European conference ‘Active Ageing – The Potential for Society’
The Irish Research Council was the local host for a major international conference organised by NET4SOCIETY - an EU supported network of the National Contact Points for research in the social sciences and humanities. This was an ESOF (European Science Open Forum) satellite event on the theme ‘Active Ageing – The Potential for Society’.
The event took place in Dublin Castle within the context of 2012 ‘European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between the Generations’.
It was targeted at the policy community, researchers and international participants drawn from the socio-economic sciences and humanities (SSH).
Professor Karen Fleming, Director, Art and Design Research Institute, University of Ulster, Dr Ekaterina Kozina, Higher Education Research Centre, DCU, Dr Trudy Corrigan, School of Education, DCU
The Welcome address to the conference was given by Ms Angela Schindler-Daniels, Coordinator of NET4SOCIETY the FP7 (Framework Programme 7) National Contact Point for Germany. She highlighted that the challenges of demographic change and ageing societies for welfare-states are now being addressed at European and international levels within the context of the “European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations”. In this context, the main focus of the current political and academic debates on the challenges of demographic changes are to celebrate older age, to enhance the capacity of older people to innovate and promote their contributions and intergenerational solidarity within the society at large.
The conference focused on current opportunities for research within current European research agendas within four key topics: i) Employment, ii) Social Participation, iii) Intergenerational Solidaity and, iv) Economy and Innovation.
Professor Maria Slowey, Director of HERC, gave an invited presentation as part of the Social Participation strand, on the topic of ‘Social Participation and Learning over the Lifecourse: Exploring new roles for higher education’. Professor Slowey spoke on the potential role of lifelong learning within the lifecourse in providing the opportunities for a greater inclusion and participation in education. Her presentation explored research priorities within the theme of social participation in SSH focusing on 1) the role of higher education and 2) the work in relation to age friendly cities, also inclusive of areas of age friendly communities and countries.
During the presentation, Maria has also discussed key transition pointers over the lifecourse and provided an illustrative example of a life-stage model based on Schuller and Watson in the UK (with age markers at 18-24; 25-50; 50-74 and 75 and over). She highlighted that second chance learners, those without higher education qualifications, minority and underrepresented groups from the lower socio-economic groups should gain a greater focus in terms of equality of access to higher education.
Dr Ekaterina Kozina, Postdoctoral Researcher in HERC and Dr Trudy Corrigan, School of Education, DCU also participated in a brokerage event aimed at developing new international research partnerships.