National collaborations
Massey Associate Professor Susanne Röhr is working with the director of Aotearoa New Zealand's Centre for Indigenous Psychologies, Associate Professor Natasha Tassell-Matamua, to explore how climate change perceptions affect social determinants of brain health in older Māori.
Funded by the Alzheimer’s Association in the United States, the Alzheimer’s Society UK and the Global Brain Health Institute.
International collaborations
World Health Organisation
The World Health Organisation (WHO) used longitudinal ageing data from the Health, Work and Retirement Study to contribute to its Decade of Healthy Ageing baseline report (WHO, 2020). The WHO uses this data in reports to the New Zealand government on outcomes for older adults.
Centre for International Research on Care, Labour and Equalities (CIRCLE)
The University of Sheffield leads this collaboration of five universities, high-profile care sector partners and international research teams in the UK's new Economic and Social Research Council research centre. Massey's Professor Fiona Alpass is an international partner. The University of Sheffield's Professor Sue Yeandle is the centre's director.
The centre provides an extensive array of evidence to address pressures and inequities in how people experience social care across the life course. The Sustainable Care programme at CIRCLE brings together researchers from the UK, Canada, Australia, China/Taiwan, Europe, Japan, Nordic countries and New Zealand.
Three members of this network are also members of our international advisory group. They are Professor Sue Yeandle (UK), Professor Norah Keating (Canada) and Associate Professor Kate O'Loughlin (Australia).
Centre for Innovative Ageing
The Centre for Innovative Ageing (CIA) provides the infrastructure, focus and leadership for ageing research and scholarship across Swansea University’s Academic Colleges. It hosts CADR – a pan-Wales Centre for Ageing and Dementia Research. HART has developed a strong collaborative relationship with CIA leaders (initially funded by a NZ Royal Society Catalyst Grant) to share findings and policy outputs.
Associate Professor Martin Hyde, a lead researcher at CIA, collaborates with HART researchers to share his expertise from his involvement in a number of large-scale studies. They include the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the Survey for Health, Retirement and Ageing in Europe (SHARE) and the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Study of Health (SLOSH).
Global Brain Health Institute
The Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) is led by executive directors Professors Bruce Miller, Victor Valcour, Brian Lawlor and Ian Robertson. It is dedicated to protecting the world’s ageing populations from threats to brain health by bringing together a powerful mix of disciplines, professions, backgrounds, skills, perspectives, and approaches to develop new science-based solutions.
Since 2015, the Institute has run a yearly fellowship program to train and connect the next generation of leaders in brain health. Massey's Dr Susanne Röhr is a lifelong GBHI member (Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health).
As a senior fellow, Dr Röhr can support early career researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand to receive the prestigious fellowship themselves. Fellows undergo a 12-month leadership training programme and gain access to exclusive high-risk funding opportunities, which will further advance capacity in ageing research in Aotearoa.
Atlantic Institute
The Atlantic Institute (AI), part of the Rhodes Trust, provides Atlantic Fellows (including Massey's Dr Susanne Röhr) and staff with the networks, architecture and resources to connect, learn and act to address underlying systemic causes of inequity. Its executive director, New Zealander Evie O’Brien (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Pikiao Ranginui), is a global advocate for social justice.
The Institute is a powerful and prolific amplifier for the research output of the whole Health and Ageing Research Team. Dr Röhr aims to use the prestigious partnership between the Atlantic Institute, Evie O’Brien and HART to build capacity for young researchers and PhD students.
Kyushu University Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies
Professor Masateru Higo leads a team of international researchers including Massey's Professor Fiona Alpass as part of the Kyushu University Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies. The team's focuses include retirement and older workers, elder care, and health and wellbeing.
International Indigenous Dementia Research Network
Professor Kristen Jacklin is the co-founder of the International Indigenous Dementia Research Network (IIDRN), of which Massey's Dr Susanne Röhr is a network member. The initiative highlights the profiles of researchers, students, indigenous community members, and policy makers from around the world who share a commitment to research on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and healthy ageing in indigenous peoples.
Building bridges between Massey's Health, Work and Retirement study and IIDRN will help drive improvements in healthy ageing and reducing the healthy ageing gap for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research
HART researchers collaborate with Associate Professor Kate O'Loughlin in the CEPAR-based project on work and caregiving. This work provides a network of researchers and projects investigating the reconciliation of work and care and is linked to the Sustainable Care Network headed by Professor Sue Yeandle.
Amsterdam Center on Aging
Professor Martijn Huisman is the research coordinator of the Amsterdam Center on Aging and scientific director of the Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam (LASA). The HART team are planning to undertake collaborative analyses with the LASA longitudinal study data as both studies have comparative samples with different cultural contexts.
UK Research and Innovation Health Ageing Challenge
Professor Judith Phillips, Deputy Principal (Research) at the University of Stirling, is the research director for this challenge and a member of the HART international advisory group.
Cohort Studies of Memory and Ageing (COSMIC)
Cohort Studies of Memory and Ageing in an International Consortium (COSMIC) brings together 44 studies from 33 countries across six continents. The collaboration aims to facilitate a better understanding of determinants of ageing and neurocognitive disorders across the globe.
Dr Susanne Röhr has been a collaborator in COSMIC for several years, in her former role in Germany as a principal investigator and as co-author of many publications. She aims to bring the New Zealand HWR study into the network.
Integrative Analysis of Longitudinal Studies of Aging
This research network provides allows international cohort studies of ageing to share data, exchange expertise, and perform integrative analyses. It is closely connected with COSMIC.
The IALSA platform lists over 300 cohort studies of ageing, including the New Zealand HWR study. Dr Susanne Röhr has been working with IALSA for several years with data from the German Leipzig Longitudinal Study of Ageing (LEILA75+), and will leverage the existing connections to increase the usability of HWR data.
Through the collaboration, researchers associated with the HWR study gain access to resources which may not be readily available in New Zealand. This includes comprehensive international datasets, but also analytical tools, software and expert knowledge to conduct multi-study research projects.
University of Leipzig, Germany
Dr Susanne Röhr is co-principle investigator on a multi-year project investigating gender-specific approaches to dementia risk reduction and prevention. It is co-led by Professor Steffi Riedel-Heller at the Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health at the University of Leipzig.
Funded by the German Ministry of Health.
Respond and the Global Brain Health Institute, Ireland
Dr Susanne Röhr collaborates with Ireland’s leading housing association, Respond, and the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at Trinity College Dublin, on an initiative that seeks to define a framework for what a 'brain health friendly community' might entail.
Atlantic Institute Oxford, UK
Dr Susanne Röhr is co-leading an ideation project with Global Atlantic Fellows including mental health researchers, artists and advocates from Lithuania, Peru, South Africa, Uganda, and the United States. The project aims to use Web3 technology to empower displaced people through digital narrative. It is funded by the Atlantic Institute.
COSMIC and UNSW Sydney, Australia
Associate Professor Susanne Röhr is a collaborator in the global Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC), using harmonized data from international cohort studies of ageing to study common determinants of cognitive decline and dementia. The project is led by Professor Perminder Sachdev, Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA) at UNSW Sydney, Australia.
World-Wide FINGERS and the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Dr Susanne Röhr is a collaborator in the interdisciplinary network World-Wide FINGERS, which shares knowledge and experiences on trials for dementia prevention and risk reduction. It also harmonizes data and plans joint international initiatives for the prevention of cognitive impairment and dementia. It is led by Professor Miia Kivipelto at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.