The Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NICOLA) project belongs to the prestigious global family of longitudinal studies of ageing. NICOLA is the largest public health study in Northern Ireland talking to people from 50 years old to 100 years and beyond. NICOLA explores the health, lifestyles and financial situation of people as they grow older.

Work undertaken at the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine on eye health, antibiotic resistance and neuroimmunology are of direct relevance to older people. In many cases, that work uses data from the NICOLA study, demonstrating how inter and cross-disciplinary research underpins what we do at Queen’s.

In 2024, Queen's University joined UKAgeNet, a brand new, cross-disciplinary initiative that brings together more than 60 National centres, institutes, networks and research groups in the varied fields of ageing research.  UKAgeNet is a national network which can speak as ‘one voice’ on policy issues related to ageing and older people.