The missing link: creating opportunities for older people to participate in academic conferences

ABSTRACT

Including people with lived experience in knowledge co-creation and sharing processes is critical for enhancing the value and quality of health and social care research. In this brief report, we reflect on a collaboration between researchers and older people to judge a student poster competition at a virual seniors housing conference. We describe the steps taken to facilitate the judging process and present five recommendations to foster meaningful partnerships with older people at academic conferences and increase opportunities for emerging and established gerontological researchers to involve older people in their work.

KEYWORDS:

• Conference
• poster presentation
• lived experience involvement
• housing

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the students who shared their research at the virtual conference. We would also like to extend our sincerest appreciation to Dr. Karen Kobayashi who shared her expertise with the judges.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The virtual seniors housing conference was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant (Grant #611-2020-0227).