Sustainable Ageing
There is an ongoing debate, within and outside academia, about population ageing and its economic, political and environmental sustainability.
But how can societies ensure ageing well for all? How do technologies shape a new ageing society? What is the role of social and inter-generational relationships within and beyond the family to age well? Which links exist between ageing and climate change? And what policies can be implemented to guarantee sustainable ageing?
The Working Group on Sustainable Ageing aims to focus on these overarching questions, analysing the potentials and the challenges of ageing at the individual, family,and society levels.The outputs will be discussed vis-à-vis their policy implications in a comparative perspective across European countries but also in an intersectional approach that accounts for variables such as gender and socio-economic status.
The Working Group also aims to favour a debate on Sustainable Ageing between researchers, stakeholders (e.g. NGOs) and policy makers.
Organisation
The activities of the group are coordinated by a Steering Committee formed by Valeria Bordone (University of Vienna, Austria), Bruno Arpino (University of Padua, Italy), and Pearl Dykstra (Erasmus University, The Netherlands).
As a main activity, we plan to meet every two years in a pre-conference workshop at the European Population Conference. In between EPCs, in-person or on-line workshops will be organised. All EAPS members as well as scholars from other disciplines who work on aspects related to sustainable ageing may join the Working Group and participate in its events. Representatives of NGOs and other organisations are also welcome to attend. Joining the group’s events usually is free of charge while participants are expected to cover their own travel and related costs. In addition to the EAPS communication channels, events organised by this working group will be announced via a mailing list maintained by the steering committee and through social media.
This group is also actively collaborating with Population Europe and the Joint Programming Initiative More Years, Better Lives (JPI MYBL), which will facilitate dissemination of activities and involvements of stakeholders and policy makers. For information, contact the members of the Steering Committee.
Members
Giorgio di Gessa (UCL, UK), Emily Grundy (University of Essex, UK), Hans Hämäläinen (University of Turku, Finland), Karsten Hank (University of Cologne, Germany), Luule Sakkeus (Tallinn University, Estonia), Elizabeth Wilkins (INED, France)
Events
Upcoming events
First International Conference of the Sustainable Ageing EAPS Working Group to be held in Padua (Italy) on September 11-12, 2025.
Program
People interested in attending the event should register at this link.
Please note that there is a limited number of places available and the registration works on a first-come-first-served basis.
There is no registration fee for the event. However, participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses.
There will be a social dinner on the evening of 11 September. A separate RSVP form will be sent in due course to people registered at the conference.
Past events
The first event of the Sustainable Ageing Working Group has been a workshop organized as a side meeting at the European Population Conference (EPC) 2024 in Edinburgh on 12 June 2024 at 15:00-16:30.
The event began with an introduction to the group and its aims, followed by a keynote talk by Raya Muttarak on population ageing and climate change and a short input-talks on intergenerational relationships, technological change, and on making sense of science for policy. The event concluded with a group discussion and a brainstorming on collaborations for the study of sustainable ageing.
Steering Committee
Valeria Bordone (valeria.bordone@univie.ac.at)
University of Vienna, Austria
Bruno Arpino (bruno.arpino@unipd.it)
University of Padua, Italy
Pearl Dykstra (dykstra@essb.eur.nl)
Erasmus University, The Netherlands