Ageing Research at King’s (ARK) is a cross-faculty multidisciplinary consortium which brings together scholarship, research, innovation and entrepreneurship in ageing across the life course in several complementary fields. ARK is a leading industry-academic R&D hub for personalised and preventive diagnostics, prognostics and therapeutics, and represents King’s world class excellence for research on the biology of ageing, from the basic mechanisms in biogerontology to clinical translation and the social impact of ageing to better inform global policy makers.
The primary purpose of ARK is to enhance multidisciplinary research collaborations within King’s and our external global academic and industry partners to better understand the mechanisms of ageing and to improve health-span and longevity in the community. ARK is uniquely positioned to address the challenges of an ageing world, and to provide answers at multiple levels, from cellular mechanisms and regenerative therapies to social sciences, influencing government policies, consumer industries and clinical research. Our network within King's includes the recently established Centre for Ageing Resilience In a Changing Environment (CARICE) and will incorporate elements of the new multidisciplinary education and research programmes being developed at King's. ARK hosts a series of talks and symposia on ageing and healthy longevity - selected events are listed under the Activities tab below.
People
Director, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing
ARK Innovation Advisor
TransCampus Dean
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Strategic Marketing
Professor of Population and Digital Health Sciences
ARK Executive Advisor
Themes
Ageing, Resilience and Society
Established research programme with strong emphasis on multidisciplinary and multiagency work, research on Ageing & Society at King’s is led by the Institute of Gerontology and Centre for Global Ageing. Together with the new Centre for Ageing Resilience in a Changing Environment, research focuses on broad topics ranging from the social and economic factors associated with the ageing through to the psychological, biomedical and global aspects of ageing demographics.
Clinical Research and Practice
Through world leading expertise across King's Health Partners and the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, ARK undertakes clinical research in the treatment and care of individuals with age-related diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Aiming to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families, and includes geriatric medicine, control of pain as well as attention to psychological, social considerations in the elderly.
Mechanisms of Biological Ageing
Multidisciplinary basic and clinical research environment to elucidate the mechanisms of age-related conditions such as dementia, cardiovascular disease, inflammation and frailty - from cell and molecular biology to physiological, epigenetics, nutrition and microbiome studies in man - this synergistic approach facilitates development of interventions for multi-morbidity in ageing societies and enhanced healthy longevity.
Care of the Elderly
Research across several departments at King's focuses on social and clinical research on living well with frailty, dementia communication and improving care experiences in older people. Discovery and innovation to create knowledge and impact nursing, midwifery, and healthcare policy and practice, as well as how we educate those providing care of the elderly. The Cicely Saunders Institute is the first purpose built institute for research into palliative care, policy and rehabilitation.
Healthy Brain Ageing
The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience focuses on the ageing brain and associated mental health. Research includes the molecular mechanisms and discovery of novel therapies for neurodegeneration, maintenance of mental wellness, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, depression, psychoses, sleep, neuroimaging and digital health informatics. Centres of excellence include the UK Dementia Research Institute and the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases. Commercial collaborations are facilitated through the Centre for Innovative Therapeutics.
Oral Health
The Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences at King's has a number of ARK affiliated groups has a broad portfolio oral health research directed towards ageing populations, from basic science, through to transnational research, public health and social & behavioural sciences. Focusing on mouth as an ecosystem, the role of saliva, taste sensation and oral microbiome known to be affected by ageing.
AI in Ageing Research and Healthy Longevity
Ues of AI technologies within longevity and ageing research is increasing in both academia and industry. To utilise the latest AI advances and accelerate innovation and technology transfer, ARK has partnered with the King's AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare and our industry partners Insilico Medicine and Deep Longevity to establish a Longevity AI Consortium. Machine learning is used to develop longevity and ageing predictors offer new possibilities for diverse data types. This will enable a holistic view aiming to identify novel longevity and healthy ageing biomarkers, accelerate diagnosis of age-related diseases, refine demographic and clinical methods, develop personalised interventions to promote lifestyles for healthy longevity.
Economics of Healthy Ageing
Together with King's Business School, ARK researchers are developing an international network focusing on financial longevity and the economic burden of a global changing population demographics through innovation and opportunities for enhancing productivity of the ageing workforce. We are working with global corporate partners in the pharma, food, insurance and consumer goods sectors to address these issues and to develop commercialization opportunities.
Industry Engagement
The Unilever Bioscience Innovation Hub at King's established in 2020 provides a centre of expertise building on the strengths of the Unilever Framework Agreement. The Hub has bought Unilever researchers and King’s academics together to focus on research in personal care, human biology, microbiology and healthy ageing. Over the last 10 years the Unilever partnership has leveraged over £5m in funding for collaborative projects across King's.
Entrepreneurship in Healthy Longevity
ARK is uniquely placed to have an Entrepreneur in Residence based in the Department of Informatics at King's focusing on Human Centred Computing, Data Sciences and Digital Health. The King's Entrepreneurship Institute also offers students and researchers support in innovation and commercialization opportunities to tackle novel approaches to enhance healthy longevity.
Integrative Medicine for Healthy Ageing
The King's Centre for Integrative Chinese Medicine is a multidisciplinary research initiative across several faculties at KCL and King's Health Partners which aims to integrate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and alternative therapies from other regions with conventional clinical practice.
Longevity Policy and Governance
ARK is a founding member of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Longevity and hosted the launch of "Health of the Nation: National Strategy for Healthier Longer Lives" report in February 2020. ARK continues to support the APPG through the Open Life Data Framework and Business for Health initiatives. The Policy Institute at King's provides evidence and expertise to inform global policy and practice in healthy ageing.
