BIOGRAPHY

Suzanne Garon, Ph. D. in Sociology (Frankfurt, Germany, 1992) is a full professor at the School of Social Work of the University of Sherbrooke.  Dr. Garon teaches both at the bachelor and master degree in Social work, as well as in the Ph.D. in Gerontology, where she is responsible for the epistemology seminar.  She also trains practitioners in program evaluation in Québec and in different countries (France, Mali).Dr. Garon is a specialist of evaluation research, more specifically of program evaluation in different areas.  She is a founding member of the CERTA Research group (Studies of transitions in lifelong learning) as well as researcher at the Gerontology Research Centre of the CSSS-IUGS (Sherbrooke Geriatric Research Institute of the Health and Social Services Centre).  Her research interests are in community development, participatory evaluation methods as well as in the field of social recognition of potentially excluded citizens (such as older adults).  She is the author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters and well as the co-author of several books on Non Government Organisations, Social Recognition, Seniors participation.Since 2006, she has been involved in the Age-Friendly Cities project of the WHO.  Since 2008, as the principal investigator, she is strongly involved in a research project, funded by the Older Adult Secretariat of the Québec provincial Government (SAA), to implement and evaluate the Age Friendly Cities in 7 communities in Québec (6 cities and one remote and rural region of 22 small towns and villages).  Meanwhile, the model developed by the research team is implemented in 579 cities in Quebec.  In 2013, she received a new grant to study the emergent social innovation in these Age Friendly initiatives.Dr Garon is an elected Board member of the International Federation on Ageing.

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