ILP photography project award

DCU's Intergenerational Learning Programme has been awarded a grant from Ashoka U and Photowings to realise an intergenerational photography project. The project, submitted by Dr Cathy Fowley and Dr Trudy Corrigan from the School of Education, and Dr Emer Ni Bhradaigh from Fiontar, was one of nine projects worldwide selected by Ashoka U on the theme of 'Insights: Past, Present and Future Self through Photography', which aims to highlight the values of trust, empathy, legacy, and storytelling through the power of photographs.

ILP's project, 'Old and New', will link older people and DCU students through shared family albums and personal photographs. Old and new photographs, paired and commented by both generations, will be published on the project blog. A second part of the project will invite young and older participants to submit a new photograph to a competition on the theme of age and identity: “What’s your age?” The photographs will be shown in an exhibition on campus in December.

The grant will be used for the printing and framing of photographs, and management of the project. The production team will include DCU Fotosoc, as well as students and staff in DCU.

Dr Fowley sees this photography project as a means of raising awareness of intergenerational issues, and initiating a reflection on time, age, generations, and the power of image in the personal narrative; "It is very much aligned with the ethos of DCU ILP, and will provide an opportunity to further engage the older population with the university".

Dr Corrigan, founder and coordinator of the programme, said, “The demographic change and our ageing population, both nationally and internationally, highlights the need to value the potential for shared knowledge, expertise, cultural exchange and love of learning that older people can bring to a university campus.”