Habitats for Happy Ageing

It’s 20th March, the UN International Day of Happiness, and what better way to mark it than with the first of our Habitats for Happy Ageing events.

Image courtesy of Ben Shmulevitch

Thank you so much to everyone who came along to this free event at the Reid Concert Hall, including our two guest speakers, Neil Thin (University of Edinburgh) and Val Bissland (University of Strathclyde).

As well as bite-sized talks by these two amazing experts in happiness and place, we were delighted to share insights from our current research project, Mobility, Mood and Place (MMP).

Photo of a student talking to guests at Habitats for Happy Ageing

Image courtesy of Ben Shmulevitch

Guests had the chance to talk to the students involved in our co-design research, to try on the EEG headset used in our ‘environment and affect’ study (and see how it articulates brainwaves on a computer) and to take a short, paper-based mood test.

They could also browse a range of visual material, including models, maps of Edinburgh over time, and captioned images from our photography competition.

Photo of participants at Habitats for Happy Ageing

Image courtesy of Ben Shmulevitch

The ‘science festival’ format worked well with our audience, of which most were aged 65 or over. We received really useful feedback, including on the sorts of positive ways in which people might use what they had heard us talk about or discussed with us. 91% of those who attended rated the event as enjoyable and useful.

Here’s a little video providing a taster of what went on…