Throughout 2026, the AAG Research Trust’s Research to Practice webinar series has connected aged care professionals, researchers, policymakers and advocates with practical, evidence-informed insights to strengthen care for older people. Spanning topics from active ageing and social connection to dementia, co-design, consumer engagement, education, autonomy and choice, the series has showcased the innovative work of AAG Research Trust grant recipients and demonstrated how research can translate into meaningful change in everyday practice.
For the final instalment in the 2026 series, the AAG Research Trust invites delegates to a live Research to Practice event at AAGConf26 in Melbourne. This 90-minute session will bring together leading researchers and advocates to examine how ageism can shape health care, aged care, research, policy and advocacy. Through presentations on medical and care ethics, shared decision making in cancer screening, and dignity of risk in residential aged care, followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A, participants will explore how age-related assumptions influence practice—and how more respectful, rights-based and person-centred approaches can better support older people’s autonomy, wellbeing and quality of life.
•    Dr Kris Tulloch, School of Health and Healthy Ageing Research Cluster, University of the Sunshine Coast — exploring how medical ethics, care ethics, dignity of risk, paternalism and the medicalisation of older age shape respectful, autonomy-supporting care.
•    Dr Jenna Smith, Sydney Health Literacy Lab, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney — examining how cancer screening guidelines can respond to ageism through shared decision making and individualised, high-value care.
•    Dr Marta Woolford, Health and Social Care Unit, Monash University — drawing on residential aged care research to challenge risk-averse practice and strengthen rights-based approaches to dignity of risk.
•    Dr Marlene Krasovitsky — bringing national and international expertise in combating ageism, including her work with the World Health Organization’s Global Campaign to Combat Ageism, EveryAGE Counts and the Australian Human Rights Commission.
•    Emeritus Professor Amanda Barusch — a distinguished social welfare scholar, author and educator whose work uses research and storytelling to illuminate injustice, oppression and the lived experience of ageing.