51猎奇入口

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E: mei_fang@sfu.ca
Office: Harbour Centre, Room 2800


Mei Lan Fang

Assistant Professor | Urban Studies and Department of Gerontology | Director of the Science and Technology for Aging Research (STAR) Institute

Dr. Mei Lan Fang is an Assistant Professor in Urban Aging in the Urban Studies Program and Department of Gerontology at 51猎奇入口, where she also serves as Undergraduate Chair for the BA in Urban Worlds program. She is Director of the Science and Training for Aging Research (STAR) Institute and a Visiting Scholar in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Dundee, Scotland.

Dr. Fang is an internationally recognized scholar in urban aging, environmental gerontology, and community-engaged research. Her research advances interdisciplinary approaches to creating healthy, inclusive, climate-resilient, and age-friendly communities through partnerships with older adults, community organizations, governments, industry, and health systems. Her program spans healthy aging and age-friendly communities, aging in the right place, housing, climate resilience, environmental sustainability, AgeTech, digital inclusion, health equity, and community wellbeing. She employs community-based participatory research, qualitative inquiry, citizen science, creative methodologies, participatory mapping, ArcGIS StoryMaps, geographic information systems (GIS), and integrated knowledge mobilization to co-create innovative solutions with communities.

Dr. Fang is the Principal Investigator of the COALESCE (Championing Older Adults for Leadership in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Empowerment) Project, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)-funded initiative that empowers older adults as citizen scientists and co-researchers to address climate change, housing, and environmental health through community-engaged research. She is also Co-Principal Investigator of IncludeAge (Intersectional Perspectives for Community Inclusion: Understanding the Past, Shaping the Future with Older Marginalised People), a major UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded national research programme examining the experiences of older adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and LGBTQ+ older adults to advance inclusive, age-friendly communities through intersectional and participatory approaches.

Her work is guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). She has secured competitive research funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Health Research BC, AGE-WELL, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Michael Smith Health Research BC, and other national and international funding agencies. Her research has been published extensively in leading interdisciplinary journals, including Urban Studies, Social Science & Medicine, The Gerontologist, BMC Public Health, Frontiers in Public Health, Qualitative Inquiry, Wellbeing, Space & Society, and Healthcare Management Forum.

Current Appointments

  • Assistant Professor in Urban Aging and Undergraduate Chair, Urban Studies and Department of Gerontology, 51猎奇入口 (2023鈥損resent)
  • Director, Science and Training for Aging Research (STAR) Institute, 51猎奇入口 (2026鈥損resent)
  • Visiting Scholar, School of Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland

Education

  • PhD (Urban Studies) Heriot-Watt University
  • MA (Public Health) 51猎奇入口
  • BSc (Health Sciences, Honours) 51猎奇入口

Research

Urban aging; healthy aging and age-friendly cities and communities; aging in the right place; housing and supportive environments; climate resilience and healthy aging; environmental gerontology; social infrastructure; AgeTech and responsible innovation; digital inclusion; health equity; community-based participatory research; citizen science; co-creation and knowledge mobilization; qualitative and creative methodologies; GIS and environmental health

Current/selected grants

Contract/Grant: Grant   Awarded: 2026    Period: 2026-2028

Project Title: Making Macbeth: Negotiating Agency and Aesthetics in Mixed-Ability Creative Spaces
Funding: SSHRC Insight Development Grant   Type: Grant    Total: $70,905 CAD
Involvement: Co-Investigator (Co-Investigator: James Long)

Contract/Grant: Grant   Awarded: 2025    Period: 2025-2026

Project Title: COALESCE Project (Phase l)
Funding: CIHR Catalyst Grant   Type: Grant    Total: $124,955 CAD
Involvement: Principal Investigator

Contract/Grant: Grant   Awarded: 2025    Period: 2025

Project Title: COSCO BC at 75
Funding: CIHR Institute of Aging Knowledge Mobilization Grant   Type: Grant    Total: $14,995 CAD
Involvement: Co-Principal Investigator (Co-Principal Investigator: Leslie Gaudette)

Contract/Grant: Grant   Awarded: 2024    Period: 2024

Project Title: Exploring the Role of Seniors Centres within the Primary Healthcare System
Funding: Health Research BC C2 Grant   Type: Grant    Total: $19,760 CAD
Involvement: Principal Investigator

Contract/Grant: Grant   Awarded: 2022    Period: 2022-2026

Project Title: Intersectional Perspectives for Community Inclusion
Funding: UKRI ESRC   Type: Grant    Total: 拢1,672,027
Involvement: Co-Principal Investigator (Co-Principal Investigator: Judith Sixsmith)

Selected Publications

Books

  • Sixsmith, A., Sixsmith, J., Mihailidis, A., & Fang, M.L. (2021). Knowledge, Innovation, and Impact in Health - A Guide for the Engaged Researcher. New York: Springer.
  • Sixsmith, A., Sixsmith, J., Fang, M.L. & Horst, B., (2020). AgeTech for Dementia and Cognitive Health. San Rafael: Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

