Collaboration to improve life for aging population

The University of Edinburgh and Legal & General have announced a major partnership to improve understanding of care in later life and to revolutionise how it is delivered.

The collaboration will establish the Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC), a seven-year multi-disciplinary research programme and the first of its kind in the UK.

Legal & General is the UK’s largest pension fund investor and a leading provider of retirement products.

ACRC will combine research across fields including medicine and other care professions, life sciences, engineering, informatics, data and social sciences.

The Centre will enable data-driven, personalised and affordable care that delivers independence, dignity and a high quality of life for people living in their own homes or in supported care environments.

Bruce Guthrie, Professor of General Practice at the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, has been named as ACRC director and will lead a new cohort of researchers dedicated to the field of ageing and care.

The £20m agreement marks the University’s largest industry investment to be confirmed as part of the £661m Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) initiative, its key deliverable as a partner in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.

The DDI initiative is accelerating the City Region’s capacity to deliver trusted data-driven innovation across ten sectors, including health and social care, in collaboration with industry and the public sector.

Professor Peter Mathieson, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, said: “We are to host this ground-breaking collaboration with colleagues at Legal & General. This exceptional partnership will re-imagine care for the mid-21st century. As our population ages, so we need to develop innovative new approaches to provide individually-tailored care. This is the big challenge that the partners will address, bringing to bear pioneering research from the brightest academic minds across multiple disciplines to deliver creative and trusted solutions to solving real world problems”.

Dr Nigel Wilson, Group CEO of Legal & General, commented: “Establishing the ACRC will revolutionise the UK’s commitment to understanding and addressing the huge issue of demographic change – part of a global challenge with significant social and economic impacts. Edinburgh’s open-sourced, data-based and cross-disciplinary approach will deliver vital positive change to ageing and care and we find this a compelling and practical vision. The partnerships we are forging with premier institutions up and down the country, from the University of Oxford to Bath University and now Edinburgh will help shift the dial in the delivery of science, technology and ageing care for many future generations to come.”