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Future Lives is a UK-wide u3a group which shares information and resources to inspire, influence and inform members about how we can improve our future lives.
How can we add life to our years, and maintain our independence and quality of life for as long as possible?
The u3a Future Lives Group is run by u3a members across the country. We aim to challenge attitudes and break down physical barriers that limit and restrict people as they get older.
What can we do to improve unsuitable homes or products, isolation and poor health? Good design can be liberating – and the reverse is true! Let’s use our collective voice to bring about change.
Credit: Centre for Ageing Better
We want to hear what u3a members have to say, sharing information and stimulating ideas that will help us all live our best possible future lives.
- We’re holding a series of free online events that we’d love you to join. If you missed these or want to relive them, you can access slides and some videos from past online webinars on this page.
- Please also complete the "Our homes for our future" questionnaire. You can find more information on this page.
- To stay up to date with Future Lives’ activities, please sign up to our newsletter.
Online Events Coming Up
Cohousing: Collective Housing for Healthy Ageing
Tues 19 Nov, 2pm
Owen Jarvis, CEO, UK Cohousing Network
Cohousing and other forms of collective housing can provide better options for healthy ageing.
Join us to find out all about cohousing in the UK and some ideas for next steps if you're interested in pursuing it.
If you have any suggestions for speakers or topics please get in touch with us by email. In the meantime, you can catch up on any talks you missed below or, better still, watch them again.
Previous Events
Planning for later life without "someone you trust"
Penny Shepherd, Co-Founder, Ageing Without Children East Kent (October 2024)
Penny Shepherd Planning Later Life Slides.pdf (1 Byte)
Upgrade your brain
Patrick Holford, Founder Food for the Brain Foundation (September 2024)
Patrick Holford Upgrade Your Brain Slides.pdf (59 Byte)
Demystifying retirement housing: Options and costs
Kathleen Dunmore, Policy Advisor to the Retirement Housing Group (July 2024)
Kathleen Dunmore Retirement housing slides part 2.pdf (656 Byte)
Making plans for the future from home, for free
James Norris, Founder of My Wishes and Digital Legacy Association (June 2024)
James Norris Making Plans slides.pdf (5 Byte)
Living with purpose: The key to longevity, happiness and global change
George Lee, Newcastle Centre for Innovation on Ageing (April 2024)
George Lee Living with Purpose Slides.pdf (11 Byte)
Reduce your risk of dementia
Sir Muir Gray CBE, one of the world's foremost experts on ageing (Mar 2024)
View Recording
Retirement housing: What to consider and how to choose
Kathleen Dunmore, Policy Advisor to the Retirement Housing Group (Feb 2024)
Kathleen Dunmore Retirement Housing Slides.pdf (559 Byte)
Artifical Intelligence and You in 2024
Barry Claydon, u3a AI Subject Advisor (Jan 2024)
Barry Claydon AI Presentation Slides.pdf (8 Byte)
Protecting ourselves from fraud
Neil Freebury, Head of Intelligence, The Insolvency Service (Nov 2023)
This event was not recorded
Being brain healthy: how our thinking skills change as we age and what we can do about it
Prof Alan Gow, Heriot-Watt University (Oct 2023)
View Recording
Working for a Wales where older people are valued, rights are upheld and no-one is left behind
Heléna Herklots CBE, Older People’s Commissioner for Wales (Sept 2023)
View Recording
Our future and technology: What might happen in the next 25 years?
Jean Jackson, Regional Trustee for West Midlands (May 2023)
Jean Jackson Technology Transcript (302 Byte)
Future-proofing our Homes for our Future Lives
Jeremy Porteus, CEO of Housing Learning Improvement Network (April 2023)
Jeremy Porteus Future Proof Home Slides (3 Byte)
The Future of Ageing
David Sinclair, International Longevity Centre - how the ageing of the world's population will have a major social and economic impact (March 2023)
View Recording
Our Homes for Our Future
Janet Sutherland, Chair of Future Lives - key findings from our housing questionnaire and experiences of members who have made changes to their homes or moved home (Jan 2023)
View Recording
Learning is the Elixir of a Healthy Life
Sir Muir Gray CBE - what we know about living longer and the interaction between ageing, loss of fitness, disease and ageism (Dec 2022)
View Recording
Designing a World for Everyone
Professor Jeremy Myerson, Royal College of Art - how design can improve our lives (Nov 2022)
View Recording
The Secrets of Ageing Better
Professor Janet Lord, University of Birmingham - what happens when we age, and ways in which we can all "age better" and stay healthier for longer (Oct 2022)
View Recording
Our Homes for Our Future Questionnaire
Will your home support your independence in the years ahead?
Perhaps you will need to adapt it in some way?
Have you thought of moving? If so, what do you want?
The sooner we plan for our future housing needs, the better the outcome – the right home can add 5 years of independent living.
We encourage you to grab a cuppa and set aside 10 minutes to complete this online questionnaire:
By completing the questionnaire, we hope this will encourage you to think about your present home and carry out any changes you think you may need, or consider what you may want if you may need to move. If enough of us fill it in, we may be able to use our collective voice to influence and widen the choices available to us.
Resources
- Michael Mosley's top ten health tips to support our future lives
- Learning is the real elixir of life - An article by Sir Muir Gray published in Third Age Matters Spring 2023.
- Re-imagining the Future in Older Age - u3a members in Scotland worked with the University of Stirling to create a 40-minute film that unpicks the way we look at older adults and their relationship with their own future.
- Centre for Ageing Better - provides a range of information and publications, events and a free image library.
- Artificial Intelligence for everyone - a resource library developed by Barry Claydon, u3a AI Subject Advisor.
Get in touch
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about the Future Lives group, please email us.
To stay up-to-date with everything we're doing you can sign up for our newsletter.