Publications
Selected ageing research publications from across King's:
Awards
Selected Ageing Research Funding at King's:
- HealthTech Research Centre for Dementia and Brain Health (National Institute for Health and Care Research)
- Diverging dynamic resilience: Using twins to identify frailty drivers independent of shared genetics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Wellcome Leap)
- Midlife Aging in the Dunedin Study Phase 52 (Medical Research Council)
- PREDICTOM: Prediction of neurodegenerative disease using an AI driven screening platform (Technology Strategy Board)
- Comparing the phenotypes and trajectories of human ageing associated with exercise or inactivity: with a particular focus on the biology of skeletal muscle and the immune system (Nadace The JetBrains Foundation)
- Mechanisms of vascular smooth muscle cell ageing and calcification –developing a timeline for novel therapeutic interventions (British Heart Foundation)
- TwinsUK Imaging: A Resource for Ageing Research (Chronic Disease Research Foundation)
- Mathematical modelling of muscle stem cell behaviour in ageing (Leverhulme Trust)
- The Sciences of ageing and the culture of youth: 1880 to the present day (MRC Medical Research Council)
- Microvascular dysfunction and inflammation in the brain ageing (Stavanger University Hospital),
- Decoding the role of follicle stimulating hormone in ovarian ageing (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- Modelling brain ageing using neuroimaging to improve brain health in older adults (MRC Medical Research Council)
- The influence of TRPA1 signalling on the response to cold exposure as ageing occurs (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council),
- Function of post-translational modifications of protein backbones in signalling and molecular ageing (Wellcome Trust)
- Promoting mental wellbeing in the ageing urban population: determinants, policies and interventions in European cities - MINDMAP (EC European Commission)
- Epigenetic responses to social and environmental cues in early life and over the life course: impact on healthy ageing in UK population-based cohorts (ESRC Economic and Social Research Council)
- Lifecourse biological pathways underlying social differences in healthy ageing (LIFEPATH) (EC European Commission)
- The underlying mechanisms of ageing in the inner ear (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- Colorado adoption/twin Study of lifespan behavioural development and cognitive ageing (CATSLife) (NIH National Institutes of Health)
- ATHLOS - ageing trajectories of health: longitudinal opportunities and synergies (EC European Commission)
- Multi-scale analysis of B cell responses in ageing (MRC Medical Research Council)
- Mechanisms of vascular smooth muscle cell ageing and calcification (BHF British Heart Foundation)
- The role of multi-innervated dendritic spines in memory formation in ageing (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- Exploring frailty, mental health and related outcomes: a multi-cultural population based approach to ageing (MRC Medical Research Council)
- Midlife pace of ageing in the Dunedin study (MRC Medical Research Council)
Activities
Ageing Research at King's Events
ARK hosts events on ageing and healthy longevity across a broad spectrum of themes with a life course approach with UK and international speakers from academia, industry, foundations and governments. Talks have covered themes including entrepreneurship, commercialization, digital innovation, social impact and economics of ageing and government policy, biomarkers of ageing, age-related conditions, physical activity, nutrition, basic and clinical ageing research.
Centre for Integrative Chinese Medicine
ARK has partnered with the Centre for Integrative Chinese Medicine, a multidisciplinary research initiative across KCL and King's Health Partners which aims to integrate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with conventional clinical practice.
Early Adopters of Our Future Health
ARK Director Richard Siow and Advisory Board member Cathryn Lewis are selected as Research Ambassadors for Our Future Health's Early Adopters programme. The initiative aims to gather data from up to 5 million adults in the UK to discover new ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases and help everyone live longer and healthier lives.
ARK Longevity Week 2024
The ARK Longevity Week event in November 2024, in partnership with European Society of Preventive Medicine and Longevity Science Foundation, focused on innovations in prevention across the lifespan. The Keynote was given by Nathan Price, Buck Institute, California with industry speakers from Dexcom, Aktivo Labs and Muhdo Health
ARK partners the EMPOWER Dementia Network
The EMPOWER network will assess the growing need for high-quality dementia care, funded by the Alzheimer's Society, Economic and Social Research Council and National Institute for Health and Care Research. Led by Prof Catherine Evans, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, the project will also span the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy.
International Symposium on Metallomics
We are pleased to partner with the 9th International Symposium on Metallomics (17-21 June 2024) hosted at King's College London. The field of metals in ageing research bridges numerous disciplines and is crucial for developing solutions to human and environmental issues in ageing societies. ARK will convene a panel discussion with leading experts on metals in healthy ageing and longevity.
Centre for Ageing Resilience in a Changing Environment (CARICE)
ARK is pleased to incorporate CARICE, a new centre of excellence within the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. The centre mission is to centralise and focus ageing research across the faculty to reduce the negative collective impact of the major colliding global challenges of climate change and population ageing.
NIHR centre to aid diagnosis and treatment of dementia
The new HealthTech Research Centre for Brain Health, established through £2.9m funding from National Institute for Health and Care Research, aims to accelerate the advancement of cutting-edge technology to better understand brain health and ageing and help people live healthier lives for longer. The Centre will be associated with ARK and led by Dag Aarsland, Head, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing and ARK Co-Director.
PREDICTOM - Early Dementia Detection
The new PREDICTOM project, led by Dag Aarsland, at KCL and Stavanger University Hospital, was funded to develop AI platforms capable of identifying people at risk of dementia before the first symptoms appear. ARK will be associated with the consortium of 30 partners from more than 15 countries include universities, businesses, institutes and hospitals and is backed by €21m funding from the EU Innovative Health Initiative and industry.
ARK Longevity Week 2023 Event
ARK hosted "Sustainable Longevity: Harnessing Consumer HealthTech and FinTech" in partnership with European Society of Preventive Medicine (ESPM), Longevity Science Foundation and Longevity Forum, as part of Longevity Week in November 2023. The event included our ARK Entrepreneur in Residence and speakers from Mastercard UK, Nestle Health Sciences, Muhdo Health, Huumans, William Harvey Heart Centre at Queen Mary and ESPM.
