About us

We are a leading research centre carrying out research into fundamental questions about ageing.

Manchester Institute for Collaborative Research on Ageing

We are situated in the heart of Manchester, the UK’s first city and region to achieve the World Health Organization (WHO) age-friendly status. We undertake cross-disciplinary and collaborative research to address the challenges posed by our ageing populations across the world.

Improvements in health and mortality and commensurate rapid population ageing are heralding great social change and with it, the realisation that wellbeing in later life is determined by interacting factors from the biological to the social, the structural to the cultural, and the historical to the institutional. 

Recognising the complexities of ageing well has become a global priority for policymakers, researchers, communities, families and individuals. Meaningful research into ageing is urgently needed to understand what is happening, to promote ageing well across sectors and places, to inform policy, and hold policymakers to account.

Ageing is a priority area for The University of Manchester, with more than 300 researchers actively engaged in research into ageing across the biological, medical, physical and social sciences, the arts and humanities. MICRA researchers represent some of the world’s foremost thinkers and scientists addressing the key questions into how ageing affects our biology, society and health.

Our affiliated researchers attract 50 new research grants each year, funded by diverse bodies, including:

  • the National Institute for Health Research;
  • UK Research and Innovation and the European Commission;
  • NHS Foundation Trusts;
  • central and local government;
  • foundations, trusts, charities and industry.

Established in 2010, we are renowned for our research into:

  • public health and care;
  • biological mechanisms of ageing;
  • ageing well in the face of complex morbidities;
  • urban ageing;
  • technology and ageing;
  • work and retirement; and
  • data science and analytics for an ageing population.

Understanding ageing in a global context and ageing in an unequal world underpin all our research programmes.  

Pioneers in award-winning collaborative methodologies, we aim to embed contributions from older people and stakeholders into all stages of research, ensuring our work has meaning and societal relevance, engaging with stakeholders and policymakers at global, national, regional, city and community levels to deliver research with demonstrable policy impact.

We bring together academic researchers who address the unmet needs of an ageing population with organisations and civic institutions that influence policy and/or practice, to enable these changes.   

To find out more about our work, our team, and the impact that we have, explore the website and read our informational leaflet.

Professor Debora Price introduces MICRA