Project team
The Innovage project ended in November 2015 but the website remains online to showcase our activities and accomplishments. Innovage was coordinated at the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield.
Key staff
Professor Alan Walker – Director
Dr Alan Walker is Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerontology at the University of Sheffield, UK. He has been researching and writing on aspects of ageing and social policy for over 30 years. He is currently Director of the New Dynamics of Ageing programme funded by the AHRC, BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC, and of two FP7 project, Innovage – Social innovations promoting active and healthy ageing and Mopact – Mobilising the potential of active ageing in Europe.
Previously he directed the European Research Area in Ageing (2002–2012) and Futurage, which in 2011 created the Road Map for Ageing Research in Europe. Previously he directed the UK Growing Older programme and the European Forum on Population Ageing. He also chaired the European Observatory on Ageing and Older People.
He has published more than 20 books, 200 reports and 300 scientific papers. In 2007 he was given Lifetime Achievement Awards by both the Social Policy Association and the British Society of Gerontology. In 2011 he was the first IAGG European Region Medal for Advances in Gerontology and Geriatrics in the Social and Behavioural Sciences and became a Fellow of the British Academy.
Juliet Craig – Senior Research Manager
Juliet is an experienced project manager who has spent the last four years working on EU ageing research, having managed both the Era-Age and Futurage projects. She coordinates the day-to-day activities of the consortium and ensures that all reporting and legal requirements are met. Juliet has worked in the research and information management field since 1998 and has been at the University of Sheffield since 2009.
Dr Dave Neary – Research Associate
David is a social policy analyst who joined the University of Sheffield in 2013 to work with Professor Walker on social innovation and ageing projects. He has previously worked on various projects over a 15 year career in academia including:
Systematic reviews of Men in Sheds and other forms of similar intervention aimed at older men with Professor Chris Dowrick.
A systematic review of the relationships between crime and the fear of crime with health with Professor Margaret Whitehead.
A series of public health reports on Cumbria for Professor John Ashton when he was Director of Public Health for Cumbria.
He was awarded his PhD by the University of Manchester in 2003 for his thesis on the Low Pay Commission and the introduction of the national minimum wage in the UK. This followed successfully completing a Masters of Arts in Social Policy (Dist) and a Bachelor’s degree specialising in social policy from the same institution.
Peter Adcock - Finance Officer
Peter has joined the team in a financial and administrative support role, aiding Juliet Craig with the day-to-day running of the project along with budget maintenance for both the University of Sheffield and the other partners. He moved over from a previous position within the European Research Finance team at the University, which involved running financial claims and budgeting for a wide range of EC backed projects. Peter has been employed at the University of Sheffield since 2013.