About the team

Dr Jitka Vseteckova

Principal Investigator

My passion lies with exploring ways via which we can improve health and quality of life outcomes while ageing, especially for those who do not actively seek to improve their health. Older people and other hard-to-reach groups are often keen to learn but do not always have the opportunities, financial capacity or facilities to do so. For this reason, I have committed time and other resources in developing and delivering a series of public talks that are free to attend.  The aim of the Ageing Well Public Talk Series is to create a “bridge” that would bring current research findings, translated into lay language to everyone. And invite wider public to engage in discussions about physical and mental health and wellbeing as we all age.

The vision of the AWPT Series is to support everyone with ageing well.  This is done by co-creating the most conducive learning environment together with all involved - the best way in making learning accessible to everyone. The AWPT Series is about co-designing & co-creating with people with lived experience in ageing at any stage of ageing. The AWPT Series are a unique opportunity to learn with and from people with lived experience, the members of public as well as practitioners that I invite to co-facilitate the talks.

In the past 18 years I have been delivering public talks to older people facilitating learning on naturally occurring ageing processes and self-management in the UK and overseas.  The AWPT Series, that I have designed and launched in 2019 in the UK, represent the culmination of my research and teaching experience coupled with my drive to make a substantial impact on people’s lives and enable our health and social care systems to use resources more efficiently.

Dr Gráinne O Connor

Core team member

I am delighted to have joined the team involved in the aging well series of public talks team. My professional background is in health, and I am very interested in the ways we can all make small and achievable changes to improve and maintain our physical, mental and emotional health across the life course. As a researcher who became disabled as an adult, I am very aware that everyone has different abilities when it comes to exercising or accessing the outdoors but that the smallest of changes like making sure we drink enough water, choosing the stairs, or practicing mindfulness, if possible, can make a positive difference to the quality of our lives. I am also very interested in the translation and application of academic research from the page to the real world and feel the aging well project is a perfect example of how academics and the general public can collaborate in co-producing research that is so valuable and relevant to all of our lives.

Dr Sinead Eccles

Core team member

I am excited to join this highly experienced team working on the aging well series of public talks (AWPT). As a chartered psychologist my interests lie within the area of neuropsychology and mental health. The brain has always fascinated me and as a curious Psychologist I wanted to understand mental health from a biological level. That’s when my work within a Psychiatric hospital supporting those that had been diagnosed with an eating disorder led me to my doctorate work investigating the biological basis of eating disorders. I am also conducting research in ‘intuitive eating’ that follows on from my PhD work. I am interested in how we use our ‘brains from a biological level to change our relationship with food and have recently qualified as an ‘intuitive eating counsellor’. With that in mind, I am curious to find out what the brain can do to promote your mental health and keep you happy. Happiness creates resilient people, and I am keen to continue to promote simple strategies that can be tailored to the individual. I believe in the ‘domino’ effect where one small change can lead to others and changing the mindset of ‘surviving’ to ‘thriving’ is possible at any stage of aging. Therefore, my aims as a researcher to have a positive impact on the health of others align with the goals of the AWPT Series to improve health and quality of life outcomes while ageing.

Emma Todd

Core team member

I am privileged to have the opportunity to support with the administration and promotion of the Ageing Well Public Talks as part of the research support team for internally funded research projects in the faculty of WELS. 

With a background in Media and GCSE and A Level teaching, I have a keen interest in lifelong learning. The Ageing Well Public Talks (AWPTS) are an essential provision for everyone. It is never too early or late to learn and the AWPTS led by Jitka and a team of experts provide enlightening and effective ways to keep mentally, emotionally, and physically well as we all age.