Charles Sturt University's (CSU) Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies (CAPS) has been awarded $1m to establish a research professorship of Ageing and Practical Theology, based at St Mark’s National Theological Centre in Canberra.
The five-year funding was granted by the Wicking Trust, named after its benefactor Australian businessman John Wicking.
CSU Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Vann described the funding as a “fantastic opportunity for Charles Sturt University and well-deserved recognition for the quality of research conducted by CAPS director Reverend Professor Elizabeth Mackinlay”.
“The University is very grateful to the Wicking Trust for support for this research and excited to see what will emerge in this important area,” Professor Vann said.
Professor Mackinlay said the new position, to be called the Wicking Chair of Ageing and Practical Theology, was an opportunity to further develop research into the crucial question of how older Australians derive meaning from life.
“Current policies and approaches to aged care focus on staying engaged socially, but they don't address older people's fears of ageing, of dementia and of death,” Professor Mackinlay said.
“It's skating along the surface.”
Professor Mackinlay said she had been inspired to help found the CAPS in 2001 in an effort to broaden our knowledge of how older Australians can maintain meaning in their lives.
“Having found meaning in our lives, we can then face the challenges of our later years much better,” she said.
“These are issues that apply to everyone in society as they get older, not only people living in managed care situations but also older people living in the broader community.
“By developing theories of meaning within people's lives, we can help resource older people to develop the resilience and strength to face the challenges that inevitably come with ageing.”
CSU is one of very few institutions to offer courses in ageing and pastoral studies, and Professor Mackinlay said the creation of the Wicking Chair would help establish the field as an important area of further study.
“When we first began work at the Centre a lot of people didn't really know what we were on about,” she said.
“But these are questions about how we can all live our lives in a meaningful way, and this funding recognises the importance of trying to find some practical answers.”
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