’ of academic life. Although the award holders were at the very least accepting of the SPARC philosophy and most were excited and stimulated by it, the strong support of some more experienced figures was largely for its research funding activities. This did not extend to its broader activities, for example a close involvement with professionals and older people. One of the motivations for SPARC was a belief that older people have the right to hear about the work of researchers and the outcomes of ageing research in as timely a fashion as the research community. Another, demonstrated so convincingly with EQUAL, was that researchers could gain much from a two way exchange with beneficiaries and end users. This did not sit well with established perspectives on the nature of academic research.

Multidisciplinary, Collaborative and User-focused

The second theme, which was attractive especially to those outside of universities, was SPARC’s encouragement of multidisciplinary collaborative working with a strong user focus. The EPSRC EQUAL programme had pioneered this approach to ageing research with great success, so the creation of an environment which could achieve the same for biological research was welcomed. Even though some of the biologically orientated projects did not possess these characteristics, they were being carried out within the rich milieu created by SPARC where there was a good opportunity to develop a user-informed and older people’s perspective which could be of benefit to the researchers. Within this theme was strong interest in SPARC’s efforts to ensure that all its researchers were able to present their work to broad audiences of all-comers. Here too there was a feeling that many scientists were far too reticent about presenting their work to these audiences. Coupled with this was a keen interest to find out more about their work. After all, the issues with which these scientists were dealing were fundamental to long term development and health. It was particularly in the area of the biology of health that many suggestions and some offers of workshops were put forward by non-academic stakeholders. Some were pursued but areas such as nutrition, falls, vision, deafness and neurodegeneration were not, although SPARC had many of the necessary ingredients available as well as award holders willing to be presenters.

Particular Topics of Interest

The first two themes were essentially about the processes which SPARC was pursuing. The third theme related to the contribution which SPARC could make to important prevailing issues of ageing. Six topics emerged repeatedly from stakeholders, often unprompted: dementia, recovery from stroke, frailty, nutrition, urban design and the older worker, along with the expected cross-cutting themes of preserving independence, wellbeing and quality of life. Although SPARC’s remit didn’t include the study and treatment of illnesses of old age, reflecting the remit of BBSRC for the healthy organism, in some areas it was possible to follow up discussions. This led to significant SPARC activities in the areas of dementia, urban design and the older worker, but not in other areas, such as stroke, frailty and nutrition.

Presentations

During the course of SPARC presentations were made to a wide range of audiences; 36 to conferences, some of which were overseas, at public events organised by professional groups, and as public lectures; and 15 to invited audiences from professional bodies, or particular organisations or groups of policy makers. In addition six papers on these topics were published in refereed and professional journals, with more planned for after the end of SPARC.

Table 5.2: Invited presentations to public, community, professional and scientific bodies: 2005-2006

Title	Organiser	Date	Presenter
Designs for a Caring Society	Reading University Public Lecture	18^th October 2005	Peter Lansley
SPARC Briefing	The GoodEnough Conference Series, London	November 2005	Richard Faragher
Laying the Foundations for a Viable Research Community,	BAS (Building Accessible Services) International Meeting, Research Policies and Accessibility, Verona, Italy (A project within EU DG Employment and Social Affairs), Verona	21^st March 2006	Peter Lansley (Published)
Promoting Independence through Assistive Technology,	Improving the Health and Welfare of Older People: Some Wider Perspectives - Joint Meeting of BGS and North East Regional Forum on Ageing	8^th April 2006	Peter Lansley
SPARC briefing	Advances in mineral metabolism, Colorado, U.S.A	April 2006	Richard Faragher
Assistive Technology: a Broader Perspective	Irish Gerontological Society, Dublin	14th June 2006	Peter Lansley
Assistive Technology: Friend or Foe of older people?	Woodend Hospital Lecture series, Aberdeen	14^th November 2006	Peter Lansley
Building Design and Assistive Technology	British Geriatric Society Meeting, Reading	24th November 2006	Peter Lansley

Table 5.2 (continued): Invited presentations to public, community, professional and scientific bodies: 2007-July 2008

