26 October 2005

Older people and transport research grant awarded
Leeds researchers will look at how involving older people in designing transport policies can improve their quality of life and reduce social isolation, thanks to a new funding award confirmed this week.

The project, being run jointly by the institute for transport studies at the University of Leeds and the centre for health promotion research in the faculty of health at Leeds Metropolitan University, will establish what facilities matter most to older people and how they plan their journeys to them. Understanding the barriers to accessing key facilities and activities is an important step to reducing social isolation and exclusion felt by many older people. The study is unique in that it brings together public health and transport engineering with older people to consider how services can be more responsive to their transport needs.

The study, led by Dr Gregory Marsden from the University of Leeds and Dr Mima Cattan from Leeds Metropolitan University, will start in February 2006 and is intended to last nine months.

Dr Marsden identified the long-term importance of the research: “With an ageing population that is increasingly reliant on the private car through adult life, understanding how we make the transition from car dependent to people relying on public transport, lifts and local amenities is essential. Making sure that transport planners design our cities and transport systems to take account of the full and diverse range of users is a key goal of the research”.

Funded by the EPSRC Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity (SPARC) project, it has the support of METRO and the Leeds Older People’s Modernisation Trust.

Notes for editor:
The grant is for a nine month study costing £24,963. The research is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through its SPARC (Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity). More details of the programme are available at www.sparc.ac.uk