A chance for older adults to develop research skills

Lancaster University has just announced the launch of a new course for older people who wish to develop skills that might lead to a second career or work with voluntary organisations or community groups. The course is called Research Skills for Older People and it will run on Wednesday afternoons from 28 April to 9 June at Lancaster University.

Together with students from a previous project on developing interviewing skills Professor Roger Clough from the Department of Applied Social Science has secured a grant from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to support this new course. The course will be run jointly with the Department of Continuing Education and it is open to anyone aged 60 years or over who has an interest in developing skills in areas like writing research proposals, constructing interview schedules and analysing data.

Professor Keith Percy, Head of Continuing Education at Lancaster University, said, "We believe that older people have a great deal to contribute in paid or unpaid work in areas such as social and health provision and that it makes sense to draw on their experience. We were impressed by the enthusiasm, commitment and willingness to support each other that was shown by students on the previous project, and the University is pleased to play a role in helping to develop the research skills of older adults through this new course."

The course will also cover an introduction to web site design, something that students from the previous project were particularly interested in learning about. However, you don't need to have been involved in the previous project to take part in this course.

The course costs just £25. For further details or to enrol please contact the Department of Continuing Education on 01524 592623/4.