Designs for a Caring Society	Meeting of the Caversham Heights Society (an older peoples’ group)		31^st January 2007	Peter Lansley
Designs for a Caring Society	AGM of the British Polio Fellowship (Berkshire)		24^th March 2007	Peter Lansley
Building Capacity for Ageing and Disability-related Research	Include 2007, London		2^nd April 2007	Peter Lansley and Verity Smith (Published)
Presentation and debate on report of Technology Sector Panel	AGEACTION Conference 2007		23^rd April 2007	Richard Faragher (Published)
Stimulating Ageing Research from the Bottom up	FICCDAT, Caregiving, Disability, Aging and Technology, Toronto		18^th June 2007	Peter Lansley and Verity Smith (Published)
Transatlantic awareness and collaboration symposium	San Antonio, U.S.A		June 2007	Richard Faragher
SPARC	I'DGO TOO Launch, London		21st June 2007	Peter Lansley
SPARC	Age Concern Older Peoples’ Group , Reading		10^th July 2007	Verity Smith
Ageing Research on the Move	Realities of Action: Research into Action, BSG Annual Conference, Sheffield		7^th September 2007	Peter Lansley (Published)
Designing to Achieve an Inclusive Society,	Basingstoke and Deane Disability Forum Access Group, Basingstoke		9th October 2007	Peter Lansley
Management of an interdisciplinary ageing research network	IBMC Fall Symposium on the free radical theory of aging, Porto, Portugal		28^th November-1^st December 2007	Richard Faragher and Nicky Hewson (Poster)
Making the Most of Research for Older People		Valuing Age & Ageing: A Celebration of Work in the South East, Farnham Castle	27th February 2008	Peter Lansley
Stimulating Ageing-related Housing Research from the Bottom Up		5th Warwick Healthy Housing Conference, Coventry	17^th March 2008	Peter Lansley and Verity Smith (Published)
Would it be a disaster to find a cure for ageing and death by natural causes?		University of Derby/BA Big Questions series	30^th April 2008	Richard Faragher (Podcast)
Management of an interdisciplinary ageing research network		American Aging Association 37^th Annual Meeting, Boulder, Colorado	May 30^th – June 2^nd 2008	Nicky Hewson (Poster)
Briefing on UK ageing research at the		American Aging Association transatlantic collaboration meeting, Colorado, U.S.A	May/June 2008	Richard Faragher
Management of an interdisciplinary ageing research network		Cellular Senescence: the future of ageing? Oriel College, Oxford	7-8^th July 2008	Nicky Hewson (Poster)
Management of an interdisciplinary ageing research network		BSRA 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting "Ageing: Molecules to Man", Brighton	18-19^th July 2008	Nicky Hewson (Poster)
Meeting the Challenge of transforming the quality of dementia care		CSIP South East National Dementia Strategy Formal Consultation Event, Farnham	17th July 2008	Peter Lansley

Table 5.2 (continued): Invited presentations to public, community, professional and scientific: August 2008 - December 2008

Meeting the Challenge of transforming the quality of dementia care	CSIP South East National Dementia Strategy Formal Consultation Event, West Malling	21^st August 2008	Peter Lansley
Can HCI research extend the quality of later life?	HCI and the Older Population 2008 workshop, HCI2008 Conference, Liverpool	1^st September 2008	Peter Lansley
The role of design and engineering research in a caring society	Soroptomist International, Reading	2^nd October 2008	Peter Lansley
Older people, independence and the home: can research make a difference?	Health indoor environments for an ageing population, UKIEG and DH, London	23^rd October 2008	Peter Lansley
Enabling older people to stay at home	COT Housing Specialist Section Annual Conference, Aberdeen	6^th November 2008	Peter Lansley
Design, technology and independence: getting research into policy and practice	Healthy Independent Ageing Conference, The Scottish Government, Glasgow	13^th November 2008	Peter Lansley
Promoting research to improve the health and wellbeing of older people	COT Older People Specialist Section Annual Conference, Glasgow	21^st November 2008	Peter Lansley

Note: Poster presentations on SPARC as an initiative have been made at a very large number of national and regional events.

