The ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR) is a collaboration of leading researchers in

population ageing Population ageing is an increasing median age in a population because of declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy. Most countries have rising life expectancy and an ageing population, trends that emerged first in developed countries b ...

. CEPAR is an

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

Centre of Excellence. It was established in 2011. It is based at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, with further nodes at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

and

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. CEPAR was the first social science centre to receive Centre of Excellence funding.

History

The centre was established in 2011, funded primarily by an initial seven-year grant from the

(ARC), with support from collaborating universities, partner organisations and the NSW government. CEPAR was the first social science centre to receive Centre of Excellence funding. From 2011 to 2017 it focused on five research areas: Causes & Consequences of Demographic Change; Cognition & Decision Making; Resources in Retirement: Covers policy and practice in delivering resources in retirement; Ageing Well & Productively; Health & Aged Care and Ageing in Asia & its Impact on Australia. CEPAR was successful in securing funding for an additional seven-year term from 2017 to 2023 to undertake a new research program.

Description

The Centre is based at the University of New South Wales, with further nodes at the Australian National University in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

, Curtin University in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, University of Melbourne and University of Sydney. , it was the only

Centre of Excellence A center of excellence (COE or CoE ), also called excellence center, is a team, a shared facility or an entity that provides leadership, best practices, research, support or training for a focus area. Due to its broad usage and vague legal prec ...

to be hosted by a Business School in Australia.

Current research program

CEPAR’s multidisciplinary research aims to help governments, businesses, and consumers prepare for and make better decisions for an ageing world. CEPAR's research program is assembled into four interconnected research streams which draw on expertise from actuarial science,

demography Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...

, economics,

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

, psychology, and sociology: * Macro-demographic dynamics & population ageing policy * Decision making, expectations and cognitive ageing * Organisations and the mature workforce * Sustainable well-being in later life

Collaborators

CEPAR is a collaboration between academia, government and industry, involving five Australian universities: the

(headquarters), the

, the

and the

. The centre also has close connections with industry leaders and government agencies. CEPAR has ~180 researchers. Current collaborating partner organisations include the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, the

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

, the Australian Government Departments of Social Services, Foreign Affairs and Trade,

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

and

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

, NSW Treasury, the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. T ...

Safe Work Australia Safe Work Australia is an Australian Government statutory agency established in 2009 under the Safe Work Australia Act 2008. Their primary responsibility is to improve work health and safety and workers’ compensation arrangements across Austra ...

Willis Towers Watson Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company is a British-American multinational insurance advisor company. The company was founded in 2016, following a merger of the Willis Group and Towers Watson. Overview WTW operates in more than 140 cou ...

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

Medibank Medibank Private Limited, better known as simply Medibank, is one of the largest Australian private health insurance providers, covering 3.7 million people in 2021. Medibank initially started as an Australian Government not-for-profit insurer i ...

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...

and

The World Bank The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

. The CEPAR research program is led by 12 chief investigators and three partner investigators.

References

External links

* {{Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence Research organisations in Australia Ageing Demographics of Australia