European Society of Preventive Medicine partnership
The ESPM - ARK partnership will facilitate the intersection of basic research, clinical medicine, and community physical, mental and financial health with a focus on the prevention and prediction of chronic and age-related diseases across the lifespan. Prof Pekka Puska, ESPM President spoke at the launch event on 27 September 2023 which included a keynote by Raghib Ali OBE, CEO of Our Future Health.
MRC Award to Extend Dunedin Study
An ARK Team led by Terrie Moffitt with Avshalom Caspi, Dag Aarsland and Richard Siow have been awarded £1.4m by the MRC to quantify the pace of ageing for the Dunedin Study in 8 domains: biological aging, functional aging, facial aging, social aging, sexual aging, inflammatory aging, microvascular aging, and cognitive aging.
Physiological Society AI for Health Report
ARK Director Richard Siow Chaired the Steering Committee of a new Physiological Society report which highlights physiology’s role in unlocking the potential of artificial intelligence for health. The report was launched at the House of Lords on 27 June 2023 hosted by Viscount Stansgate and Stephen Metcalf MP. Dr Siow and ARK Entrepreneur in Residence Svitlana Surodina, were invited speakers.
Longevity Science Foundation Partnership
The ARK-LSF partnership launch was hosted by the School of Academic Psychiatry and included talks by Lisa Ireland (CEO, LSF), Guy Goodwin (CMO, COMPASS Pathways), Allan Young (Vice-Dean, Academic Psychiatry) and Dag Aarsland (Head, Old Age Psychiatry). The partnership will advance research and education in healthy ageing, longevity and psychological well-being.
Oxford Ageing Research Hub Partnership
The University of Oxford Ageing Research Collaborative Hub (ARCH) partnership aims to develop research collaborations, public engagement events, education initiatives and academic exchanges with ARK. ARCH includes the Institute of Population Ageing and Oxford Ageing Network (OxAgeN).
UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) Partnership
ARK has partnered with NICA at Newcastle University to establish joint education, research and innovation activities. This will be initiated through a King's based VOICE chapter, symposia and researcher exchanges. Together with Collider Health, NICA launched the "Quantum Healthy Longevity" initiative at a Longevity Week event hosted by ARK with Keynote by Lord James Bethell.
ARK Longevity Week 2022 Event
The ARK hybrid event "Data-Driven Longevity: Digital technologies for collaborative innovation and healthy longevity" on 18 November included a keynote lecture by Sarah Harper, Director, Institute of Ageing, University of Oxford and talks by ARK academic and industry partners. The program and recordings are available below.
SleepCity at King's partners with ARK
The Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre (SleepCity) at King's is a collaboration between Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and Sleep Disorders Centre at Guy’s Hospital. ARK related projects will explore the role of sleep on cognitive ageing, neurodegeneration and interventions for healthy longevity.
ARK Partners with Centre for Mental Health Research & Innovation
King's new Centre for Mental Health Research & Innovation led by Allan Young, Vice Dean, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, will be developing a partnership with ARK. In collaboration with the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and COMPASS Pathways, research in the Centre will include psychedelics, cannabinoids and new models of care for mental and cognitive wellness in ageing societies.
ARK partners with RADAR-AD
ARK is pleased to partner with Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse - Alzheimer’s Disease, a platform led by Prof Dag Aarsland, Head of Old Age Psychiatry at King's, to transform patient care through remote assessment using mobile technologies to identify digital biomarkers for predicting deterioration. This consortium of academic and industry members is funded by the European Commission Innovative Medicines Initiative.
Longevity Week 2021 - Innovations in Consumer Longevity Data
ARK hosted "Innovations in Consumer Longevity Data: A Global Perspective" on 19 November, highlighting the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (keynote by Ritu Sadana, WHO) and the Open Life Data Framework (APPG for Longevity). Organisations represented included University of Zurich, National University of Singapore, AXA Health, Legal & General, Nestle Health Sciences Institute, Deep Longevity, Insilico Medicine and Longevity Science Foundation. The event was opened by Prof Reza Razavi, King's Vice President (Research).
Zurich Healthy Longevity Innovation Cluster - ARK Strategic Partnership
ARK has established a strategic partnership with the University of Zurich (UZH) Innovation Hub to facilitate academic exchange and industry engagement between King's and UZH through their Healthy Longevity Innovation Cluster, Dynamics of Healthy Ageing Research Priority Program and WHO Healthy Ageing Centre. The UK Embassy in Bern celebrated the partnership in late September 2021 by hosting an event including UZH Vice President (Research), King's Global Envoy (Health) and Head of WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing.
Biological ageing R&D with Muhdo Health
ARK has established a collaboration in healthy ageing and informatics with Muhdo Health a consumer epigenetics platform. Together with ARK academics and industry partners, Muhdo aims to develop the next generation of technologies to better assess biological age by integrating biomarkers with lifestyle and environmental data through advanced data analytics.
Nobel Laureate Prof Sir Peter Ratcliffe speaks at Metallomics and Oxygen Symposium
The London Metallomics Facility and ARK jointly hosted a symposium on 5 May 2021 featuring a keynote lecture by Prof Sir Peter Ratcliffe FRS, Director of Clinical Research at the Francis Crick Institute and Director of the Target Discovery Institute at Oxford University. He won the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019 jointly with William Kaelin (Harvard University) and Gregg Semenza (Johns Hopkins University), for their 'discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability'. Prof Reza Razavi, King's VP (Research) gave the vote of thanks.