Table 5.3: Invited presentations and briefings to individual organisations and groups

Title	Organisation, Location of event	Date	Presenter
SPARC Briefing	DTRTG, Brussels, EU	December 2004	Richard Faragher
Ageing Research in the UK	Government of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Reading University	28^th October 2005	Peter Lansley
SPARC	UK Funders Forum, London	24^th February 2006	Peter Lansley
Building Research for Older People	BRE Trust, Watford	2^nd March 2006	Peter Lansley
Overcoming functional challenges with technology and design,	Unilever and UK Funders’ Forum for Ageing and Older People, SPARK Workshop, The Hague, The Netherlands	23^rd May 2006	Peter Lansley
Assistive Technology and Ageing Research	Help the Aged, London (Staff briefing)	28^th June 2007	Peter Lansley
Making a difference through inclusive design research	The Future of Age Friendly Cities Seminar, World Health Organisation, London	2^nd October 2007	Peter Lansley
Experiences from the EQUAL Network and SPARC	EPSRC KT-EQUAL Meeting, Birmingham	5^th October 2007	Peter Lansley
Dementia – recent research developments	National Older People’s Mental Health Programme Steering Group Meeting, Manchester	20^th November 2007	Peter Lansley
A review of Collaborative Opportunities	ProteomAge meeting, Waterloo, Brussels	29^th November-1^st December 2007	Richard Faragher
SPARC and the Health of Older Worker	Health, Work and Wellbeing Steering Group Meeting (Dame Carol Black’s Review of the Health of the Working Age Population), London	11^th December 2007	Peter Lansley
SPARC	UKARF, London	1st May 2008	Peter Lansley
Ageing research in the UK	Age Concern England Policy Managers Briefing, London	7^th May 2008	Peter Lansley
The Older Worker and Life Long Learning	Trades Union Council, Singapore, Reading University	19^th May 2008	Peter Lansley
SPARC Briefing	Triple Helix Society, University of Cambridge	October 2008	Richard Faragher

Table 5.4: Special Events organised by SPARC

Title	Organisation, Location of event	Date	Nature of event
Ageing: the best news for a billion years?	SPARC Public Lecture, Oxford	9th July 2008	Public lecture by Richard Faragher
Ageing: the best news for a billion years?	SPARC Public Lecture, Brighton	17^th July 2008	Public lecture by Richard Faragher
Celebrating excellence in ageing research	SPARC Parliamentary Reception, House of Commons	16^th December 2008	Address by Phil Willis, MP, Chair of the House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Select Committee, The Chair of SPARC and Research Council representatives

Table 5.5: Published journal papers

Title	Publication	Date	Authors
The EQUAL Initiative	Special Edition of Quality in Ageing	Vol 7 no 1, March 2006	Peter Lansley and Gail Mountain (editors)
EQUAL: New horizons for ageing research	Quality in Ageing	Vol 7 no 11, 2006, 6 -13	Peter Lansley
Capitalising on the Potential of Assistive Technology	British Journal of Occupational Therapy	Vol 69, no 3, 2006, 97	Peter Lansley (editorial)
New Technologies and Older People's Quality of Life	Generations Review	Vol 17, No 4, October 2007	Gail Mountain and Peter Lansley
Ageing Research on the Move	Generations Review	Vol 17, No 4, October 2007	Peter Lansley
Motivating Ageing Research in the UK	British Journal of Healthcare Computing and Information Management	December 2008 http://www.bjhcim.co.uk/ features/2008/812002.htm	Peter Lansley and Lucy Chappell
SPARC Special Issue	Quality in Ageing	In preparation	Joanna Waters, Mima Cattan, Greg Marsden, Charles Musselwhite, Suzette Keith, Peter Lansley

Table 5.6: Other publication

Title	Publication	Date	Author
Memorandum submitted by Professor Peter Lansley	House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, Ageing: Scientific Aspects	Volume II : Evidence, 362-364. 2005	Peter Lansley

