Welcome to Kerby Centre » Centre of Excellence

The Kerby Centre of Excellence and Network in Applied Gerontology, established in 2002, is the first community based research centre in Alberta focusing on the integration of research and education targeted at seniors. The mandate of the centre is to:

Conduct collaborative, multi-disciplinary research into healthy and successful aging.
Support the advancement of knowledge in the field of successful aging.

The overriding goal of research at the centre is to keep seniors healthy and aging successfully and to ensure that seniors themselves have a say in research about seniors: for seniors by seniors. Research at the centre will inform innovative programs and services for seniors in the future.

Activities to Date

Seniors identified resilience as a focus for future research at the centre.
A workshop titled "Resilience Among Calgary Seniors", funded by Calgary Family, Community and Social Services and the Canadian Institute of Health Research was given on May 27, 2003. The purpose was to find out from seniors themselves what they think about their resilience. Over 150 seniors attended this successful event and many volunteered to participate in follow up groups organized around themes emerging from the workshop. These groups formed the basis for senior research groups to be engaged in participatory action research research on resilience.
A grant was received from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Aging for a pilot project titled “Resilience Among Seniors: Sites and Sources”. This was our first community based, collaborative research project between Kerby Centre of Excellence, the University of Calgary and seniors and was completed in March 2005.
The pilot project enlisted seniors to conduct research to determine why some seniors are more resilient than others when it comes to meeting the challenges of aging. Seniors gained experience in different kinds of research methodology and were found to be insightful researchers. Results indicate that seniors who are being researched were appreciative of the fact that it was being done by fellow researchers.
The official launch of the Centre of Excellence was held on April, 2005, to inform stakeholders of the innovative research at the centre.
An outcome of the research was the publication of a manual titled “Seniors as Researchers; A Manual on how to do Collaborative Research”. This manual will soon be available to other organizations wishing to do participatory action research.
This pilot project formed the basis for another grant exploring resilience in more depth.
Seniors, Kerby Centre board and staff have expressed an interest in the baby boomers generation and whether they will volunteer for non-profit organizations such as Kerby Centre. A literature search has been completed and the centre is exploring funding in this area
Discussion sessions led by Dr. Bob Stebbins explored the world of "Leisure and Retirement" are scheduled for March 09 and March 23, 2006.

Anyone interested in the activities of the Centre of Excellence please contact Dorothy Dooley, Coordinator at (403) 234-6572 or email at excellence@kerbycentre.com