The Department of Geriatric and Stroke Medicine, RCSI is this week hosting the 61st Annual and Scientific Meeting of the Irish Gerontological Society. The event begins this evening with a satellite symposium, taking place in RCSI, and continues on Friday, 20 and Saturday, 21 September at the Croke Park Conference Centre. The local lead of the organising Scientific Committee is Professor David Williams, Consultant in Stroke Medicine, RCSI/Beaumont Hospital.

This year's event is the biggest to date with 65 oral presentations and 200 shorter, poster presentations prepared for the 300 specialists participating. Research into the impact of ageing in Ireland has become one of the fastest growing specialisms among academics, medical researchers, social scientists and healthcare providers as the proportion of older people is due to grow rapidly over the next 20 years.

A meeting app for delegates attending this event has been launched and is available in the Apple app store and is free to download for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The new app was developed for the IGS by Doctot. Doctot is a niche, innovative, health-informatics company based in Limerick. An android version of the app is planned for future IGS events. 

Speaking in advance of the opening session Conference Centre, IGS president, Professor J. Bernard Walsh said: "The scope and depth of scientific research in the area of older people is expanding monthly and attracting some of the top academics, clinicians and practitioners in Irish research. Our new app will provide a portable, quick-reference guide for our delegates as well as serving as a permanent record of our meeting. The meeting promises to be one of the best-attended ever held by the society. This new app reflects our wish to develop and use technology to enhance access to the latest research."

Professor Williams added "RCSI is delighted to be hosting this year's scientific meeting of the IGS. This year's abstracts, which are available for the first time on a meeting app, are evidence of the expanding fields of research in gerontology and stroke medicine with increasing contributions from the biological, behavioural and social sciences."
The Irish Gerontological Society (IGS) is one of the world's oldest bodies dedicated to education and research in the study of ageing and promoting a better understanding of growing older and related subjects.

Keynote speakers from Ireland and overseas will appraise the delegates of the latest research and developments in the area of gerontology, the care of older adults. Professor Chris Phillipson, Professor of Sociology and Social Gerontology, University of Manchester, will present the IGS annual Willie Bermingham Lecture.
The meeting app includes: registration information; a detailed event programme; full-text abstracts; speaker biographies; CPD accreditation information; links to international gerontological and geriatric societies; travel, accommodation and venue details.

For further information, visit http://www.irishgerontology.com/events/61st-annual-scientific-meeting-towards-age-friendly-future.