International

The development of new bilateral research relationships was a major objective for SPARC. One director facilitated discussions between EPSRC and IA (the Institute of Aging, one of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) in determining how bilateral projects could be accommodated within their existing programmes. The other director was involved with discussions between BBSRC and NIA (National Institute for Aging) in the USA to establish a collaborative programme for UK and US researchers. In early 2008 EPSRC and IA agreed to fund an initial project in the field of assistive technology, led by two early-career academics, based at Bath University and Toronto University. In mid 2008, details were released about the BBSRC/NIA programme. A partnering arrangement with Japan was also developed for those with an interest in Werner’s Syndrome. Frequent discussions were held with the ARC/NHMRC Ageing Well Research Network in Australia, the leading ageing research programme in Australia, with a view to establishing bilateral projects. More tentative discussions took place with government and educational bodies in Portugal, Hong Kong and Trinidad & Tobago. Although SPARC’s international activities aimed to benefit all researchers in the UK, where possible SPARC award holders were involved in these activities, as well as established ageing researchers, especially those who had received support from EPSRC and BBSRC, through programmes such as EQUAL, SUE, SAGE and ERA. As discussed earlier, about half of the SPARC teams were involved with the international workshops.

SPARC Publications

In recognition of the need to present information about SPARC in a form which was accessible to all stakeholders, several simple flyers and brochures were produced. A two page flyer, which was regularly updated, provided basic information about the mission of SPARC, its activities, the projects it supported and the workshops it had organised. An eight page brochure was produced outlining all of SPARC activities but in particular, the SPARC projects. Although not of the highest print quality it was very well received for both its content and design. This added credibility to SPARC’s reputation of being concerned with communicating to all stakeholders in ageing research. This too was updated from time to time.

Towards the end of SPARC a 24 page professionally designed brochure Ageing research going places was produced, initially for distribution at the BA Festival in September 2008, but then for general use. This provided outline details of the achievements of each of the SPARC projects. It was particularly successful.

Equally valuable was the production of a set of nearly 60 posters describing each of the SPARC projects, all to the same house style, some for scientific and some for general audiences. These proved to be a well-used resource for workshops, conferences and other events. They were seen to have captured the excitement and challenges of ageing research in an attractive way and were appreciated by the various audiences attending these events. Copies were also given to the research teams for their own use.

Table 5.7: SPARC publications

Publication	Content	Principal Author	Distributed
Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity	Two sided summary of details of SPARC, project and workshop titles. Initially produced January 2005, updated very frequently.	Peter Lansley	Printed - 5,000
Posters of SPARC Projects	A1 Posters suitable for all-comers audiences for every project and some posters suitable for scientific audiences for about half of the projects. Posters for Call 1 projects produced in March 2006, Call2 in January 2007	Award Holders, Edited by Peter Lansley, Managed by Verity Smith	Web – 100 - 200
Ageing research is on the move	Eight page summary of objectives of SPARC and its style, and the projects and workshops. Initially produced February 2007 and updated several times.	Peter Lansley with input from Richard Faragher	Printed - 3,500 Web – 2,000 -3,000
SPARC Annual Reports	Summary of work over each of the first three years of SPARC	Peter Lansley	Web – 2,000 - 3,000
SPARC Newsletters	Two sided flyers with news items about SPARC produced for specific events, from February 2007 onwards	Peter Lansley	Printed – 1,000
SPARC Executive Summaries	Accessible summaries suitable for informed lay-audiences	Award Holders, all members of the Secretariat, Edited by Lucy Chappell	Printed - 2,500 Web – 1,000 - 2,500 possibly more
Ageing research going places	Twenty four page compendium of summaries of the SPARC projects produced for the BA Festival of Science, September 2008	Lucy Chappell	Printed - 1,000
Going places with SPARC	Two sided insert for the above, with details of workshops and full contact details	Lucy Chappell	Printed - 1,000

Note: 1. Number of printed copies distributed by 31st December 2008; 2. Web statistics are not available, these are estimates for downloads by 31^st December 2008.

