Event details
Australia’s population is ageing as we live much longer – but how prepared are we and our systems to support later life and independence?
For many Aussies, making decisions about retirement, housing, and support can be complex. Access to information, financial capability, and the ability to use available resources play a crucial role in shaping experiences of ageing.
Join Associate Professor Graham Ferguson, Adjunct Professor Helen Hodgson, Associate Professor Amity James and Dr Adrienne Traill as they share research from Curtin’s Faculty of Business and Law on retirement planning, housing stability and maintaining independence.
This session will explore the realities of ageing, focusing on how people experience and navigate the systems that shape later life.
This event is for those working in policy, finance, housing, aged care, and community services, as well as anyone interested in the future of ageing in Australia.
Light refreshments will be provided.
If you can’t make it in person, you can join us online. Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive a confirmation email with the livestream link.
Date
Thursday 25 June 2026
Time
9.30am – 10.00am: Registration and activation booths (coffee and tea on arrival)
10.00am – 10.55am: Formal proceedings
10.55am – 11.15am: Networking, morning tea and activation booths
11.15am – 12.00pm: Fireside chat and Q&A
Location
The Lantern, Level 7
T.L. Robertson Library, Building 105
Curtin University
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Or online
Presenters
Associate Professor Graham Ferguson
Graham Ferguson is an Associate Professor in the School of Management and Marketing at Curtin University and leads the Unheard Consumer Research Team. This team seeks to understand the lived experience of unheard consumers in Australian society. This includes the experience of ageing consumers, their lifestyle choices, and their challenges. Since 2018, the research team has conducted thousands of interviews with older consumers and their stakeholders across the ageing journey with a continual focus on empowerment, independence, quality of life and wellbeing.
Adjunct Professor Helen Hodgson
Adjunct Professor Helen Hodgson is an expert in taxation at the Curtin Law School. Her research explores where tax and social policy intersect: employment taxes; superannuation; housing and inequality. She has contributed to policy debates in taxation, superannuation and the tax – transfer system, specifically examining these systems through a gender lens. Professor Hodgson has supervised HDR students completing projects and theses in superannuation, taxation and gender studies.
Professor Hodgson’s understanding of the policy process has been applied in a practical way through her engagement with women’s policy development. She writes regularly for The Conversation and is also experienced at communicating with policy makers through her practical experience in policy analysis and commentary.
Associate Professor Amity James
Amity James is an Associate Professor in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Discipline Lead: Property and Deputy Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre. An experienced housing researcher, Associate Professor James’ research has focussed on the housing aspirations and needs of older Australians and housing literacy and housing policy. She is a qualitative researcher using methods which highlight the voices of those with lived experience to generate policy focussed solutions based on real-world experience.
Dr Adrienne Traill
Dr Adrienne Traill is an Early Career Researcher and Sessional Academic in the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance at Curtin University. She has previously worked in the financial services industry holding senior roles in large organisations managing financial planning licences. Dr Traill has recently completed her Doctorate of Business Administration, researching retirement planning in late career women. She is a qualitative researcher focusing on the lived experiences of non-dominant groups in our society.
Professor Gretchen Benedix
Professor Gretchen Benedix is the Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research at Curtin University. She is a cosmic mineralogist and astro-geologist using the chemistry, mineralogy, spectroscopy, and petrology of meteorites to understand the formation and evolution of asteroids and other planets.
She joined Curtin in 2012 and has held a number of research fellowships. She was awarded a Senior Curtin Research Fellowship in 2014. She held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship from 2018 to 2021.
She is a member of the Space Science and Technology Centre in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Activation Booth
Yue Fan
Yue Fan is currently completing a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Actuarial Science with ongoing thesis research in superannuation adequacy and retirement income sustainability in Australia. His work examines the extent to which published retirement savings targets could sustain a certain level of lifestyle when considering investment risk and longevity risk.
By applying actuarial and statistical methods, he investigates how adequacy benchmarks compare with different probabilities of retirement outcomes. His research seeks to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of retirement preparedness and financial wellbeing.
Access
We are committed to making our events as accessible and inclusive as possible. Refer to our Access and Inclusion Guide for more information.
Contact us
To find out more about Research Rumble, contact the Research Engagement and Impact (EI) team.