Trent Centre for Aging & Society, Peterborough, ON (2025)

12/12/2025

On September 21st, 2025 Dr. Kontos and Dr. Bar, in partnership with KITE Research Institute, Canada's National Ballet School (NBS), and Mid-Career Productions, co-led ‘Reframing Dementia: Challenging Stigma Through Film & Art’ to challenge stigma associated with dementia and to help shift the dominant narrative about dementia from loss and decline, to hope and new possibilities.

Two short films were screened:

Dancer Not Dementia focuses on the transformative power of dance to support creativity, sociability, and social inclusion;

Sugar Dumplin focuses on a Caribbean family and the importance of their culture food for bridging relationships with people living with dementia.

This was followed by a conversation with the filmmakers, a short demo of the Sharing Dance Older Adults program that features in Dancer Not Dementia, a catered reception featuring artwork made by or inspired by people living with dementia, and a special performance courtesy of Caribana Arts Group. The event drew 130+ attendees.

*Picture of audience members participating in the Sharing Dance Older Adults demo during the film screening portion of the event at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. Photo credit: Tim Fraser/KITE Studio.

11/29/2025

Call for Abstracts: 15th World Conference of the International Society for Gerontechnology.

The website for the 15th World Conference of the International Society for Gerontechnology is now open. You are invited to submit an abstract for a symposium, free paper, or poster. The deadline is December 1, 2025, but there will be early review and acceptance. For more information about the conference objectives, keynote speakers, site visits, social program, and more, click the link below!

trentu.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=801c3848b0ba18fd79be28eaa&id=830d40d385&e=e559ba8adf

11/21/2025

The Trent Centre for Aging & Society wishes to acknowledge and celebrate the following Trent participants at The Canadian Association on Gerontology, 54th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting, October 23-25, 2025, Montreal.

Theme: Radical Relationality and Aging: Creativity, Community, Connection

The presentations and posters were excellent, the collegiality wonderful, and Trent's outstanding research on aging was well represented.

Yusi Chang
Nadine Changfoot
Sally Chivers (also keynote address)
Stephen Katz
An Korsurko
Barbara Marshall
Shawna Peddar
Kim Ritchie
Bharati Sethi

What Scares You About Aging? Sally Chivers Delivers Keynote at 2025 CAG Conference

TCAS executive member and past Director Sally Chivers (pictured) delivered a keynote address at the Canadian Association for Gerontology Conference in Montreal. Her talk, “Don’t Panic: Fear and the Stories We Tell about Age” showcased how her podcast Wrinkle Radio is the product of decades of research she has conducted on stories about aging in literature, film, popular culture, and scholarship on aging. She invited hundreds of listeners to accept that fear is an understandable part of growing old. She encouraged researchers to consider how accepting fear might change the questions they ask and how they invite participants into research.

Conversations about the keynote could be heard through the remainder of the conference, with attendees sharing that they could hardly sit still they were so excited, that they would bring these ideas back to their research teams, and that these were exactly the questions that gerontology needs to ask right now.

11/12/2025

The Power of a Song in Dementia Care

Come explore, create, and be inspired!

Be a part of a one-of-a-kind event where music and dementia care come together. explore the latest research from Canada and the UK, engage in interactive sessions with drums, movement, and vocal improvisation, and collaborate to record a song together.

What to Expect:
• Live group music-making sessions
• Hands-on techniques to expand your musical toolbox
• Skill-building with industry experts
• Insight into sound environments and dementia care
• Networking with passionate professionals from across Canada

This event takes place on Friday November 14, 2025 in Mississauga, ON.

For more information and to register, click the link below:
https://www.musiccareconference.com/registration

11/04/2025

The next NANAS Intersectional Age Studies Semiar Series features Dr. Mérida M. Rúa.

The talk, titled Rituals of Ongoingness, combines an analysis of Nicholasa Mohr’s short story “A Time with a Future” with ethnographic sketches from Dr Rúa's field work to throw light on how some Puerto Ricans in the diaspora recast and sometimes counter commonly accepted ideas of familismo and loneliness that indulge in perceptions of later life as a series of barriers and endings. Mohr’s fictional protagonist, Carmela, along with the central figure in Dr. Rúa’s ethnographic research, persists in rituals of ongoingness that offer alternative and compelling visions of soledad in elderhood.

This talk takes place virtually on Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 12:00PM – 1:00 PM EST.

This talk will also be preceded by our new NANAS intersectional age studies student initiative, and will feature Yusi Chang, PhD student in Cultural Studies at Trent University! Yusi will share a brief summary of her research and introduce Mérida!

Please join us to support these two exciting speakers!

10/27/2025

EVENT TOMORROW!

