Introduction

With three interlocking, interdisciplinary strategic areas of research, education, and practice, we have the following aims:

• Research

To create a platform to encourage and assemble scholars of different professional disciplines to conduct interdisciplinary ageing research of common interest in areas such as total wellness, age-friendly environments, and gerontechnology.

• Education

To create an interdisciplinary undergraduate programme in applied gerontology which will provide well-rounded professionals with the competencies and attributes necessary to meet the emerging needs of our ageing society and be able to work with the diverse population of older adults. A full-time self-financed top-up degree programme was offered in 2012. Given the overwhelming response to the programme and the high employment rate of its graduates, the University Grants Committee and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) agreed to make this a UGC-funded programme starting in 2017.

• Practice

We offer credit-bearing and non-credit-bearing courses through our Mini-U for the Third Age Programme to encourage lifelong learning among older individuals. Our Association for the Third Age, which we operate collaboratively with older adults, will further empower older members of society to engage in healthy, independent, and active ageing by helping them participate in lifelong education, volunteer work, and gainful employment.