Book Chapters

  • Alotaibi, T., Sixsmith, J., Cetnarsjyk, R., & Fang, M. L. (accepted). Hospital-to-home healthcare transitions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: The experiences of older people, their families and healthcare providers. In D. Jindal-Snape (Ed.), Multi-dimensional Transitions Handbook.
  • Fang, M. L., White, R., & Yan, A. (accepted). The parents "are all right": An insightful analysis of the true housing situation for older Canadians. In R. Gilroy, O. Jolanki, & C. Bigonnesse (Eds.), The Research Handbook on Housing and Ageing. Edward Elgar.
  • Sixsmith, J., Woolrych, R., & Fang, M. L. (2022). Social transformation and urban regeneration: Well-being and women's marginalization in community contexts. In M. Morrow, O. Hankivsky, & C. Varcoe (Eds.), Women's Health in Canada: Challenges of Intersectionality (2nd ed., pp. 346鈥�368). University of Toronto Press.
  • Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., Canham, S. L., & Woolrych, R. (2021). Aging in the right place: Participatory and community mapping for collaborative working and knowledge co-creation. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Handbook of Social Inclusion: Research and Practices in Health and Social Sciences. Springer.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

  • Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., Vytniorgu, R., Tai, J., Almack, K., Chadwick, D., Buell, S., Makita, M., Thomas, B., Scrutton, P., Zhu, L., & Cranwell, M. (accepted). Ageing, identity, and place: Extending intersectional perspectives in age-friendly urbanism through the lived experiences of mid-older adults with intellectual disabilities and LGBT+ identities. Manuscript accepted for publication in Urban Studies.
  • Fang, M. L., Stone, E., White, R., Bryanton, O., Mann, J., Moulton, M., Chu, C., Boger, J., Sixsmith, J., Loret, H., & Sixsmith, A. (accepted). Aging well in technology-driven places: A review of reviews and stakeholder consultation toward responsible innovation for aging. Wellbeing, Space & Society.
  • Vytniorgu, R., Makita, M., Sixsmith, J., & Fang, M. L. (2025). I come from: Using collaborative auto/biographical poetry to foster transdisciplinarity and build inclusion. Qualitative Inquiry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778004241310
  • Sixsmith, J., Makita, M., Woolrych, R., Loret, H., & Fang, M. L. (2024). Intergenerationality in the context of age-friendly cities and communities: Older people's experiences and
  • perspectives on place and community living in the UK. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 23(3), 312鈥�328. https://doi.org/10.1080/15350770.2024.2396126
  • Fang, M. L., Rogowsky, R., Sixsmith, J., McKay, R., & Gratzke, M. (2024). Using creative methodology to explore LGBTQ+ love and relationship experiences across the lifespan: Developing inclusive and healthy spaces through positive intergenerational exchange. Social Science & Medicine 鈥� Qualitative Research in Health, 6, 100463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100463
  • Fang, M. L., Canham, S. L., & Battersby, L. (2023). Supporting intersecting cultural needs of gender and age by increasing cultural safety and humility for Housing First initiatives. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 1鈥�17.
  • Sixsmith, J., Makita, M., Menezes, D., Cranwell, M., Chau, I., Smith, M., ... & Fang, M. L. (2023). Enhancing community participation through age-friendly ecosystems: A rapid realist review. Geriatrics, 8(3), 52.
  • Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., & Woolrych, R. (2023). Understanding place histories to inform positive ageing-in-place transitions: An intersectional place perspective of forced relocation experiences. International Journal of Educational and Life Transitions, 2(1).
  • Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., Hamilton-Pryde, A., Rogowsky, R., Scrutton, P., Woolrych, R., & Pengelly, R. (2023). Co-creating transnational opportunities for inclusive place-making: Towards an intergenerational, age-friendly living ecosystem. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 996520.
  • Fang, M. L., Walker, M., Wong, K. L. Y., Sixsmith, J., Remund, L., & Sixsmith, A. (2022). Future of digital health and community care: Exploring intended positive impacts and unintended negative consequences of COVID-19. Healthcare Management Forum, 35(5), 279鈥�285.
  • Fang, M. L., Canham, S., Battersby, L., Sixsmith, J., Wada, M., & Sixsmith, A. (2019). Exploring privilege in the digital divide: Implications for theory, policy, and practice. The Gerontologist, 59(1), e1鈥揺15.
  • Fang, M. L., Coatta, K., Badger, M., Wu, S., Easton, M., Nygard, L., Astell, A., & Sixsmith, A. (2017). Informing understandings of mild cognitive impairment for older adults: Implications from a scoping review. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 36(7), 808鈥�839.
  • Fang, M. L., Woolrych, R., Sixsmith, J., Canham, S., Battersby, L., & Sixsmith, A. (2016). Place-making with older persons: Establishing sense of place through participatory community mapping workshops. Social Science & Medicine, 168, 223鈥�229.
  • Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., Sinclair, S., & Horst, G. (2016). A knowledge synthesis of culturally- and spiritually-sensitive end-of-life care: Findings from a scoping review. BMC Geriatrics, 16, 107.
  • Fang, M. L., Sixsmith, J., Lawthom, R., Mountian, I., & Shahrin, A. (2015). Experiencing 'pathologised presence and normalised absence': Understanding health-related experiences and access to health care among Iraqi and Somali asylum seekers, refugees and persons without legal status. BMC Public Health, 15, 923.
  • Fang, M. L., Malcoe, L., Sixsmith, J., Wong, L., & Callender, M. (2015). Exploring traditional end-of-life beliefs, values, expectations and practices amongst Chinese women living in England: Informing culturally safe care. Palliative & Supportive Care, 13(5), 1261鈥�1274.
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