Executive Summaries, Compendium of Projects

By far the most important SPARC publications were the executive summaries. Here the aim was to produce accessible summaries shortly after the conclusion of each project and to make these available through hard copy and the web, usually timing their release with a relevant workshop or national event. Put simply, the audience for these summaries was the educated lay public, typified by those who attended SPARC all-comers workshops, for example, professionals in housing, health and social care, employees of charities, voluntary agencies, firms involved with older people, local and central government policy makers, older people and scientists; people who generally would not have been experts in the areas of research addressed by the summaries. So although it was necessary to minimise the scientific content of some summaries, it was probable that most of the audience for any executive summary would expect some scientific content. To have watered down this content too much would have been condescending in the extreme. Along with their involvement in all-comers workshops the production of these summaries was to be an important contribution to the development of the award holders’ skills and resources for communicating with lay audiences.

EPSRC had strongly encouraged this aspect of SPARC and had agreed that funding should be available to engage professional communications advice, ultimately the SPARC Publicity Officer, a provision which was generally regarded as exceptional for any research council project of the size of SPARC.

To some extent the summaries were produced to challenge the accepted mould of thinking about the promotion of ageing research, and the subordinate position traditionally accorded to reporting research findings to beneficiaries and users. This is not an unusual situation in science, but it is a situation in which government and the research councils have invested considerable effort trying to overcome. Recent reports from DIUS and ministerial statements have given great emphasis to the need for all research, but especially that funded by the public purse, to be reported as widely as possible and to be as accessible as possible to all sectors of society. Research councils have been encouraged to redouble their efforts in public communication and knowledge transfer. It is not just desirable to raise the degree of scientific literacy amongst the general public but essential to an economy and society which is highly dependent on the development and exploitation of science.

The receipt of the final report from the award holder prompted the secretariat to produce an executive summary of the project based on the final report. This was amended by the award holder, sometimes through a series of discussions and iterations with the secretariat, in order to arrive at an appropriate executive summary.

After some experimentation a structure for the summaries was established consisting of a one page cover, a summary page, four pages describing a project and its findings, one page for discussion, conclusions and implications and a final page with some details about the research team and SPARC. This eight page structure worked well for about 60% of the projects but it was more difficult to apply to some of the health and biology projects. There were a number of reasons for this, including: a heightened concern not to include data which had not been published in a refereed journal as this might affect the later chance of achieving such a form of publication; the danger that findings from small scale studies would be misleading, especially if the findings were inconclusive; and the narrow focus of some projects which defied a more discursive treatment.

So, although the production of the executive summaries was a major work package in the SPARC proposal in support of providing the award holders with the experience of developing materials for non-academic audiences, a number of executive summaries were limited to just one or two pages and some projects did not have an executive summary.

Table 5.8: Executive summaries

Type of project	Ethnographic	Modelling	Health	Biology	Total
	Number	Number	Number	Number	number
Full length - seven or more pages	8	8	3	-	19
Short - three or four pages	-	-	1	3	4
Under production	-	1	-	-	1
Not produced	-	-	4	6	10
Total	8	9	8	9	34

Note: The front and back covers accounted for two of the pages.

Yet despite these reservations, the executive summaries which were available in hard copy and on the SPARC website, especially the full length summaries, were well received by the intended lay audiences and seen as valuable by the award holders and their teams. Some used them as a communication tool to give feedback to participants in studies about the value of their contribution to the research, others used them to publicise their work more generally. There were many downloads of these from the website.

SPARC was able to demonstrate that even for modest research projects, in a period of just two years, it was possible to go from a successful research proposal to an executive summary of the findings of interest and potentially valuable to a broad range of stakeholders, especially non-scientists. Given the degree of interest shown in many of the executive summaries of what were small projects, it is quite in order to suggest that executive summaries of more substantial projects could achieve much more and have a major positive impact on the relationship between non-scientists interested in ageing research and the scientific community.

