SPACE in Time

What’s on offer?

At this half day event (with refreshments) taking place at The Mac in Belfast City Centre you will meet investigators and learn about the research being carried out by the SPACE project (Supportive Environments for Physical and Social Activity, Healthy Ageing and Cognitive Health) at Queens University and their partner organisations, and help build a Time Capsule!

What’s it about?

The number of people worldwide living with dementia and cognitive impairment is increasing, mainly due to people living longer, so, by implementing the SPACE project we want to figure out how where we live affects dementia and brain health as we get older. Some research suggests that where we live might influence our brain health. As more of us now live in towns and cities, it is important that the environment where we live (regardless of geographic location or socio-economic status) is designed to maximise our brain health.

 Bringing together representatives from our Older Persons Reference Group (volunteers who will advise our study) and children from local Schools/Community Groups (age range 8 – 18yrs) to learn about the research taking place on healthy ageing and the impact our environment has on the ageing process and our cognitive health.  All attendees will contribute to building a time capsule, which will along with physical items such as photos/audio/games/toys/objects necessary for everyday living in 2022, contain written stories describing past and current experiences of life, where they live and work/ed, go to school, were brought up, changes to their landscape and environment, messages from 2022, expectations, fears, hopes, and even inventions and cures for the future and what we can do going forward to help us age in better health and enjoy our lives.  

The capsule will potentially be a snapshot of our locality from 60+ years ago – to current – to 60+ years into the future.  We anticipate involving partner organisations in the event including ie: Translink and Belfast City Council, Healthy Ageing Strategic Partnership, Belfast Healthy Cities.
 

Who’s leading the event?

This event will be led by Professors Ruth Hunter and Bernadette McGuinness, principal investigators of the SPACE project (Centre for Public Health, Queens University Belfast), Ms Anne McCusker from the WHO Belfast Healthy Cities, one of our partner organisations and Dr Ione Avila-Palencia, a SPACE research fellow.  We plan to invite Linking Generations to facilitate the event and Youth Forum to support engagement with young people across Belfast, and the Healthy Ageing Strategic Partnership to engage older people in the event.

Open to

This event will be aimed at children between the age of 8 – 18 and older adults 65+

Of particular interest to

This event will be of particular interest to young people and older adults interested in their community, locality, environment and the future health of themselves and society, both local and globally. The event will extend the scope of the SPACE project to engage younger people and provide an opportunity for discussion on the impact of the environment on brain health. This will start the conversation with younger people, together in an intergenerational, interactive and creative event.