The Opening Address will be delivered by the Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People in Ireland, Minister Helen McEntee T.D.

Helen McEntee TD was appointed Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People in May 2016. She was elected to Dáil Éireann in March 2013. Deputy McEntee was appointed by An to the Committee on Transport and Communications. She is also a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

In 2007 Helen graduated from DCU with a B.A (Hons) degree in Law, Politics and Economics. She holds a Master’s degree in Communications and Journalism. Helen’s legislative achievements since becoming a TD two years ago include the Pyrite Resolution Act, which provides a €10m fund for correction works on homes in the Meath-Kildare-Dublin region that are affected by pyrite. Deputy McEntee also contributed amendments to the Road Traffic Act 2014, to support younger drivers and promote road safety.

Other Key Note Addresses will be given by:

Professor Brendan McCormack D.Phil (Oxon.), BSc (Hons.), FRCN, FEANS, PGCEA, RMN, RGN. Head of the Division of Nursing; Head of the Graduate School; Associate Director, Centre for Person-centred Practice Research, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. Honorary Nurse Consultant (Gerontology), NHS Fife. Professor II, University College of South East Norway, Drammen, Norway; Extraordinary Professor, Department of Nursing, University of Pretoria, South Africa; Professor of Nursing, Maribor University, Slovenia; Visiting Professor, Ulster University. Brendan’s internationally recognised work in person-centred practice development and research has resulted in successful long-term collaborations in Ireland, the UK, Norway, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia and South Africa. His writing and research work focuses on person-centred practice, gerontological nursing, and practice development and he serves on a number of editorial boards, policy committees, funding panels and development groups in these areas. He has a particular focus on the use of arts and creativity in healthcare research and development. Brendan has more than 600 published outputs, including 180 peer-reviewed publications and 10 books. He is the ‘Editor Emeritus’ of the “International Journal of Older People Nursing”. Brendan is a Fellow of The European Academy of Nursing Science. In 2014 he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, awarded the ‘International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame’ by Sigma Theta Tau International and listed in the Thomson Reuters 3000 most influential researchers globally. He is currently in the top 100 ‘most cited’ nurse researchers globally. In 2015 he was recognized as an ‘Inspirational Nursing Leader’ by Nursing Times (UK nursing magazine). Professor McCormack will present a Key Note on: “Listening to and Learning from Older People – a person-centred approach”

Professor: Joost Van Hoof Joost van Hoof serves as a full professor (lector) ad interim of Evidence-Based design for Health Care with the Centre for Healthcare & Technology of Fontys University of Applied Sciences. Up to 2015, he served as the head of this centre. Fontys EGT is collaboration between 8 Institutes (Faculties) of Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Eindhoven, Tilburg and Venlo, which involves the design and evaluation of care technology. He is programme leader of the innovation programme Nursing Home of the Future, which includes the development of two living labs for nursing home innovations (interior design, architecture and technology), which take place in co-creation between the industry, nursing home staff and residents, and students/researchers. The programme also encompasses an honours programme for students. Van Hoof attained his doctoral degree from Eindhoven University of Technology (in cooperation with Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and University Medical Centre Utrecht) with a dissertation on ageing-in-place for people with dementia in 2010. He attained his MSc degree at the same university (Department of Architecture, Building and Physics, Unit of Building Physics and Systems). He also studied Environmental Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) at the Czech Technical University in Prague. From 2004 until 2012, Van Hoof worked as a (post-doctoral) researcher with the Research Group of Demand-Driven Care of the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. Within the research group, Van Hoof was involved with topics in the area of housing, technology and older adults with dementia. From January 2012 to October 2013, Van Hoof worked with the ISSO – the Dutch Building Services Research Institute in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Key to the work are inclusive and participatory design for older people, designing technologies and housing that stress the needs and abilities of people; not their limitations. For his work, Dr van Hoof won various (inter)national awards, including the best education innovation award by the Netherlands Association for Medical Education, the REHVA Young Scientist Award 2011 by the Federation of European Heating and Air-Conditioning Associations, and the 2010 BJ Max Prize. He is a board member of various ISI journals on building, technology and health care, including a position as associate editor of Indoor and Built Environment. Professor Joost Van Hoof will present a Key Note on: Design for and with older people: housing and technology.

