September 18 - 20, 2024

University of Galway, Institute for Lifecourse and Society (ILAS)
Galway, Ireland

Description

Welcome to the micro-site for Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference. 

Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference is a forum for discussion of challenges and opportunities for a rapidly growing segment of the population worldwide. The process of aging is a concern for individuals, families, communities, and nations. The social context of aging provides a rich background for community dialogue on this, one of the critical questions of our time. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries.

Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference features research addressing the following annual themes and special focus:

• 2024 Special Focus—Diversity Over Time: Changes in Individual, Organizational, and Place Contexts
• Theme 1: Promoting Active Aging

• Theme 2: Ensuring Quality Long-Term Care

• Theme 3: Beyond Technology for Aging Societies

• Theme 4: Aging and the Multi-Faceted Challenges Posted by Climate Change

• Theme 5: Older People in Emergency Situations

• Theme 6: Mainstreaming Aging

We are interested in the following lines of investigation:   

• Changing demographic profile of populations around the world will have significant economic impacts, at the community, regional, national, or international level.

• The aging of populations is going to require changes in the public discourse regarding government policy and community support for the aged. Public policies may be related to legal rights, economic provision of health care, or guarantees of access to housing and social services. Community support may be related to policies and programs that enable civic engagement, provide continuing education, or support diversity.

• The growing proportion of people living longer has significant implications for the provision of health services, and for strategies to maintain health and well-being into old age. Medical developments in a variety of areas impact the ways in which aging is viewed and managed from individual and societal perspectives.

• An aging population will also have significant social and cultural impacts—on all age groups, as well as the aged themselves. Increased demands on family and community resources are viewed--and managed--differently across cultures, as is end-of-life care. For the aging individual, changes in social relationships, living arrangements, and levels of independence must be navigated.

Aging & Social Change: Fourteenth Interdisciplinary Conference also supports a book imprint and a collection of journals.