International Longevity Policy & Governance Summit - Longevity Week 2020
ARK hosted the Second Longevity Policy and Governance Summit as part of Longevity Week 2020, with the theme to address the challenges of ageing societies globally we can strive to ensure healthier, longer lives can be achieved by all. The keynote lecture was given by Prof Sir Robert Lechler, King's Provost and Senior VP (Health).
All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity: National Strategy Launch, February 2020
As a founding member of the APPG for Longevity, ARK hosted the launch of the "Health of the Nation" report with keynote lecture by the Health Secretary Rt Hon. Matt Hancock MP and talks by Damian Green MP, Lord Geoffrey Filkin, Jon Ashworth MP, Lord Kerslake, Lord O’Shaughnessy, Prof Sir Robert Lechler, KCL Provost and Senior VP (Health) and other distinguished speakers.
AI for Longevity Summit - Longevity Week 2019
ARK hosted the first AI for Longevity Summit at King's on 12 November 2019. This event included participation by financial institutions, insurance and technology companies and policy makers from across the public and private sectors. This summit led to the establishment of the Longevity AI Consortium and highlighted the importance of AI for R&D in healthy ageing. Prof Reza Razavi, King's VP (Research) and Director of the AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare participated in the summit.
International Longevity Policy & Governance Summit - Longevity Week 2019
ARK hosted the International Longevity Policy and Governance as part of Longevity Week 2019, bringing together policy experts, representatives of government bodies, healthcare and finance ministries, executives of healthcare and financial corporations to discuss initiatives for enhancing longevity. The event highlighted the international response to harnessing the opportunities of an ageing demographic, with lessons learned and shared across countries from a policy perspective – taking societal, cross sector and government approaches.
Insilico Medicine and ARK collaborate in AI for Healthy Longevity
Insilico Medicine, a biotech company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing next-generation artificial intelligence, announces its partnership with ARK - dedicated to enhancing multidisciplinary research collaborations across King’s and King’s Health Partners to better understand the mechanisms of ageing and improving health-span.
Funding for ARK research on physical activity for healthy longevity
ARK researchers in the Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences at KCL have been awarded £1.5m by Nadace The JetBrains Foundation to explore the effects of inactivity on physiological function. In collaboration with University of Birmingham, researchers examined the health of older adults who regularly exercised and the impact this had on ageing.
Vascular Healthy Ageing Research at King's BHF Centre of Excellence funded by BIRAX
The King's School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences (Prof Manuel Mayr) together with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Prof Eli Keshet) were awarded funding in 2019 by the British Council BIRAX programme for a novel approach to combat age-associated deterioration of vascular function. Given the multiple roles of the vascular system, they propose that certain interventions can be geroprotective.
Launch of BIRAX Ageing Programme
The British Council UK-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Programme in Healthy Ageing was launched at the BIRAX conference hosted by ARK in September 2018. The conference was opened by David Quarrey, British Ambassador to Israel, Prof Lord Robert Winston & Prof Ruth Arnon, Co-Chairs, UK-Israel Science Council, Christian Duncumb, Director, British Council Israel and Prof Reza Razavi, King's Vice President (Research).
Keynote Event - Prof Sir Edward Byrne and Prof Sir Salvador Moncada
On 31 May 2018 ARK hosted a keynote event with talks by Prof Sir Edward Byrne AC, President & Principal of King’s and Prof Sir Salvador Moncada FRS, FMedSci, School of Medical Sciences, University of Manchester. Prof Byrne spoke about mitochondria in ageing and Prof Moncada highlighted his distinguished research on nitric oxide in physiology and pathophysiology. Prof Sir Robert Lechler, Provost & Senior Vice President (Health) and Executive Director, King's Health Partners gave the vote of thanks.
News
King's academics present their research at healthy ageing events in China
Researchers from King’s College London recently attended two events in China that shared insights into international strategies to promote healthy ageing and...
Study explores how a supplement containing components of the Mediterranean diet can affect epigenetics associated with healthy ageing
Participants taking the supplement showed changes in blood biomarkers and the epigenetic regulation of DNA, which are associated with healthy ageing.
New HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Health celebrates launch
Over 100 guests celebrated the launch of the new centre at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) on 11 June 2024.
King's College London part of €21 million PREDICTOM study to pioneer early detection of Alzheimer's Disease
A new AI-screening platform to be developed to identify individuals at risk of developing dementia, even before symptoms manifest.
£2.9m for new centre to aid diagnosis and treatment of dementia
New National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) HealthTech Research Centre is designed to accelerate the advancement of cutting-edge technology to...
Events
Ethical AI: Safer and Faster Innovation in Healthy Brain Ageing
Ethical AI: a safer, faster innovation in Healthy Ageing & Brain Health
Please note: this event has passed.
New Ways to Support Older People: The Role of Technology in Social Care
Join us for the 2025 Institute of Gerontology Lecture hosted in collaboration with the Gateway to Global Aging Data at King’s College London
Please note: this event has passed.
transCampus International Roadshow - Kuwait
Transcampus - ARK event in Kuwait
Please note: this event has passed.
transCampus International Roadshow - London
transCampus International Roadshow - London
Please note: this event has passed.