TCAS is pleased to tell you that Dr. Julia Henderson (UBC) will be giving this year's Katz lecture on Tuesday Oct. 28 at the Gathering Space, 7.30 p.m.

The title of her talk is "Unscripting Age: Challenging Cultural Ageism Through Theatre and Performance":

Drawing on her background as a theatre artist, researcher, and occupational therapist, Dr. Julia Henderson discusses theatre’s potential to resist, redress, and re-imagine ageist cultural narratives and representations of older adults. Through analysis of professionally produced plays and community engaged co-creative performance projects (such as Raising the Curtain on the Lived Experience of Dementia, Social Media Series, and the Intergenerational Arts for Climate Action Study), Dr Henderson shares how notions of temporality, relationality, and embodiment can challenge ageist stereotypes and narrative tropes, and illuminate new understandings of older adults doing, being, becoming, and belonging through performance.

Julia Henderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia, an investigator with UBC’s Edwin S. H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, and Chair of the North American Network in Aging Studies. She studies contemporary theatre and uses collaborative arts-based methods to work with older adults on projects that redress cultural ageism, challenge dementia stigma, and promote citizenship. Her writing appears in Theatre Research in Canada, Canadian Theatre Review, Age Culture Humanities, Frontiers in Health Services, and Leisure Sciences. She also has recent chapters in Aging Studies and Ecocriticism, The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Aging, Pandemic Play: Community in Performance, Gaming, and the Arts, and forthcoming in Late Stage.

Please save the date!

10/22/2025

Hearing that you or your loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia can be scary and come with many questions. However, much is being learned about these diseases and treatments are improving, restoring hope and helping people live with a better quality of life much longer than before.

In order to help the public better understand dementias including Alzheimer’s, their risk factors, what things can be done to lower risk and to learn about some of the more exciting things happening in Alzheimer’s research and treatments, St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church is proud to host a free community education event on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia on Thursday, October 23, 2025, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., at Princess Gardens Retirement Residence, 100 Charlotte Street in Peterborough. The event will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. JoAnne McLaurin, one of Canada’s leading researchers in Alzheimer’s therapeutics, along with panel discussion and Q&A involving several community organizations.

This event is convened in partnership with Kawartha Centre – Redefining Healthy Aging, Age-Friendly Peterborough, and The Alzheimer’s Society, and aims to bring together community members, caregivers, health professionals, and older adults to learn about current research, caregiving practices, risk factors, and supports available locally. St. Paul’s is grateful for the generosity of Princess Gardens Retirement Residence in making light refreshments and their space available for this free public event.

Event Highlights & Agenda

• Welcome and opening remarks — St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church

• Keynote presentation: “Advances in Alzheimer’s Research — Pathways to Hope” — Dr. JoAnne McLaurin

• Panel discussion and local resources — representatives from Kawartha Centre – Redefining Healthy Aging, Age-Friendly Peterborough, and The Alzheimer’s Society

• Audience Q&A / discussion

• Light refreshments and networking

Admission is free. All are welcome; seating is limited so the public is encouraged to register by calling the front desk at Princess Gardens to sign up for the event at 705-750-1234.

About Dr. Joanne McLaurin
Dr. McLaurin is Director and Senior Scientist within Biological Sciences Platform at Sunnybrook Research Institute, Canadian Research Chair Tier 1 in Alzheimer’s disease Therapeutics, Lead Theme 1 Preclinical Research in Dementia for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration and Aging and a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She is recognized for a body of work on the detrimental effects of amyloid accumulation and benefit of reduction of amyloid using small molecules. Dr. McLaurin’s present focus is translational research to understand factors impacting risk and progression of age-related cognitive decline. Specifically, the discovery of much-needed treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

About the Organizers
St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church
St. Paul’s is committed to community outreach, education, and supporting the well-being of local residents, especially older adults and caregivers in our neighbourhood. By hosting this event, the church seeks to foster awareness, connection, and access to knowledge on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in a supportive, inclusive setting.

Kawartha Centre – Redefining Health Aging
Kawartha Centre is a community-based Geriatric Medicine clinic specializing in memory loss, dementia, and related conditions. They provide comprehensive assessments to individuals with memory concerns and consultation and follow-up with 1 of their 5 geriatric medicine specialists. In addition to assessment and consultation, they are also a recognized leader in clinical research and a member of the Consortium of Canadian Centres for Clinical Cognitive Research (C5R), participating in international clinical trials for Alzheimer’s Disease and related conditions. Kawartha Centre is committed to being part of treating and ultimately curing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Age-Friendly Peterborough
Age-Friendly Peterborough is a civic and community initiative focused on enhancing the inclusivity, accessibility, and supportiveness of the local region for older adults. It works through partnerships to shape policies, services, and outreach efforts that allow seniors to remain active, connected, and contributing in the community.

