The UK government recognises the importance that ageing has on society, setting an ambitious target for the coming years – the aim is to increase the time we spend healthy as we get old by at least five years by 2035. This is a great but very ambitious goal – so how do we achieve it?
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has set out to determine how to improve health during ageing . The Inquiry into Ageing is looking into what treatments could be used to address ageing and ageing-related diseases and what health advice to give to the public about healthy lifestyles. The success of these treatments and policies will affect many aspects of society and affect quality of life for all of us.
Several current and past members of the BSRA gave evidence to the House of Lords science and technology select committee on the science of ageing in their recent hearings. Prof Janet Lord, a previous chair of the BSRA, was appointed as the special advisor to the select committee. All the oral evidence is available on Parliament TV:
Professor Richard Faragher, Professor of Biogerontology, Brighton University
Professor Lynne Cox, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford
Dr Marina Ezcurra, Lecturer in Molecular Biosciences, School of Biosciences, University of Kent