A Compendium

However, all projects were summarised in Ageing research going places, the compendium of the SPARC projects, produced initially for the BA Festival in September 2008 at which SPARC had a half day workshop. This brought together the projects under a number of thematic headings. This too was well received but its purpose as a dissemination document for SPARC as a whole was quite different to the purpose of the executive summaries which was to provide support to individual award holders and their work. The level of interest was such that requests were received from some conference organisers who were quite independent of SPARC for Ageing research going places. Some of these participants at these conferences subsequently approached the secretariat requesting further copies to distribute to their contacts or individuals within their own organisations. Requests for copies were also received from overseas organisations and in one instance there was an offer to distribute copies at an international conference overseas. This was because Ageing research going places was an exemplar of good communication of ageing research and a product of an initiative which was itself an exemplar. Not all requests came from scientists or professionals. For example, one request for further copies, received from a retired person involved with several voluntary organisations, was on the strength of the response of an 85 year old resident of a specialist sheltered housing scheme who had found the brochure interesting and understandable, and who thought that more residents would be interested!

Interviews

The communication of scientific research in different ways to all stakeholders was an important aspect of SPARC. So, partly because of the resources released by the reduction in the number of executive summaries produced, an opportunity was taken to record interviews with the award holders. This work was undertaken solely by Lucy Chappell the Publicity Officer. Twenty award holders or members of their teams were interviewed about their work and the edited interviews published on the SPARC website. These proved to be exceptionally popular. Indeed, the audio interviews were some of the most visited materials on the SPARC web site.

Despite the popularity of these interviews, the resources available did not enable all projects to be covered, and the situation remains that some projects have neither executive summaries nor interviews available on the web site. In addition, most of these were not presented to the broader workshop audiences which were so important to SPARC’s mission.

Table 5.9: Audio interviews

Type of project	Ethnographic	Modelling	Health	Biology	Total
	Number	number	Number	Number	number
Completed	7	5	5	3	20

Media

Throughout the life of SPARC opportunities were taken to interest the media. However until the final year the skills and resources limited the amount of interaction possible. When resources were available, press notices elicited interest, very often from local radio and newspapers, and occasionally from the national media including TV. For example, The Biology and Business of Stroke workshop was covered by five newspapers, local radio and BBC 1 TV News. There was also considerable coverage in the specialist and trade press, which is often the most effective way of communicating with professional audiences.

With the recruitment of a part-time SPARC publicity officer for the final year, press coverage increased initially with the Older Worker workshop and, working with the EPSRC Press Office, with the Older People Going Places workshop at the BA Festival, which enjoyed considerable coverage in the UK and abroad. However, the main constraint continued to be resources, as the Publicity Officer had to fulfil many other roles within the SPARC team.

There was also the issue that the SPARC funded research projects were small scale studies, and many science journalists were therefore unwilling to cover these findings. Thus it was felt that it would be more valuable to work on other forms of communication which had a longer shelf-life compared to that of news media. These forms of communication were designed to appeal to stakeholders, include more useful information, and leave a longer lasting impression on the reader, for example, executive summaries and audio interviews.

Web Site

A significant vehicle for communicating information was the SPARC website. This performed a number of distinct functions, including handling the awards scheme and the organisation of the workshops. In terms of advocacy it carried a great deal of information about ageing research, for example, news items, information about SPARC and other events, funding information, executive summaries and audio interviews with award holders and their team members.

Not only did the website work well but it was consistently at or near the top of the list of the most popular UK websites on ageing identified by search engines. Towards the end of the life of SPARC it was regularly receiving over 4,000 hits a day, which for a science based site is regarded as very high.

We were fortunate in having the services of Daniel Guth as web master. As indicated earlier he created a fully functional website to handle research proposals from scratch in little more than two months. Other features of the web site were executed rapidly and effectively, including a workable and highly acceptable approach to ensure that the web site was accessible.

