For a second year in a row, SoAR was held with outstanding success on Friday May 5, 2017. The event was hosted at the University of Waterloo, Davis Centre, with 150 attendees made up of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, researchers, and community members. With the goals of building community and establishing new collaborations, the components of SoAR 2017 were designed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, lived experiences, and the sharing of innovative ideas to promote community around aging-focused research at the University of Waterloo and beyond.
The day began with an engaging keynote address from Dr. John Lewis on Age-Friendly Cities and the important role of the built environment. A series of micro-oral presentations, rapid-fire presentations, and poster presentations from students served as a chance to share innovative aging-focused research and key learnings with one another. Older adult community members played a critical role in the success of SoAR, and were participants in a Senior Travel Planning Workshop, acted as judges for student poster presentations, and took on roles as session moderator. We are especially appreciative of the time and effort these community members made to engage students in meaningful dialogue and share some of their lived experiences. The event was brought to a close with a final panel discussion on the ways in which older adults optimize and engage with technology later in life.
