Professor Katie Featherstone is a medical sociologist based at the University of the West of London, where she has headed the Global Institute for Ageing and Memory since 2021.

Katie's research focuses on the experiences of people living with dementia in hospital settings — examining how institutional cultures shape the quality and humanity of care they receive. Her in-depth observational studies, funded by the National Institute for Health & Care Research in the UK, have shed light on what actually happens in hospital wards day-to-day, and what needs to change.

A hallmark of Katie's work is its real-world impact. Her findings have reached wide public audiences through outlets including The Guardian, BBC Breakfast, and BBC Radio 4, and her research has been translated into two BBC radio documentaries — bringing the experiences of people living with dementia to national attention and driving change in policy and practice.

Dr Barbara Barbosa Neves (PhD, FRSA, FHEA) is an award-winning sociologist of ageing and technology, internationally recognised for her expertise on loneliness, social isolation, and digital inequalities in later life. Her research bridges gerontology, sociology, and computer science to understand not just how technologies work, but for whom, and with what consequences. Barbara is Associate Professor, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, and Senior Horizon Fellow in AI and Ageing at the University of Sydney, where she leads the AI Social Science team at the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies. Her co-designed, mixed-methods research examines how emerging technologies — including AI, robotics, and virtual reality — can support rather than exclude older people, and has informed technology design and policy across Canada, Australia, and Europe. With over 100 publications and more than 200 media appearances, Barbara is committed to reaching audiences within and beyond academia. Her work has been cited by the UN, OECD, WHO, and EU, and she has secured more than $7 million in competitive funding. Her contributions have been recognised with 28 awards, including a Fellowship of the British Royal Society of Arts (2022) and selection as one of ABC's Top 5 Scholars in Australia (2019).

Mrs Rangimahora Reddy, KSM (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Rangitāne) has led the Rauawaawa Kaumātua Charitable Trust as Chief Executive since 2010, drawing on more than 30 years’ experience in health, education, and community leadership. Grounded in kaupapa Māori principles and kaumātua-led research, she works alongside partners including the University of Waikato and Te Rūnanga o Kirikiriroa on national science initiatives such as Ageing Well and Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities.

Through Kaumātua leadership, and a passionate team Rauawaawa have delivered pioneering innovations including Te Puna o Te Ora, a 1941 build that is transforming into a dementia and age-friendly, digitally enabled, kaumātua-led facility; Rauawaawa Enterprise for Kaumātua Aspirations (R.E.K.A.); and the introduction of gerontechnology through partnerships with QuantumTX (Singapore) and Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, advancing cognitive health tools and BIXEPS technology. Rauawaawa’s ongoing work with kaumātua housing toolkits and a social enterprise toolkit, led by the University of Waikato, and co-developed with Te Rūnanga o Kirikiriroa and Awarua Ltd, exemplifies whānau-centred solutions that enhance dignity, belonging, and healthy ageing.

Dr Ágnes (Ági) Szabó is an Associate Professor in Health at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. Ági moved to Aotearoa New Zealand from her home country, Hungary, in 2012 to pursue a PhD in Cross-cultural Psychology with the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research at Victoria University of Wellington. After graduating, she completed two postdoctoral fellowships in the School of Psychology and the School of Health Sciences at Massey University, where she later took up a lecturer position in Public Health. Her research focuses on intersecting areas of health, ageing and immigration. She integrates life course approaches and acculturation theory with critical gerontology and is interested in the social and cultural determinants of health and wellbeing. In her keynote presentation, she will be providing an overview of her 5-year research project titled: ‘Growing old in an adopted land’, funded through a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship awarded by The Royal Society Te Apārangi. In this research, she explores the inequalities migrants face over the course of their lives, taking into account the complex social, cultural and embodied dimensions of ageing. Her methods include interviewing participants on their experiences and perspectives, looking at life history data and conducting longitudinal surveys to explore what ageing well means for migrants, and how they achieve it over the course of their lives