Diversity Over Time: Changes in Individual, Organizational, and Place Contexts​

Calls to understand the diverse contexts of heterogenous older populations are longstanding. However, these contexts and the conditions that shape and characterise their form are in themselves subject to substantial change over time. The significance of these changes can be considered across three interconnected levels. At the level of the individual, this includes: variations and inequities in socio-economic circumstances and outcomes; shifts in values, preferences and demand; and the multiplicity and uncertainty of life trajectories. At the level of organisations, this includes changes in the structures and institutions of the life course and transformations in production and exchange across work, social protection, and health and social care spheres. At the level of place, this includes the potential political reconstitution of settings in older age, the shifting nature of belonging and placemaking, and the sociocultural, economic, and technological changes in daily life within place. Such changes have significant implications for not only the subjective experiences of older adults but for a range of objective outcomes related to participation and integration. They also have implications for how advanced and emerging ageing societies can leverage the resources and innovations needed to empower the rights, voice and inclusion of older populations. Without due examination of these changes, political and social agendas related to ageing risk becoming stagnated and ineffective.

Drawing on interdisciplinary and international perspectives, the 14th Ageing and Social Change Conference provides an important opportunity to facilitate this examination. The Conference, hosted by the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, will occur in the Institute for Lifecourse and Society at the University of Galway.

The Conference has four excellent international plenary speakers who will speak to these individual, organisational and place contexts, drawing out tensions and new directions in scholarship and policy. A number of these plenaries will also feature responses from renowned ageing and life-course researchers, supporting a unique dialogue and exchange of ideas. Across the programme, the 14th Ageing and Social Change Conference will offer a rich variety of symposia, individual sessions and plenary panels to allow attendees to test, challenge and expand their thinking on interdisciplinary aspects of ageing and later life.

We hope you can join us in Galway in September 2024.