Media Releases > Press Articles 2002

COTA Australia official awarded Churchill Fellowship

Fifty-Plus News, February 2002, p5

Veronica Sheen, COTA's deputy director, has been awarded the prestigious Vincent Fairfax Churchill Fellowship to visit the US and UK in 2002 to study workforce and ageing issues. She will visit and study with the major American and British organisations representing older people or providing services. As well as learning from their expertise and experiences, she will brief them on latest developments in policy affecting older Australians.

The Fellowship recognises her work to date in the area of workforce issues for older workers which has put COTA at the forefront of policy development in this area.

Ms Sheen hopes to bring back nnowledge about how to improve policies and services for older Australians, particularly in the workforce participation area.

"I was invited to give a paper at a conference in Washington on ageing of the global workforce in Washington in September 2000. I met a wide range of people and organisations working on these issues, and realised there was much more to learn, observe and discuss with them.

"Especially in America, organisations representing and advocating for older people are very powerful, with great resources, knowledge and policy influence. Working with them I hope to bring some of this expertise back to my work with COTA in Australia. In turn, this will benefit older Australian workers.

Among the groups she will meet and work with in America are the National Council on Aging, American Society on Aging (the closest equivalents to COTA), American Association of Retired Persons, National Older Workers' Career Centre, Seniors Community Service Environmental Program and the Senior Citizens Education and Research Council.

In England she will visit similar Associations including Age Concern which is the British equivalent to COTA.