Delighted to have contributed to a panel discussion on ‘Ageing Better’ at The Coming of Age Symposium at the Wellcome Trust, London, chaired by Pragya Agarwal, joining Aideen Young from the Centre for Ageing Better and Daniel Davies from University College London.
Category Archives: Health Humanities
Research-based feature film
As part of The Sciences of Ageing and the Culture of Youth, we have entered pre-production for a research-based feature film, Coming of Age, with Lifelong Films Ltd. Josh Appignanesi and Devorah Baum have written the script; Emily Everdee and Sam Buckler have joined as producer and co-producer. Delighted to act as executive producer.
Literature and Science in the Public Sphere
Delighted to have been invited to contribute to a special issue of Public Humanities, on Literature and Science in the Public Sphere, edited by John Holmes, Jenni G Halpin and Aura Heydenreich. My article explores ‘Cognitive augmentation in speculative writing’.
A biological turn in the medical humanities
Thrilled to have been invited to the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Ageing and Care (CIRAC) at the University of Graz, Austria, to speak in the Health Humanities Lecture Series – arguing for a ‘biological turn’ in the medical humanities that integrates narrative and empowers policy.
SAACY at the Warwick District Faiths Forum
Excited to have been invited back to speak at the annual Warwick District Faiths Forum Wellbeing Conference. My talk explored rethinking ageing – why does it matter and how can we achieve it, in theory and practice.
Rethinking Ageing: The Film
This short film is a co-production with Reuben &Co (and animations by Camille Aubry) arising from The Sciences of Ageing and the Culture of Youth (SAACY). SAACY project partners featuring in this film are Age UK, Brixton Windmill, Centre for Ageing Better, and InCommon. Rethinking Ageing was filmed on location, at Lambeth Town Assembly Hall, in November 2024.
An Agenda for the Medical Humanities and Ageing
Embedded in a historical account of the relation of the medical humanities to ageing, and an account of the history of age studies, this article asserts that the medical humanities need to invest their discipline-crossing capacity and knowledge base in ageing. They need to integrate the biological reality of ageing into their descriptive practices and accept biomedicine as a constructive agent in their future work on ageing. Published in the journal History of the Human Sciences, the article is available open access.
Shifting Representations of Ageing in the Media
Our second SAACY Policy Report, Shifting Representations of Ageing in Advertising, the Media, and the Creative Industries, is published! We identify opportunity for media content to be more intergenerational, and for it to be developed by age-diverse teams, and we list systemic opportunities for change, drawing upon regulation, funding, data and education-based strategies. The report was launched in the House of Lords on 13 May 2025, hosted by The Rt Hon. The Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, co-chair of the APPG for Ageing and Older People.
Lifelines: Rethinking Ageing across Generations
A free exhibition at Science Gallery London, invites people of all ages to consider ageing as a lifelong process, rather than a phase of decline that happens towards the end of life. Open 29 May until 2 August 2025.
Offering an open space for conversations across generations and complete with film, objects, photographs and animations highlighting our shared human experiences, Lifelines prompts the visitor to address how inequalities impact health and quality of life in older age, and to consider what we can learn from one another. It assures us that together, we can creatively rethink ageing, embracing and preparing for the challenges, joys, and surprises of getting older.
Literature and Science Forum
Delighted to have been invited to speak in the Winter Series: Medical and Digital Humanities of the Literature and Science Forum – about a narrative approach to changing how we think about ageing.
Martina Zimmermann 