ARK Global
ARK Partners in Europe
- UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing
- University of Exeter, UK
- MIA - University of Coimbra, Portugal
- Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
- German Institute of Human Nutrition
- Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
- Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Norwegian Centre on Healthy Ageing
- Stavanger University Hospital, Norway
- TU Dresden (TransCampus), Germany
- University of Zurich, Switzerland
ARK partners in Asia & Australasia
- Monash University, Australia
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore
- National University of Singapore
- Keio University, Japan
- Peking University Health Science Center, China
- Southern University of Science & Technology, China
- Southwest Jiaotong University, China
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Quantum AI Lab, InnoHK R&D Centre
- Technion Institute of Technology, Israel
People
Director, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing
ARK Innovation Advisor
TransCampus Dean
Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Strategic Marketing
Professor of Population and Digital Health Sciences
ARK Executive Advisor
Themes
Ageing, Resilience and Society
Established research programme with strong emphasis on multidisciplinary and multiagency work, research on Ageing & Society at King’s is led by the Institute of Gerontology and Centre for Global Ageing. Together with the new Centre for Ageing Resilience in a Changing Environment, research focuses on broad topics ranging from the social and economic factors associated with the ageing through to the psychological, biomedical and global aspects of ageing demographics.
Clinical Research and Practice
Through world leading expertise across King's Health Partners and the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, ARK undertakes clinical research in the treatment and care of individuals with age-related diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Aiming to achieve the best possible quality of life for patients and their families, and includes geriatric medicine, control of pain as well as attention to psychological, social considerations in the elderly.
Mechanisms of Biological Ageing
Multidisciplinary basic and clinical research environment to elucidate the mechanisms of age-related conditions such as dementia, cardiovascular disease, inflammation and frailty - from cell and molecular biology to physiological, epigenetics, nutrition and microbiome studies in man - this synergistic approach facilitates development of interventions for multi-morbidity in ageing societies and enhanced healthy longevity.
Care of the Elderly
Research across several departments at King's focuses on social and clinical research on living well with frailty, dementia communication and improving care experiences in older people. Discovery and innovation to create knowledge and impact nursing, midwifery, and healthcare policy and practice, as well as how we educate those providing care of the elderly. The Cicely Saunders Institute is the first purpose built institute for research into palliative care, policy and rehabilitation.
Healthy Brain Ageing
The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience focuses on the ageing brain and associated mental health. Research includes the molecular mechanisms and discovery of novel therapies for neurodegeneration, maintenance of mental wellness, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, depression, psychoses, sleep, neuroimaging and digital health informatics. Centres of excellence include the UK Dementia Research Institute and the Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases. Commercial collaborations are facilitated through the Centre for Innovative Therapeutics.
Oral Health
The Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences at King's has a number of ARK affiliated groups has a broad portfolio oral health research directed towards ageing populations, from basic science, through to transnational research, public health and social & behavioural sciences. Focusing on mouth as an ecosystem, the role of saliva, taste sensation and oral microbiome known to be affected by ageing.
AI in Ageing Research and Healthy Longevity
Ues of AI technologies within longevity and ageing research is increasing in both academia and industry. To utilise the latest AI advances and accelerate innovation and technology transfer, ARK has partnered with the King's AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare and our industry partners Insilico Medicine and Deep Longevity to establish a Longevity AI Consortium. Machine learning is used to develop longevity and ageing predictors offer new possibilities for diverse data types. This will enable a holistic view aiming to identify novel longevity and healthy ageing biomarkers, accelerate diagnosis of age-related diseases, refine demographic and clinical methods, develop personalised interventions to promote lifestyles for healthy longevity.
Economics of Healthy Ageing
Together with King's Business School, ARK researchers are developing an international network focusing on financial longevity and the economic burden of a global changing population demographics through innovation and opportunities for enhancing productivity of the ageing workforce. We are working with global corporate partners in the pharma, food, insurance and consumer goods sectors to address these issues and to develop commercialization opportunities.
Industry Engagement
The Unilever Bioscience Innovation Hub at King's established in 2020 provides a centre of expertise building on the strengths of the Unilever Framework Agreement. The Hub has bought Unilever researchers and King’s academics together to focus on research in personal care, human biology, microbiology and healthy ageing. Over the last 10 years the Unilever partnership has leveraged over £5m in funding for collaborative projects across King's.
Entrepreneurship in Healthy Longevity
ARK is uniquely placed to have an Entrepreneur in Residence based in the Department of Informatics at King's focusing on Human Centred Computing, Data Sciences and Digital Health. The King's Entrepreneurship Institute also offers students and researchers support in innovation and commercialization opportunities to tackle novel approaches to enhance healthy longevity.
Integrative Medicine for Healthy Ageing
The King's Centre for Integrative Chinese Medicine is a multidisciplinary research initiative across several faculties at KCL and King's Health Partners which aims to integrate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and alternative therapies from other regions with conventional clinical practice.
Longevity Policy and Governance
ARK is a founding member of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Longevity and hosted the launch of "Health of the Nation: National Strategy for Healthier Longer Lives" report in February 2020. ARK continues to support the APPG through the Open Life Data Framework and Business for Health initiatives. The Policy Institute at King's provides evidence and expertise to inform global policy and practice in healthy ageing.
