Syncing material keyframe animation to event/particle age

[pjkw]

Is there a way to sync for example animation of the blend of a vrayblendmaterial or the intensity of a vraylightmaterial to event/particle age?
Like if I want a particle to light up for a short time after entering a new event. 
I know one workaround would be to do a IFL sequence that changes the blend/intensity but thats not very flexible.