Thursday, 10th April

10:00pm - 1:00pm
‘Happy Healthy Ageing’ Symposium

What are the keys to Happy Healthy Ageing? Adults today are looking to extend their lives and this means the fastest growing group are those over 100 years old; this is a great achievement  but they also want to enjoy those extra years.

There is evidence that good genes; good health and health care; good food; regular physical activity, family around us; feeling we are making a contribution to where we live; travel, hobbies and enjoyment; and a bit of peace and quiet all are contributors.  But which are required or good to have and what may we do for ourselves to increase the likelihood of happy healthy ageing? Across the programmes and research endeavours of the Faculty of Health Sciences many answers are emerging. This symposium will summarize what is already known, explain cutting edge research findings and speculate about what remains to be discovered.

• Professor Mary McCarron, Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, Trinity College (Chair)

• Dr Cathal McCrory, Research Fellow, The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)
  ‘Life Satisfaction and Quality of Life among Older People in Ireland: Findings from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).’

The demographic shift in the number of people living into late life brings with it a number of challenges; not least of which is how to ensure that gains in longevity are matched by gains in Quality of Life so that the greying population can continue to participate in society and enjoy life into late old age. In fact, the promotion of healthy ageing now features as a major component of public health strategy in most developed countries. This has contributed to an increase in the volume of research that is concerned with investigating older people’s quality of life, the factors that contribute to it, and the potential ways in which it can be enhanced. This presentation will discuss how evidence emerging from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) has contributed to our understanding of the way in which quality of life changes over the age span, and how quality of life in mid-life and older ages is shaped by health, wealth, and the social environment.

Biography: Dr. Cathal McCrory is employed as a Research Fellow on the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) under an inter-disciplinary capacity enhancement grant from the Health Research Board. His research explores the manner in which social and environmental exposures over the life-course come to influence health and wellbeing in later life. 

• Dr Nicholas Kennedy, Associate Professor in Clinical Medicine (Nutrition), Trinity
  ‘Food, nutrition and healthy ageing’

Food and nutritional choices have a significant impact on health throughout life.  Making sense of the many claims about ‘superfoods’ and of numerous diet plans can be hard.  However, achieving the important objectives of maintaining physical and mental health depend in part on healthy eating habits.  Do you eat to live or live to eat?

Biography: Nick Kennedy teaches medicine to student dieticians and some nutrition to doctors.  He practices medicine in the Coeliac Clinic at St James’s Hospital.  His research interests include coeliac disease and clinical nutrition.  Among other things, he is a founding member of the Irish Section of the Nutrition Society, a founding director of the Irish Society of Clinical Nutrition & Metabolism and President of the Coeliac Society of Ireland.

• Professor Ian Robertson, Head of the School of Psychology, Trinity
  ‘Building the mind’s infrastructure'

Ian Robertson will talk about his research into how we use our minds to help build its resilience against disease and injury.

Biography: Ian Robertson is Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, Visiting Professor at University College London and was formerly a Fellow at Hughes Hall, Cambridge University and Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York. He is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Society of Arts and is a Fellow of the US Association of Psychological Science and of the British Psychological Society. A trained clinical psychologist as well as a neuroscientist, he is widely known internationally for his research on the human brain. His popular writing has included regular features in the London Times, a column in the British Medical Journal and many scientific books and articles. Ian has written four books aimed at the general reader: Mind Sculpture (2000), The Mind’s Eye  (2003), Stay Sharp (2005) and The Winner Effect (2012), all of which have been widely translated. He has published over 250 academic papers in leading journals such as Nature and Psychological Bulletin and many academic books. Currently he writes a column for www.theconversation.com,  blogs on www.thewinnereffect.com and tweets on @ihrobertson. 

• Dr Martin Henman,  Co-ordinator for the Centre for the Practice of Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity
  ‘Medicines for Life'

Medicines are the most commonly used tool in health care and can bring substantial benefits. However, perhaps because they are familiar tools not enough attention is paid to optimising their use. Patients, prescribers and pharmacists can work together to ensure that medicines provide the benefits that patients and society need.

Biography: Martin Henman is Associate Professor of the Practice of Pharmacy and received a Provost’s Teaching Award in 2006. He researches medication use in The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing and also in people with Intellectual Disability. Dr Henman is a Consultant to the Council of Europe developing Pharmacy Practice indicators and was recently made a Fellow of the European Society of Clinical Pharmacy.

• Professor Geralyn Hynes, Ussher Associate Professor in Palliative Care, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity
  ‘Living meaningfully: the relevance of Viktor Frankl to our world today’

Viktor Frankl was a neurologist, a psychiatrist and a philosopher. He was born and lived in Vienna, Austria. He lost his family in the concentration camps under Hitler.  Frankl survived the concentration camps and wrote his famous book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ after he was freed and returned to Vienna.  He wrote 30 books and numerous papers on logotherapy. Logotherapy is geared towards helping the person to identify meaning potentialities within their frame of reference.   The questions “why me?” in the face of advanced illness, suffering or simply blows of fate are reoriented to those that ask how best to find meaning in and respond to events as they unfold.  An individual has freedom of choice irrespective of the circumstances in which he finds himself.  For Frankl, ‘the last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude to life’ even in the face of adversity.

Biography: Prof Geralyn Hynes has worked in academia as a lecturer since 1998 and more recently in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Trinity College Dublin.  She has particular interests in non-specialist palliative care. She developed an interest in Logotherapy following her research on the palliative care needs of patients with advanced chronic respiratory needs and efforts to address these needs in nursing practice.  She holds an Academic Associate in Logotherapy certificate from the Viktor Frank Institute of Ireland. She is currently examining the relevance of logotherapy and existential analysis to the principles of palliative care in the acute hospital setting and the potential role of volunteers in advanced chronic illness.

Details:

• Venue: Glass Cortile, School of Nursing & Midwifery
• This FREE Event is open to the public. No booking required

12:00pm - 1:00pm
Tai Chi with Master Hyun Monk

• Venue: Front Square
• This FREE event is open to the public, no booking required

6:00pm - 7:00pm
Keynote Speaker

Video Podcast Available here

Professor Nancy Etcoff, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital

‘Let us smile each chance we get: Neuroscience based nudges toward happiness and health’

It feels good to be happy.  Emerging research is making a compelling case that feeling happy is also good for you. Where past studies focused on negative emotions such as anger and stress on health, new research is highlighting how happiness and a subjective sense of well-being can play a key protective role in physical health with effects on resistance to infection, cardiovascular health and longevity. Both happiness and health can be increased by happiness promoting interventions.

• Venue: Tercentenary Hall, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), Pearse Street
• This FREE event is open to the public. No booking required

6:00pm
Dean of Students’ Roll of Honour Ceremony, Dining Hall

In Trinity College Dublin, we are extremely proud of the extracurricular activity undertaken by students which ensures a vibrant campus and offers students diverse and multidimensional opportunities for learning, social development and personal growth. The Dean of Students' Roll of Honour serves to celebrate and recognise student volunteering in clubs, societies, publications and the wider community.

• By Invitation