Professor Eamon O’Shea Personal Professor, Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, NUI Galway. Eamon O’Shea is a Personal Professor in the School of Business & Economics and was inaugural Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG) at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He holds an M.A. from University College Dublin, a M.Sc. from the University of York and a PhD from the University of Leicester. He has published over 80 scientific papers in refereed journals, including publications in top-ranked journals such as the Journal of Health Economics, Social Science and Medicine, Age and Ageing, Ageing and Society, Health Policy and the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Professor O’Shea has authored/co-authored 15 books and monographs, mainly in the field of ageing, dementia and social policy. His work has been influential in setting the agenda for the reform of services and policies for people with dementia in Ireland. He was Chair of the National Economic and Social Forum Expert Group on Care of the Elderly in 2005/06 and co-authored the influential Creating Excellence in Dementia Care report in 2012. He is currently a member of the Implementation Group for the Irish National Dementia Strategy. He will present a key note on Psychosocial Interventions in Dementia Care

Ms Deirdre Lang Director of Nursing for the National Clinical Programme for Older People (NCPOP) and Leadership Development nursing profession Older Persons Ms Deirdre Lang RGN, BNS (Hons) Dip Mgt, HDip Gerontological Nursing, HETAC level 6 Special award in coaching. Deirdre initially trained in St Vincent’s hospital as a Registered General Nurse. During the early part of her career she spent a number of years working in acute services both in Australia and in Ireland. She has had a variety of experiences in healthcare having worked in mental health nursing and also in practice development in the roles of Clinical Placement Co- ordinator and Facilitator for Newly appointed Staff Nurses in AMNCH. In her role as Project Officer with the Nursing Midwifery Planning Development Unit (NMPDU) she managed a Government to Government recruitment initiative across a number of Irish service providers and Spain, which she feels has provided her with a strategic over view of the health services. Her experience in Older Persons Services includes the role of CNM 2, Assistant Director of Nursing and Director of Nursing both in the HSE and private sector. Her passion for Older Person services and nurses working in this specialist area saw her set up a subgroup within the Irish Association of Directors of Nursing & Midwifery (IADNAM). The aim of this group is to provide a forum and network for Directors of Nursing in this sector to support each other in managing unprecedented challenges and change. As a qualified coach she has provided support through her coaching to colleagues both formally and informally. Her role as Director of Nursing of the NCPOP and its joint role of leadership development of older persons nursing brings together all aspects of her experience to date together with her passion for the older patient and those who provide their care. Her approach to life is Henry Fords “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t ………you are right” She is presently undertaking her Masters in Leadership (RCSI). She will present a key note on "Strategic vision and educational framework for gerontological nursing'.

Mr Ken Finegan Irish photographer Ken Finegan was born in 1959. His love of photography started while working in Dublin. In 1985 Ken joined the Drogheda Independent newspaper group as staff photographer and within a few years started his own company where he gained experience in a wide variety of photographic fields. 2005 saw Ken enter a phase when he became an educator in photography at Ó Fiaich Institute of Further Education where he is course co- ordinator for the QQI Level 5 and 6 Photographic Studies course and changed the focus of his practice to fine art documentary photography after successfully completing a BA (Hons) in Photography at the West Wales School of the Arts, University of Glamorgan. Ken has also successfully completed his studies at the University of Ulster, York Street Campus, Belfast (January 2012) with an MFA in Documentary Photography studying under Professor Paul Seawright, Donovan Wylie, Professor Terence Wright and Dr. Alastair Herron. Ken will present Key Note on: ‘The Person Inside’ which discusses personhood and person- centered care visually. Each of the images represents a single person or persons affected by Alzheimer’s disease and their struggle to deal with it.