The Alzheimer’s Society
The Alzheimer’s Society provides a wide range of services to support people living with dementia, their families, and caregivers. Its main focus is to offer practical advice, emotional support, and reliable information about dementia and related conditions. The organization operates a helpline, local support groups, and online resources where individuals can access guidance on managing symptoms, understanding diagnosis, and planning for the future.

Together, these organizations aim to strengthen local capacity for dementia care, knowledge, and community resilience.

10/21/2025

START TIME CHANGED TO 6:30!

TCAS is pleased to tell you that Dr. Julia Henderson (UBC) will be giving this year's Katz lecture on Tuesday Oct. 28 at the Gathering Space, 7.30 p.m.

The title of her talk is "Unscripting Age: Challenging Cultural Ageism Through Theatre and Performance":

Drawing on her background as a theatre artist, researcher, and occupational therapist, Dr. Julia Henderson discusses theatre’s potential to resist, redress, and re-imagine ageist cultural narratives and representations of older adults. Through analysis of professionally produced plays and community engaged co-creative performance projects (such as Raising the Curtain on the Lived Experience of Dementia, Social Media Series, and the Intergenerational Arts for Climate Action Study), Dr Henderson shares how notions of temporality, relationality, and embodiment can challenge ageist stereotypes and narrative tropes, and illuminate new understandings of older adults doing, being, becoming, and belonging through performance.

Julia Henderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia, an investigator with UBC’s Edwin S. H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, and Chair of the North American Network in Aging Studies. She studies contemporary theatre and uses collaborative arts-based methods to work with older adults on projects that redress cultural ageism, challenge dementia stigma, and promote citizenship. Her writing appears in Theatre Research in Canada, Canadian Theatre Review, Age Culture Humanities, Frontiers in Health Services, and Leisure Sciences. She also has recent chapters in Aging Studies and Ecocriticism, The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Aging, Pandemic Play: Community in Performance, Gaming, and the Arts, and forthcoming in Late Stage.

Please save the date!

10/17/2025

Hearing that you or your loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia can be scary and come with many questions. However, much is being learned about these diseases and treatments are improving, restoring hope and helping people live with a better quality of life much longer than before.

In order to help the public better understand dementias including Alzheimer’s, their risk factors, what things can be done to lower risk and to learn about some of the more exciting things happening in Alzheimer’s research and treatments, St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church is proud to host a free community education event on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia on Thursday, October 23, 2025, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., at Princess Gardens Retirement Residence, 100 Charlotte Street in Peterborough. The event will feature a keynote presentation by Dr. JoAnne McLaurin, one of Canada’s leading researchers in Alzheimer’s therapeutics, along with panel discussion and Q&A involving several community organizations.

This event is convened in partnership with Kawartha Centre – Redefining Healthy Aging, Age-Friendly Peterborough, and The Alzheimer’s Society, and aims to bring together community members, caregivers, health professionals, and older adults to learn about current research, caregiving practices, risk factors, and supports available locally. St. Paul’s is grateful for the generosity of Princess Gardens Retirement Residence in making light refreshments and their space available for this free public event.

Event Highlights & Agenda

• Welcome and opening remarks — St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church

• Keynote presentation: “Advances in Alzheimer’s Research — Pathways to Hope” — Dr. JoAnne McLaurin

• Panel discussion and local resources — representatives from Kawartha Centre – Redefining Healthy Aging, Age-Friendly Peterborough, and The Alzheimer’s Society

• Audience Q&A / discussion

• Light refreshments and networking

Admission is free. All are welcome; seating is limited so the public is encouraged to register by calling the front desk at Princess Gardens to sign up for the event at 705-750-1234.

About Dr. Joanne McLaurin
Dr. McLaurin is Director and Senior Scientist within Biological Sciences Platform at Sunnybrook Research Institute, Canadian Research Chair Tier 1 in Alzheimer’s disease Therapeutics, Lead Theme 1 Preclinical Research in Dementia for the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration and Aging and a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. She is recognized for a body of work on the detrimental effects of amyloid accumulation and benefit of reduction of amyloid using small molecules. Dr. McLaurin’s present focus is translational research to understand factors impacting risk and progression of age-related cognitive decline. Specifically, the discovery of much-needed treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

About the Organizers
St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church
St. Paul’s is committed to community outreach, education, and supporting the well-being of local residents, especially older adults and caregivers in our neighbourhood. By hosting this event, the church seeks to foster awareness, connection, and access to knowledge on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in a supportive, inclusive setting.