Publications
Selected ageing research publications from across King's:
Awards
Selected Ageing Research Funding at King's:
- HealthTech Research Centre for Dementia and Brain Health (National Institute for Health and Care Research)
- Diverging dynamic resilience: Using twins to identify frailty drivers independent of shared genetics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Wellcome Leap)
- Midlife Aging in the Dunedin Study Phase 52 (Medical Research Council)
- PREDICTOM: Prediction of neurodegenerative disease using an AI driven screening platform (Technology Strategy Board)
- Comparing the phenotypes and trajectories of human ageing associated with exercise or inactivity: with a particular focus on the biology of skeletal muscle and the immune system (Nadace The JetBrains Foundation)
- Mechanisms of vascular smooth muscle cell ageing and calcification –developing a timeline for novel therapeutic interventions (British Heart Foundation)
- TwinsUK Imaging: A Resource for Ageing Research (Chronic Disease Research Foundation)
- Mathematical modelling of muscle stem cell behaviour in ageing (Leverhulme Trust)
- The Sciences of ageing and the culture of youth: 1880 to the present day (MRC Medical Research Council)
- Microvascular dysfunction and inflammation in the brain ageing (Stavanger University Hospital),
- Decoding the role of follicle stimulating hormone in ovarian ageing (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- Modelling brain ageing using neuroimaging to improve brain health in older adults (MRC Medical Research Council)
- The influence of TRPA1 signalling on the response to cold exposure as ageing occurs (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council),
- Function of post-translational modifications of protein backbones in signalling and molecular ageing (Wellcome Trust)
- Promoting mental wellbeing in the ageing urban population: determinants, policies and interventions in European cities - MINDMAP (EC European Commission)
- Epigenetic responses to social and environmental cues in early life and over the life course: impact on healthy ageing in UK population-based cohorts (ESRC Economic and Social Research Council)
- Lifecourse biological pathways underlying social differences in healthy ageing (LIFEPATH) (EC European Commission)
- The underlying mechanisms of ageing in the inner ear (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- Colorado adoption/twin Study of lifespan behavioural development and cognitive ageing (CATSLife) (NIH National Institutes of Health)
- ATHLOS - ageing trajectories of health: longitudinal opportunities and synergies (EC European Commission)
- Multi-scale analysis of B cell responses in ageing (MRC Medical Research Council)
- Mechanisms of vascular smooth muscle cell ageing and calcification (BHF British Heart Foundation)
- The role of multi-innervated dendritic spines in memory formation in ageing (BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- Exploring frailty, mental health and related outcomes: a multi-cultural population based approach to ageing (MRC Medical Research Council)
- Midlife pace of ageing in the Dunedin study (MRC Medical Research Council)
Activities
Ageing Research at King's Events
ARK hosts events on ageing and healthy longevity across a broad spectrum of themes with a life course approach with UK and international speakers from academia, industry, foundations and governments. Talks have covered themes including entrepreneurship, commercialization, digital innovation, social impact and economics of ageing and government policy, biomarkers of ageing, age-related conditions, physical activity, nutrition, basic and clinical ageing research.
Centre for Integrative Chinese Medicine
ARK has partnered with the Centre for Integrative Chinese Medicine, a multidisciplinary research initiative across KCL and King's Health Partners which aims to integrate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with conventional clinical practice.
Early Adopters of Our Future Health
ARK Director Richard Siow and Advisory Board member Cathryn Lewis are selected as Research Ambassadors for Our Future Health's Early Adopters programme. The initiative aims to gather data from up to 5 million adults in the UK to discover new ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases and help everyone live longer and healthier lives.
ARK Longevity Week 2024
The ARK Longevity Week event in November 2024, in partnership with European Society of Preventive Medicine and Longevity Science Foundation, focused on innovations in prevention across the lifespan. The Keynote was given by Nathan Price, Buck Institute, California with industry speakers from Dexcom, Aktivo Labs and Muhdo Health
ARK partners the EMPOWER Dementia Network
The EMPOWER network will assess the growing need for high-quality dementia care, funded by the Alzheimer's Society, Economic and Social Research Council and National Institute for Health and Care Research. Led by Prof Catherine Evans, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, the project will also span the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy.
International Symposium on Metallomics
We are pleased to partner with the 9th International Symposium on Metallomics (17-21 June 2024) hosted at King's College London. The field of metals in ageing research bridges numerous disciplines and is crucial for developing solutions to human and environmental issues in ageing societies. ARK will convene a panel discussion with leading experts on metals in healthy ageing and longevity.
Centre for Ageing Resilience in a Changing Environment (CARICE)
ARK is pleased to incorporate CARICE, a new centre of excellence within the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. The centre mission is to centralise and focus ageing research across the faculty to reduce the negative collective impact of the major colliding global challenges of climate change and population ageing.
NIHR centre to aid diagnosis and treatment of dementia
The new HealthTech Research Centre for Brain Health, established through £2.9m funding from National Institute for Health and Care Research, aims to accelerate the advancement of cutting-edge technology to better understand brain health and ageing and help people live healthier lives for longer. The Centre will be associated with ARK and led by Dag Aarsland, Head, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing and ARK Co-Director.
PREDICTOM - Early Dementia Detection
The new PREDICTOM project, led by Dag Aarsland, at KCL and Stavanger University Hospital, was funded to develop AI platforms capable of identifying people at risk of dementia before the first symptoms appear. ARK will be associated with the consortium of 30 partners from more than 15 countries include universities, businesses, institutes and hospitals and is backed by €21m funding from the EU Innovative Health Initiative and industry.
ARK Longevity Week 2023 Event
ARK hosted "Sustainable Longevity: Harnessing Consumer HealthTech and FinTech" in partnership with European Society of Preventive Medicine (ESPM), Longevity Science Foundation and Longevity Forum, as part of Longevity Week in November 2023. The event included our ARK Entrepreneur in Residence and speakers from Mastercard UK, Nestle Health Sciences, Muhdo Health, Huumans, William Harvey Heart Centre at Queen Mary and ESPM.
European Society of Preventive Medicine partnership
The ESPM - ARK partnership will facilitate the intersection of basic research, clinical medicine, and community physical, mental and financial health with a focus on the prevention and prediction of chronic and age-related diseases across the lifespan. Prof Pekka Puska, ESPM President spoke at the launch event on 27 September 2023 which included a keynote by Raghib Ali OBE, CEO of Our Future Health.
MRC Award to Extend Dunedin Study
An ARK Team led by Terrie Moffitt with Avshalom Caspi, Dag Aarsland and Richard Siow have been awarded £1.4m by the MRC to quantify the pace of ageing for the Dunedin Study in 8 domains: biological aging, functional aging, facial aging, social aging, sexual aging, inflammatory aging, microvascular aging, and cognitive aging.
