About the seminar
For older people, keeping physically active is essential for ageing well and reducing risk of dementia, yet almost 80% of older Australians are not meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines. Recent research suggests that automatic, context-dependent habits play an important role in supporting physical activity engagement, however these relationships had not been studied in older Australians, and there was limited knowledge on how to apply habit change principles to physical activity interventions.
In 2019, Dr Sophie Andrews was awarded a UNSW AFI seed grant for the project “Investigating the role of habit in maintaining physical activity in older people”. She used both qualitative interview and quantitative survey methodologies to investigate the relationships between habits and physical activity in older, community dwelling Australians.
About the presenter
Dr Sophie Andrews is a Senior Research Fellow and Lead of the Healthy Brain Ageing Research Program at the Thompson Institute, University of the Sunshine Coast, an adjunct Senior Research Fellow at UNSW School of Psychology, and an Associate Investigator of the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute. She is a cognitive neuroscientist and registered clinical neuropsychologist, and her research is focused on improving lifestyle for brain and cognitive health and dementia risk reduction, and how best to support people to change their lifestyle habits. She is currently supported by an ARC DECRA fellowship, and has received funding from Dementia Australia Research Foundation, Dementia Centre for Research Collaboration, and the Huntington’s Disease Society of America. She was recently recognised as a Superstar of STEM by Science and Technology Australia.