Kawartha Centre – Redefining Health Aging
Kawartha Centre is a community-based Geriatric Medicine clinic specializing in memory loss, dementia, and related conditions. They provide comprehensive assessments to individuals with memory concerns and consultation and follow-up with 1 of their 5 geriatric medicine specialists. In addition to assessment and consultation, they are also a recognized leader in clinical research and a member of the Consortium of Canadian Centres for Clinical Cognitive Research (C5R), participating in international clinical trials for Alzheimer’s Disease and related conditions. Kawartha Centre is committed to being part of treating and ultimately curing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Age-Friendly Peterborough
Age-Friendly Peterborough is a civic and community initiative focused on enhancing the inclusivity, accessibility, and supportiveness of the local region for older adults. It works through partnerships to shape policies, services, and outreach efforts that allow seniors to remain active, connected, and contributing in the community.

The Alzheimer’s Society
The Alzheimer’s Society provides a wide range of services to support people living with dementia, their families, and caregivers. Its main focus is to offer practical advice, emotional support, and reliable information about dementia and related conditions. The organization operates a helpline, local support groups, and online resources where individuals can access guidance on managing symptoms, understanding diagnosis, and planning for the future.

Together, these organizations aim to strengthen local capacity for dementia care, knowledge, and community resilience.

10/16/2025

A free collection of interactive learning modules is teaching the world to appreciate our differences and build a more accessible future, reimagining how we understand bodies and minds that are outside societal norms. Along with art projects, exhibitions, and research, these modules are featured on a website known as the Worlding Difference Knowledge Platform.

The modules cover current issues related to aging arts, fat activism, disability arts and crip culture, the legacy of eugenics, critical psychologies, re-storying autism, and digital story making. The multimedia learning materials are suited for students, faculty, and the public as well as professionals in a variety of sectors including arts, healthcare, business, politics, and education.

Dr. Nadine Changfoot (TCAS Executive) co-developed the creation of the Aging, Creativity and Accessibility module (https://worldingdifference.ca/modules/aging-arts-accessibility/ ) which features artwork by those who are “aging, of an age, old, older, and/or E/elder.” With sections such as Indigenous Aging, Cripping Aging, and Q***r Aging, the perspectives shared are subversive, original, and deeply personal.

Worlding Difference is part of the Bodies in Translation research project by Re•Vision Centre for Art and Social Justice at the University of Guelph, and it is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Dr. Changfoot serves as the Trent Research Lead.

Created with accessibility and relevance in mind, Worlding Difference has something to offer to educators, academics, artists, activists, storytellers, art appreciators, and the general public.

To learn more, visit https://worldingdifference.ca/

10/08/2025

Queen’s University School of Nursing is hosting a Participatory Knowledge Exchange Event (PKEE) to discuss barriers to diabetes self-management and ways to improve diabetes self-management education (DSME) for older adults in rural communities.

We invite you to share the attached flyer with older adults living with diabetes in rural areas, as well as their family members, care partners, and health professionals.

Event Details: (Virtual) Participants are invited to attend one of two event dates

• Tuesday, October 21, 2025 | 1:00 – 4:00 PM (ET)
• Thursday, October 23, 2025 | 6:00 – 9:00 PM (ET)

This collaborative event will engage older adults, care partners, providers, and policymakers through small-group discussions. Insights will inform our CIHR-IA funded study and the development of more accessible, community-driven DSME programs.

For questions, please email: camargo.research@queensu.ca

10/01/2025

TCAS is pleased to tell you that Dr. Julia Henderson (UBC) will be giving this year's Katz lecture on Tuesday Oct. 28 at the Gathering Space, 7.30 p.m.

The title of her talk is "Unscripting Age: Challenging Cultural Ageism Through Theatre and Performance":

Drawing on her background as a theatre artist, researcher, and occupational therapist, Dr. Julia Henderson discusses theatre’s potential to resist, redress, and re-imagine ageist cultural narratives and representations of older adults. Through analysis of professionally produced plays and community engaged co-creative performance projects (such as Raising the Curtain on the Lived Experience of Dementia, Social Media Series, and the Intergenerational Arts for Climate Action Study), Dr Henderson shares how notions of temporality, relationality, and embodiment can challenge ageist stereotypes and narrative tropes, and illuminate new understandings of older adults doing, being, becoming, and belonging through performance.

Julia Henderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia, an investigator with UBC’s Edwin S. H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, and Chair of the North American Network in Aging Studies. She studies contemporary theatre and uses collaborative arts-based methods to work with older adults on projects that redress cultural ageism, challenge dementia stigma, and promote citizenship. Her writing appears in Theatre Research in Canada, Canadian Theatre Review, Age Culture Humanities, Frontiers in Health Services, and Leisure Sciences. She also has recent chapters in Aging Studies and Ecocriticism, The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Aging, Pandemic Play: Community in Performance, Gaming, and the Arts, and forthcoming in Late Stage.

Please save the date!

Trent Centre for Aging & Society