Physiological Society AI for Health Report
ARK Director Richard Siow Chaired the Steering Committee of a new Physiological Society report which highlights physiology’s role in unlocking the potential of artificial intelligence for health. The report was launched at the House of Lords on 27 June 2023 hosted by Viscount Stansgate and Stephen Metcalf MP. Dr Siow and ARK Entrepreneur in Residence Svitlana Surodina, were invited speakers.
Longevity Science Foundation Partnership
The ARK-LSF partnership launch was hosted by the School of Academic Psychiatry and included talks by Lisa Ireland (CEO, LSF), Guy Goodwin (CMO, COMPASS Pathways), Allan Young (Vice-Dean, Academic Psychiatry) and Dag Aarsland (Head, Old Age Psychiatry). The partnership will advance research and education in healthy ageing, longevity and psychological well-being.
Oxford Ageing Research Hub Partnership
The University of Oxford Ageing Research Collaborative Hub (ARCH) partnership aims to develop research collaborations, public engagement events, education initiatives and academic exchanges with ARK. ARCH includes the Institute of Population Ageing and Oxford Ageing Network (OxAgeN).
UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) Partnership
ARK has partnered with NICA at Newcastle University to establish joint education, research and innovation activities. This will be initiated through a King's based VOICE chapter, symposia and researcher exchanges. Together with Collider Health, NICA launched the "Quantum Healthy Longevity" initiative at a Longevity Week event hosted by ARK with Keynote by Lord James Bethell.
ARK Longevity Week 2022 Event
The ARK hybrid event "Data-Driven Longevity: Digital technologies for collaborative innovation and healthy longevity" on 18 November included a keynote lecture by Sarah Harper, Director, Institute of Ageing, University of Oxford and talks by ARK academic and industry partners. The program and recordings are available below.
SleepCity at King's partners with ARK
The Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre (SleepCity) at King's is a collaboration between Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and Sleep Disorders Centre at Guy’s Hospital. ARK related projects will explore the role of sleep on cognitive ageing, neurodegeneration and interventions for healthy longevity.
ARK Partners with Centre for Mental Health Research & Innovation
King's new Centre for Mental Health Research & Innovation led by Allan Young, Vice Dean, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, will be developing a partnership with ARK. In collaboration with the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and COMPASS Pathways, research in the Centre will include psychedelics, cannabinoids and new models of care for mental and cognitive wellness in ageing societies.
ARK partners with RADAR-AD
ARK is pleased to partner with Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse - Alzheimer’s Disease, a platform led by Prof Dag Aarsland, Head of Old Age Psychiatry at King's, to transform patient care through remote assessment using mobile technologies to identify digital biomarkers for predicting deterioration. This consortium of academic and industry members is funded by the European Commission Innovative Medicines Initiative.
Longevity Week 2021 - Innovations in Consumer Longevity Data
ARK hosted "Innovations in Consumer Longevity Data: A Global Perspective" on 19 November, highlighting the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (keynote by Ritu Sadana, WHO) and the Open Life Data Framework (APPG for Longevity). Organisations represented included University of Zurich, National University of Singapore, AXA Health, Legal & General, Nestle Health Sciences Institute, Deep Longevity, Insilico Medicine and Longevity Science Foundation. The event was opened by Prof Reza Razavi, King's Vice President (Research).
Zurich Healthy Longevity Innovation Cluster - ARK Strategic Partnership
ARK has established a strategic partnership with the University of Zurich (UZH) Innovation Hub to facilitate academic exchange and industry engagement between King's and UZH through their Healthy Longevity Innovation Cluster, Dynamics of Healthy Ageing Research Priority Program and WHO Healthy Ageing Centre. The UK Embassy in Bern celebrated the partnership in late September 2021 by hosting an event including UZH Vice President (Research), King's Global Envoy (Health) and Head of WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing.
Biological ageing R&D with Muhdo Health
ARK has established a collaboration in healthy ageing and informatics with Muhdo Health a consumer epigenetics platform. Together with ARK academics and industry partners, Muhdo aims to develop the next generation of technologies to better assess biological age by integrating biomarkers with lifestyle and environmental data through advanced data analytics.
Nobel Laureate Prof Sir Peter Ratcliffe speaks at Metallomics and Oxygen Symposium
The London Metallomics Facility and ARK jointly hosted a symposium on 5 May 2021 featuring a keynote lecture by Prof Sir Peter Ratcliffe FRS, Director of Clinical Research at the Francis Crick Institute and Director of the Target Discovery Institute at Oxford University. He won the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019 jointly with William Kaelin (Harvard University) and Gregg Semenza (Johns Hopkins University), for their 'discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability'. Prof Reza Razavi, King's VP (Research) gave the vote of thanks.
International Longevity Policy & Governance Summit - Longevity Week 2020
ARK hosted the Second Longevity Policy and Governance Summit as part of Longevity Week 2020, with the theme to address the challenges of ageing societies globally we can strive to ensure healthier, longer lives can be achieved by all. The keynote lecture was given by Prof Sir Robert Lechler, King's Provost and Senior VP (Health).
All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity: National Strategy Launch, February 2020
As a founding member of the APPG for Longevity, ARK hosted the launch of the "Health of the Nation" report with keynote lecture by the Health Secretary Rt Hon. Matt Hancock MP and talks by Damian Green MP, Lord Geoffrey Filkin, Jon Ashworth MP, Lord Kerslake, Lord O’Shaughnessy, Prof Sir Robert Lechler, KCL Provost and Senior VP (Health) and other distinguished speakers.
