Public engagement

Sharing secrets of healthy ageing with non-academic audiences

Cognitive decline is one of the biggest health challenges of the 21st Century. Losing thinking skills is one of our greatest fears about ageing. It is also the main reason why people lose their independence.

The Lothian Birth Cohorts' research aims to understand how and why changes in thinking abilities happen throughout the life-course and during ageing itself. Its ultimate aim is to provide information for practical interventions that might slow age-related mental decline and, therefore, improve the quality of later life.

Lothian Birth Cohorts: Celebrating 20 years of research into ageing (2.18 MB PDF)

Since 2004 we have worked closely with Age UK in translating our findings to wider audiences. In 2017 Age UK launched the Staying Sharp web-pages, based on the Lothian Birth Cohorts' findings.

Visit Staying Sharp pages with tips for staying sharp in later life

Watch a short animation of Professor Ian Deary acting out how to stay shapr in later life

Influencing behaviour with cultural engagement

We organise and facilitate engagement activities, including

• talks, exhibitions, and workshops
• with children, policy makers, artists and media
• at festivals, galleries, museums and schools.

If you are interested in arranging or participating in one of our activities, contact the Knowledge Exchange and Impact Officer at lbc.ke@ed.ac.uk or the LBC1936 team co-ordinator at lbc1936@ed.ac.uk. 

Examples of recent public engagement activities

• The Great British Intelligence Test, a BBC Two Horizon special episode featuring the Lothian Birth Cohorts study, its participants and Professor Ian Deary and Dr Simon Cox
• Edinburgh brain study comes of age, a BBC Radio Scotland's episode of Brainwaves podcast about the 20th anniversary of Lothian Birth Cohorts' research
• The Lothian Birth Cohort, a permanent display at the National Museum of Scotland
• Brain matters: Explore your senses, a science workshop for P4s at the Midlothian Science Festival
• The Art of Intelligent Ageing, an exhibition of LBC portraits by Fionna Carlisle (you can view some of the portrait images in the PDF file below)
  Fionna Carlisle's LBC portraits (4.86 MB PDF)