Table 5.10: Contents of SPARC website

Area	Description
News	Regular news items, stored in a archive. Typically, about seven or eight news items were published each month by the Reading office; a mixture of announcements about workshops, the achievements of award holders, funding for research, new additions to the website and news about important developments in the world of ageing and ageing research.
About SPARC	Basic information about SPARC for example its secretariat, organisation and the advisory committee, Annual Reports
Membership	Becoming a member. Applications were received by the Reading office through web form.
Workshops	This covered the life cycle of each workshop from announcement and managing registrations, through a web form, through to maintaining a record of the proceedings, especially the presentations. Presentation slides, usually in PowerPoint from all of the workshops organised by the Reading Office and some of those organised by the Brighton Office were uploaded to the website as pdf files, save a few which it was not possible to upload or containing confidential information, although in the latter case usually the presentation slides were modified to overcome this.
Other Events	List of conferences and events run by other organisations, regularly updated by the Reading Office
SPARC Projects	Summary information about each project supported by SPARC
- Posters	Posters on each project, one or two depending on the project
- Executive Summaries	Executive summaries of the findings of most of the projects, uploaded and maintained by the Reading Office
- Audio Interviews	For most projects an interview with a member of the project team regularly updated by the Reading Office, uploaded and maintained by the Reading Office
Other Projects	Information about projects funded by other Research Council schemes
Funding	Information about 80 UK organisations which fund ageing research
- Opportunities	List of opportunities for research support in the UK, uploaded and maintained by the Reading Office; about 20 new research opportunities were published each month, and over 700 during the life of SPARC.
Network	Information about the SPARC approach to networking and its value
Downloads	Information for downloading, for example executive summaries and audio interviews
Project Proposal and Refereeing System	A comprehensive system for: registering likely applicants for SPARC awards; a password protected facility for applicants to upload their proposals; a password protected facility for referees to access specific proposals and to upload their referees’ reports.
Links	Links to some key ageing research and related organisations

Note: The web site was managed by the Reading Office, with all development work being undertaken by Daniel Guth, a freelance webmaster.

Membership

One indicator of SPARC’s success in stimulating interest in ageing research is the number of individuals who became members of the SPARC network, simply by registering their details so as to be placed on a mailing list. Throughout the life of SPARC the number of members grew steadily to approaching 2000 by the end of 2008. Of these, over 60% were not based in universities or research institutes, but reflected the very broad range of stakeholders in ageing issues including older people. Most joined as a result of attending or finding out about workshops, sometimes after an event attended by a friend or colleague. In the last few months of SPARC individuals continued to register, and it is believed that many more would have done so had it not been clear that SPARC was about to end. Clearly, SPARC has had something to offer to those who initially might have been just marginally interested or involved.

The membership of SPARC compares favourably with that of the EQUAL Network, which had about 1200 members. Initially the EQUAL mail-list was maintained alongside a growing SPARC mail-list, but after 18 months the lists were rationalised into one list. At that time, about 30% of the EQUAL members joined SPARC, another 20% having joined previously, but some of the EQUAL members, especially those with a prime interest in the needs of disabled people rather than ageing, found that SPARC’s interests were too broad and did not become SPARC members.

The membership of approaching 2000 does not give a realistic representation of the spread of interest in SPARC, as in many instances, depending on their content, SPARC members relayed messages to their colleagues and communities, so that they reached a much larger number of relevant people.

SPARC kept in touch with its members through its mail-list, a facility which was used sparingly, typically once or twice a month. Rather than sending a barrage of messages which would become a nuisance for some members and would be ignored, the Reading Office, which initiated most of the messages, sought to build a reputation for providing information which was useful and could be acted upon, with the result that the messages were read. All workshops were announced through the mail-list, and members were kept informed of significant developments to the activities of SPARC and in the world of ageing research. However, SPARC rarely acted on behalf of third parties, for example, making conference announcements, unless those events were likely to be accessible and of benefit to SPARC members. As a result, despite a mail-list of nearly 2000 members, somewhat to the chagrin of major conference organisers, it rarely sent information to members about expensive gatherings since these were neither accessible to most members nor were they likely to be very useful.

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Preface - Summary - Introduction - Resources and Activities - Awards Scheme - Workshops - Advocacy - Award Holders - Review - SPARC