Ken, Co-designer
Having spent his career working in strategic marketing, 73-year-old Ken has a passion for discovering ways to creatively benefit society, uncovering, and responding to societal issues.
After retiring from his career, several years back, Ken was faced with the dilemma as to how he could continue to use his skills to drive impact. Joining a small local church, Ken was informed there was confusion in direction, which led him to conduct a micro-study of the church.
Ken’s findings determined that in the church, there was a large population of Baby Boomers, who were ageing and wanted to belong to a church that moved with them. At the same time, Ken met Global Centre for Modern Ageing (GCMA) Board Member and ageing expert, Mike Rungie.
Speaking with Mike, Ken became interested in learning more about Ageing in Place and the research that the GCMA was doing. Ken soon found himself in the States where he visited a location in Seattle, that had been built to accommodate people Ageing in Place.
Returning to Adelaide after this visit, Ken met with other academics and researchers interested in understanding how to find meaning in life at any age.
“My real interest is in helping people to be able to flourish later in life,” Ken said.
“It’s important to consider ageing across the spectrum when trying to answer this question. We need to ask millennials as well as Baby Boomers and everyone else. We have to consider the future when considering what it means to age well.”
After meeting with Mike, Ken started to look at the work the GCMA were doing and aligned closely with the values around ageing in place.
“The GCMA are continuing to deliver research into this space of ageing in place, and invite older people to share our experiences and expertise to create solutions as part of the co-design process, which is important to me,” explained Ken.
“Co-design is built on two levels. The first is in designing products and services, while the second level is more focused on building communities and culture among seniors, which is really what interests me.”
As part of the co-design process, Ken recognises that the GCMA are considered in the way the approach it, engaging a storied group of people from the 50s plus community and considering the different needs and wants of each of these groups, when delving into what it means to age in place.
“It’s really important that when speaking to older people, researchers think more broadly as the 50 plus population is made up of many different types of people and groups.
“Older people in all of these different groups have lots of experience, skills, capabilities, networking ability and knowledge that should be utilised and passed on – co-design is the perfect platform to use these skills.
“The GCMA is a holistic research company in my opinion, who are looking to develop a future that allows everyone to age in place no matter their needs, and that is important,” said Ken.
The GCMA conducts two key streams of research:
Public-benefit research projects: Our work builds knowledge and provides evidence to inform decision-making. Our public-benefit research informs the development of policies, products and services to positively impact the lives of older people now and in the future.
Bespoke research projects for clients: The projects are aligned with the GCMA’s core operations and our charitable purpose of advancing the Ageing Well industry.
To be successful in its research efforts, the GCMA works closely with older people to gain rich insights and inform industry. We do this by:
Engaging older people as co-designers in our research projects, enabling us to deliver high quality insights to industry participants.
Gathering insights and investigating trends for industry through forums with older people discussing their lived experiences.
Conducting public-benefit research that provides insights into the lives of older people, which we then share with members of the Ageing Well industry to support the development of the Australian and global industry.
The GCMA values and invites all people interested in learning more about co-design to contact us directly via our website https://www.gcma.net.au/about-us, via email (info@gcma.net.au) or via phone on +61 8 6117 5510.
