28th Nordic Congress of Gerontology (NKG)
Info
Speakers
João Pedro de Magalhães is a professor at the Genomics of Ageing and Rejuvenation Lab, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing, University of Birmingham. Prof de Magalhaes graduated in Microbiology in 1999 from the Escola Superior de Biotecnologia in his hometown of Porto, Portugal, and then obtained a PhD in 2004 from the University of Namur in Belgium. Following a postdoc with genomics pioneer Prof George Church at Harvard Medical School, in 2008 Prof de Magalhaes joined the University of Liverpool and, in 2022, he was recruited to the University of Birmingham where he leads the Genomics of Ageing and Rejuvenation Lab (https://rejuvenomicslab.com/). His lab studies the ageing process and how we can manipulate it to fend off age-related diseases and improve human health. Prof de Magalhaes has authored over 100 publications and given over 200 invited talks, including three TEDx talks. He is also CSO of YouthBio Therapeutics, a US-based biotech company developing rejuvenation gene therapies.
Denis Gerstorf is Full Professor and chair of Developmental and Educational Psychology at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. As lifespan developmental scholar, he is particularly interested in better understanding how our everyday lives and the long-term developmental trajectories we are on are often closely intertwined with and co-regulated by the contexts in which we live. He also holds an appointment as Research Fellow at the German Socio-Economic Panel, one of the longest-running national surveys worldwide. Dr. Gerstorf serves as Editor of the Behavioral Sciences section of Gerontology and has been for many years in that role for Psychology and Aging and the International Journal of Behavioral Development. Dr. Gerstorf is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and is the chairperson of the interdisciplinary, multi-institutional consortium of the Berlin Aging Study-II (https://www.base2.mpg.de/en). His work has received numerous acknowledgements (e.g., Early Career Achievement Awards from both the American Psychological Association and the Gerontological Society of America, Innovative Publication Award of the Gerontological Society of America).
Paul Higgs is Professor of the Sociology of Ageing in the UCL Division of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Brain Sciences where he teaches medical sociology to medical undergraduates. He received his PhD from the University of Kent at Canterbury. Dr Higgs has researched many aspects of the changing nature of later life including the topics of social divisions, dementia and personhood, religion and spirituality, consumption and technology and has published or edited 15 books; the most recent being Rethinking the sociology of ageing: Towards a sociology of later life with Chris Gilleard and published in 2025. He has also authored over 200 chapters and papers on topics in social gerontology and medical sociology.Professor Higgs has edited the journal Social Theory and Health since 2003 and has guest edited the Sociology of Health and Illness monograph on ageing, dementia and the social mind (2017) and University of Toronto Quarterly special issue on a health humanities approach to ageism (2021). He is a Fellow of both the UK Academy of Social Sciences and the Gerontological Society of America. In 2021 he was honoured with a 50th Anniversary Outstanding Achievement Award from the British Society of Gerontology.
Lesley Palmer is an experienced UK based architect, member of the Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland, Royal Institute of British Architects, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. She has a Master of Science for Urban Design and a Batchelor of Science with Honours in Architectural Studies. Her career to date includes architectural practice, academic teaching, knowledge exchange, and research.
Palmer’s substantive post is as Professor of Ageing and Dementia Design within the Centre for Environments, Dementia and Ageing Research group at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Palmer works globally teaching, researching and supporting commercial clients in Japan, India, Australia, America, and Europe, advising on the adoption of evidence-based design principles of ageing and dementia-friendly design into capital development projects.
Palmer is also the co-founder and Director of INCH Architecture & Design Ltd, an award winning social-enterprise architecture practice based in Glasgow.
Palmer’s field of research and expertise is in the design of the built environment for ageing and dementia. This is a niche area of environmental design which includes research into building performance, sensing technologies, virtual and augmented reality, dementia design of products, architecture, and urban design. Her interests also extend to housing policy and investigating future models of sustainable housing design, procurement, and construction with an intergenerational focus.