AI for Longevity Summit - Longevity Week 2019
ARK hosted the first AI for Longevity Summit at King's on 12 November 2019. This event included participation by financial institutions, insurance and technology companies and policy makers from across the public and private sectors. This summit led to the establishment of the Longevity AI Consortium and highlighted the importance of AI for R&D in healthy ageing. Prof Reza Razavi, King's VP (Research) and Director of the AI Centre for Value Based Healthcare participated in the summit.
International Longevity Policy & Governance Summit - Longevity Week 2019
ARK hosted the International Longevity Policy and Governance as part of Longevity Week 2019, bringing together policy experts, representatives of government bodies, healthcare and finance ministries, executives of healthcare and financial corporations to discuss initiatives for enhancing longevity. The event highlighted the international response to harnessing the opportunities of an ageing demographic, with lessons learned and shared across countries from a policy perspective – taking societal, cross sector and government approaches.
Insilico Medicine and ARK collaborate in AI for Healthy Longevity
Insilico Medicine, a biotech company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing next-generation artificial intelligence, announces its partnership with ARK - dedicated to enhancing multidisciplinary research collaborations across King’s and King’s Health Partners to better understand the mechanisms of ageing and improving health-span.
Funding for ARK research on physical activity for healthy longevity
ARK researchers in the Centre for Human & Applied Physiological Sciences at KCL have been awarded £1.5m by Nadace The JetBrains Foundation to explore the effects of inactivity on physiological function. In collaboration with University of Birmingham, researchers examined the health of older adults who regularly exercised and the impact this had on ageing.
Vascular Healthy Ageing Research at King's BHF Centre of Excellence funded by BIRAX
The King's School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences (Prof Manuel Mayr) together with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Prof Eli Keshet) were awarded funding in 2019 by the British Council BIRAX programme for a novel approach to combat age-associated deterioration of vascular function. Given the multiple roles of the vascular system, they propose that certain interventions can be geroprotective.
Launch of BIRAX Ageing Programme
The British Council UK-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Programme in Healthy Ageing was launched at the BIRAX conference hosted by ARK in September 2018. The conference was opened by David Quarrey, British Ambassador to Israel, Prof Lord Robert Winston & Prof Ruth Arnon, Co-Chairs, UK-Israel Science Council, Christian Duncumb, Director, British Council Israel and Prof Reza Razavi, King's Vice President (Research).
Keynote Event - Prof Sir Edward Byrne and Prof Sir Salvador Moncada
On 31 May 2018 ARK hosted a keynote event with talks by Prof Sir Edward Byrne AC, President & Principal of King’s and Prof Sir Salvador Moncada FRS, FMedSci, School of Medical Sciences, University of Manchester. Prof Byrne spoke about mitochondria in ageing and Prof Moncada highlighted his distinguished research on nitric oxide in physiology and pathophysiology. Prof Sir Robert Lechler, Provost & Senior Vice President (Health) and Executive Director, King's Health Partners gave the vote of thanks.
News
King's academics present their research at healthy ageing events in China
Researchers from King’s College London recently attended two events in China that shared insights into international strategies to promote healthy ageing and...
Study explores how a supplement containing components of the Mediterranean diet can affect epigenetics associated with healthy ageing
Participants taking the supplement showed changes in blood biomarkers and the epigenetic regulation of DNA, which are associated with healthy ageing.
New HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Health celebrates launch
Over 100 guests celebrated the launch of the new centre at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering (LIHE) on 11 June 2024.
King's College London part of €21 million PREDICTOM study to pioneer early detection of Alzheimer's Disease
A new AI-screening platform to be developed to identify individuals at risk of developing dementia, even before symptoms manifest.
£2.9m for new centre to aid diagnosis and treatment of dementia
New National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) HealthTech Research Centre is designed to accelerate the advancement of cutting-edge technology to...
Events
Ethical AI: Safer and Faster Innovation in Healthy Brain Ageing
Ethical AI: a safer, faster innovation in Healthy Ageing & Brain Health
Please note: this event has passed.
New Ways to Support Older People: The Role of Technology in Social Care
Join us for the 2025 Institute of Gerontology Lecture hosted in collaboration with the Gateway to Global Aging Data at King’s College London
Please note: this event has passed.
transCampus International Roadshow - Kuwait
Transcampus - ARK event in Kuwait
Please note: this event has passed.
transCampus International Roadshow - London
transCampus International Roadshow - London
Please note: this event has passed.
ARK Global
ARK Partners in Europe
- UK National Innovation Centre for Ageing
- University of Exeter, UK
- MIA - University of Coimbra, Portugal
- Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
- German Institute of Human Nutrition
- Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
- Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
- Norwegian Centre on Healthy Ageing
- Stavanger University Hospital, Norway
- TU Dresden (TransCampus), Germany
- University of Zurich, Switzerland
ARK partners in Asia & Australasia
- Monash University, Australia
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore
- National University of Singapore
- Keio University, Japan
- Peking University Health Science Center, China
- Southern University of Science & Technology, China
- Southwest Jiaotong University, China
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Quantum AI Lab, InnoHK R&D Centre
- Technion Institute of Technology, Israel
Our Partners
ARK facilitates collaborations with researchers across the breadth of King's College London, King's Health Partners and the Health Innovation Network. ARK has affiliated principal investigators in every Faculty at King's including the TransCampus and the Francis Crick Institute. We value our UK and international partners and take a holistic approach to our ageing and longevity collaborations with a view to develop innovative partnerships between academia and industry.
Our partnerships include those listed below and Twins UK, Alzheimer's Research UK, International Society on Ageing & Disease and we are the founding academic member of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity.
British Heart Foundation
National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
Twins UK
Group leads
Director, Ageing Research at King's
Director, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing
Professor of Human & Applied Physiology
Contact us
Related departments
- Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
- Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences
- Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care
- Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy
- Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences
- Faculty of Arts & Humanities
- King’s Business School
- The Dickson Poon School of Law