Trinity EngAGE Hosted University of Third Age (U3A) Open Forum
Posted on: 19 April 2013
As part of the College’s commitment to lifelong learning, community and to supporting research into positive ageing, Trinity EngAGE, Centre for Research in Ageing, in association with Age Action, hosted U3A Open Forum on 11 April in its Science Gallery.
The event started with a lecture “Engaging – Not Ageing!” from two Trinity experts on ageing, Professor Rose Anne Kenny, Director of Trinity EngAGE, and Professor Ian Robertson, Director of NEIL (Neuroenhancement for Independent Lives) Programme.
The lecture was followed by a presentation by Stuart Pollard, Regional Trustee for Northern Ireland, The Third Age Trust, who talked about U3A activities and their role in the community. There was a panel discussion of issues connected with U3A development in Ireland and national and international links.
Around 150 people representing U3A groups from Ballymun, Tallaght, Lucan, Dublin City, Blessington, Maynooth, Sutton and Baldoyle, Blackrock and Waterford attended the event.
Robin Webster, CEO of Age Action said, “U3As as independent self-learning groups have a vital role in demonstrating that older people can and do continue learning and in advocating for greater opportunities for learning and social contact for our ageing population. Older people are not the burden that they often portrayed to be but they can definitely be part of the solution to the many challenges that Ireland faces.”
Speaking at the event, Professor Shane Allwright, Registrar, remarked, “Trinity College has a vibrant programme of age-related research and through Trinity EngAGE, we are reaching out to members of the University of the Third Age and similar organizations in Ireland involved in life-long learning, a concept which Trinity wholeheartedly endorses.”
Prof Desmond O’Neill, Medical Gerontology, TCD; Mr Stuart Pollard, Regional Trustee for Northern Ireland, The Third Age Trust; Prof Ian Robertson, Director of the NEIL Programme, TCD; Prof Rose Anne Kenny, Director, Trinity EngAGE, Centre for Research In Ageing; Prof Shane Allwright, Registrar, TCD; Dr Linde Lunney, Trinity U3A Steering Group Member; Prof Joe Harbison, Medical Gerontology, TCD; Mr Robin Webster, CEO, Age Action; and Prof James Lunney, Head, School of Physics, TCD
About U3A
U3A is a learning circle or cooperative. Members learn from one another by sharing knowledge. U3A began in Toulouse, France in 1972, and there are now U3A’s all over the world. U3A in the UK operates under The Third Age Trust, and there are over 500 groups; it is a very active organisation with its own publication, http://www.u3a.org.uk/. U3A groups seem to be active in Northern Ireland whereas it is under-developed in Ireland, with only about a dozen active groups (see http://www.ageaction.ie/lifelong-learning-u3a).