Aelwyn is an experienced researcher based at the Centre for Innovative Ageing since 2012 at Swansea University, and currently works part-time at the Awen Institute at the University. He has previously worked in different sectors, including with local health boards, the Prison Service, the Bevan Foundation and the European Commission, and more recently as a research associate with the Wales Institute for Health and Social Care Research (WIHSC), University of South Wales, and in the private sector with Strategic Insight and others. He is completing doctoral research looking at the development of dementia supportive communities, from both an ageing and human geography perspective.

He has long-standing experience of working in the voluntary sector as a trustee and chairperson of a drug and alcohol agency in Cardiff, establishing the purpose-built Inroads Wellbeing Institute in 2014. As one of the founders of Pawb Cyf, he also has many years’ experience of the Welsh broadcast and media sector, working with broadcasters such as BBC Wales and S4C. This has included directing both long-term and short-term telephone support, producing a range of relevant bilingual digital content and responsibility for various interactive services, linking diverse audiences to content producers across a range of genres.

His areas of expertise include: qualitative/ethnographic research methods – depth interviewing, focus groups, participant observation and innovative methods; ageing studies; dementia friendly communities; geographical approaches to ageing; social theory, including post-structuralist and non-representational approaches; and health literacy.