SPARC: a new model for supporting ageing research

The development of national capacity to undertake ageing-related research is vital to ensuring that the challenges arising from an ageing society faced by government, society and individuals are adequately understood and quality of life enhanced. Yet, in the early 2000s there was a danger that previous initial investment in ageing research would be wasted. A campaign was mounted to support newcomers to ageing research, especially those in early career, eventually resulting in Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity (SPARC). This was a four-year programme to pump-prime newcomers to ageing research, to publicise the outcomes of ageing research to all stakeholders and to lobby policy-makers about the value of ageing research. This end-of-programme review suggests that those supported with pump-priming awards have been fast-tracked into the highly competitive world of ageing research, that the findings have been very well received and that the advocacy activities have been influential. A new model for promoting ageing research has been established.