Post by Si Yinn Lu

Grateful to have been a part of the inaugural Singapore Conference on Ageing and Health, organized by the Centre for Ageing Research & Education (CARE) at Duke-NUS Medical School. The conference was a brilliant blend of academic rigour and rich insights from community partners, reminding us that our work must remain anchored in lived experiences. I was honoured to receive the Best Oral Presentation Award for sharing preliminary findings from my PhD fieldwork on mapping the organisation of loneliness and care among older adults in Singapore. I shared that we must look beyond seeing loneliness solely as an individual problem and instead pay attention to the social circumstances (such as the fulfilment of practical everyday needs) that may limit older adults’ ability to address loneliness. The assessment of risk and loneliness is a complex and nuanced process, one that my ongoing research continues to unpack. It was wonderful to reconnect with colleagues at CARE and make new friends who are doing exciting work in the aging research and practice space. I’m looking forward to continuing these conversations beyond this conference! 🙂