Global Partnering Award UK Ageing Networks: South Asia - SAAgeNet

Lead Research Organisation: Lancaster University
Department Name: Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences

Abstract

The UK Ageing Network is made up of 11 ageing research networks that bring together researchers and stakeholders from different disciplines to better understand the mechanisms of ageing and their impact on human health. This proposed work brings together 4 of these networks focussing on cognitive and physical decline with age and the involvement of nutrition in these declines and aims to integrate the network research interests with those of research institutes in India and Malaysia. The proposed network activities' ultimate aim is to produce research proposals that are multidisciplinary and multicentre. Person to person networking activities will enable networks and global partners to identify research synergies for future research projects. The networking activities aim to maintain and strengthen existing links between the UK ageing networks with institutes in India and Malaysia. Networks and international partners will share data and identify research synergies relevant to each network's individual research themes. This work will enable the development of frameworks for collaborative/global human data collection and analysis plus a common research language across different geographical locations and cultures.

Technical Summary

The networking activities aim to maintain and strengthen existing links between the CFIN and Food4Years networks with New Delhi International Institute of Health Management Research, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, and Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women in India, and Sunway University in Malaysia. Networking activities will also integrate other networks (BLAST and MyAGE) with these institutes. Networks and partners will share data and identify research synergies relevant to each network's individual research themes. We will also develop new links with additional institutes in these regions. A new collaboration with University of Dehli, India is currently in development. Networking events will also enable the development of frameworks for collaborative/global human data collection and analysis, and an understanding of and expertise in the use of animal models for hypothesis testing. An important opportunity of this funding is to ensure future capacity in global ageing research. One-month visits by ECR network members to our global partners and by ECRs and/or technicians from our global partners to network member labs will be held to enable ECRs and technicians to gain research skills relevant to each network's theme and a global perspective on ageing research. This award will allow four of the BBSRC-MRC-funded networks to integrate research themes in the South Asia region. The proposed events in this application will not only allow networks to identify areas of research collaboration between each individual network and the partnering institutes, but they will also facilitate the integration of knowledge and understanding of ageing mechanisms across the networks' themes.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description Research collaboration: Interdisciplinary research towards understanding mechanisms, reliable assessment, and interventions for cognitive frailty in diverse populations. 
Organisation IIHMR University
Country India 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The research team at Lancaster has contributed knowledge and expertise in cognitive frailty in humans and the biology of ageing in model organisms. The aim of the collaboration is to develop a research proposal that determines the mechanisms driving cognitive frailty and develops tools for reliable assessment, with the ultimate aim to find interventions that delay or prevent cognitive frailty in diverse populations
Collaborator Contribution The teams in Sunway, IIHMR and the University of Delhi contribute knowledge and expertise in ageing and cognitive decline in human populations in India and Malaysia, as well as access to data sets generated in these countries, which will contribute to an understanding of cognitive frailty across different cultures and countries.
Impact This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration with the following disciplines: Biology Social Science Psychology Anthropology
Start Year 2024
 
Description Research collaboration: Interdisciplinary research towards understanding mechanisms, reliable assessment, and interventions for cognitive frailty in diverse populations. 
Organisation Sunway University
Country Malaysia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The research team at Lancaster has contributed knowledge and expertise in cognitive frailty in humans and the biology of ageing in model organisms. The aim of the collaboration is to develop a research proposal that determines the mechanisms driving cognitive frailty and develops tools for reliable assessment, with the ultimate aim to find interventions that delay or prevent cognitive frailty in diverse populations
Collaborator Contribution The teams in Sunway, IIHMR and the University of Delhi contribute knowledge and expertise in ageing and cognitive decline in human populations in India and Malaysia, as well as access to data sets generated in these countries, which will contribute to an understanding of cognitive frailty across different cultures and countries.
Impact This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration with the following disciplines: Biology Social Science Psychology Anthropology
Start Year 2024
 
Description Research collaboration: Interdisciplinary research towards understanding mechanisms, reliable assessment, and interventions for cognitive frailty in diverse populations. 
Organisation University of Delhi
Country India 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The research team at Lancaster has contributed knowledge and expertise in cognitive frailty in humans and the biology of ageing in model organisms. The aim of the collaboration is to develop a research proposal that determines the mechanisms driving cognitive frailty and develops tools for reliable assessment, with the ultimate aim to find interventions that delay or prevent cognitive frailty in diverse populations
Collaborator Contribution The teams in Sunway, IIHMR and the University of Delhi contribute knowledge and expertise in ageing and cognitive decline in human populations in India and Malaysia, as well as access to data sets generated in these countries, which will contribute to an understanding of cognitive frailty across different cultures and countries.
Impact This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration with the following disciplines: Biology Social Science Psychology Anthropology
Start Year 2024
 
Description Research Symposium and Knowledge Exchange Meeting (Lancaster University) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact I organised a 2 day Research Symposium and Knowledge Exchange (KE) Meeting at Lancaster University to bring together researchers and postgraduate students from SAAgeNet partners in India and Malaysia with UK Ageing Network members. 22 people attended the symposium/KE meeting and all presented their research work to the group. 3 potential future research projects were identified following the KE meeting with post-graduate student involvement. All attendees reported that the event was successful in terms of gaining understanding of the interdisciplinary research carried out within SAAgeNet and the UK Ageing Networks involved (CFIN, MyAge, Food4Years and BLAST), professional development experience provided to the PG students, and the interdisciplinary research project collaborations formed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024