The Birmingham 1000 Elders group is managed by Professor Lord and they are involved at every level of our work, from acting as a focus group helping design research studies or associated information sheets, to being active researchers and disseminators, as well as research participants. For example, members of the Elders were involved as commissioners on the production of the Birmingham Policy Commission Report Healthy Ageing in the 21st Century: the best is yet to come, which launched at The House of Lords and Birmingham City Council. The Elders even changed the research question from ‘the Challenge of Ageing’ to ‘Healthy Ageing’, taking a more positive stance. The Elders are also involved in PE activity, one good example being the exercise DVD and associated book that we produced in collaboration with our industrial partner ‘Move It or Lose It‘, about chair-based exercises for older adults. The Elders themselves were featured in the DVD, demonstrating the exercises in their own homes, and it was their suggestion to make a book, as they pointed out that they did not always want to watch a DVD but would benefit from a book they could work through at their leisure. 

Finally, the Elders are of course research participants, and at any one time we have more than 20 studies running that would not be possible without them. For our arthritis work, we also have a very active Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group known as R2P2 (Rheumatology Research Patient Partnership), who assess all studies involving patients before they go for grant funding and/or ethical approval. We provide training for our PPI members so that they are confident working with researchers.