I’m a voracious consumer of podcasts and a wide variety of them too but I had never been ‘on’ a podcast… before now.

Suddenly Senior is a fabulous podcast, hosted by legendary broadcasters, Angela Catterns and Ian Rogerson. They describe it as ‘a podcast for anyone who’s getting old…..or planning to’ and their gig is to interview (mostly) rock stars, comedians and well known figures who’ve hit their 60s and beyond about their experience of finding themselves ‘suddenly senior’. Think Richard Clapton, Miriam Margolyse, Jo Camilleri, Jean Kittson, James Valentine, Mark Trevorrow, Dr Chris Hickie, Michael Caton etc etc…you get the idea. Also, sadly, the late Renee Geyer and Doug Mulray.

Well, on occasion they have been known to skid off into different territory and speak to someone who ISN’T a rockstar of any kind but who knows something or other about the topic of getting older. For instance, they interviewed my friend, Dr Anne Ring, who published a terrific book last year called ‘Engaging with Ageing – what matters as we grow older‘. And, well, now they have interviewed me.

It’s described as an interview with a gerontologist. Not many people I know think of me as a gerontologist (and to be fair, few people have a solid understanding of what a gerontologist is or does) but a gerontologist I am. Yes, I’m a writer and editor and advocate and various other things but for the last 20+ years I have really focused in on the subject matter of ageing. What it means to us individually, as a society, as members of different backgrounds or genders, as people requiring support or healthcare, as workers, travellers, lovers, friends….. The thing is, ageing can’t be separated out from other domains of life and living. It’s just what’s happening in the background every day we are alive and it’s something we are noticing from time to time, negotiating and adapting our lives as needed as we go along.

I’m co-chair of the NSW Division of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) which is a professional network of people who, like me, have focused their work and interests around ageing and older people. Unlike me, the majority of my AAG colleagues are researchers and academics, working in universities or institutes. They cover research areas as diverse as nursing, science and medicine, allied health, psychology, the social sciences, geography, technology, economics, urban planning and architecture and more.

Ok, so I’m an unusual fish in the AAG pond but I’m definitely a gerontologist and you can have a listen to the podcast here to understand why.

Listen to my Suddenly Senior episode here or on any of your favourite podcast platforms. You might like some of the others too. There are some crackers!