2025 FRIESEN CONFERENCE
Conference Theme "Research, Practice and Policy to Enhance Community-Based Senior Services"
The Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre (GRC) and the associated Department of Gerontology welcome you to the 32nd John K. Friesen Conference entitled “Research, Practice and Policy to Enhance Community-Based Senior Services.” The purpose of this conference is to bring together experts from academic, community, NGO, government, and private sectors to review emerging issues and share cutting-edge innovations to enhance community care and support systems targeting a rapidly aging population. Some of the emerging themes include maximizing the reach, efficacy and effectiveness of the community-based senior sector (CBSS), linking community and health care systems, new phases of age-friendly community action, policy developments, and examination of political and social care contexts such as ageism, declining economic security, marginalization, and technological literacy and its age-related divides. Highlights include keynote addresses; topical panel discussions, symposia, and poster displays presented by local, national, and international speakers representing community organizations, NGOs, government, and academic sectors.
John K. Friesen Conference Series
This conference is the 32nd offering in the John K. Friesen Conference Series in Gerontology. The series is designed to meet the continuing education needs of agencies and individuals responsible for planning, administering and providing services to the elderly. The series embraces two of John Friesen’s lifetime interests – the education of adults and the special needs of an aging population.
John Friesen was one of Canada’s leading contributors to the field of adult education. In his more than forty year career, Dr. Friesen served in university extension work in Canada and overseas and was involved in enhancing the lives of older adults in many different ways - from community arts to credit unions. For his leadership role in adult education, Simon Fraser University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree in 1985. Click here for information about previous conferences in the series.