Age and ageing

By 2035 people aged 65 and over will account for 23 per cent of the UK population (ONS, 2012). Within this group, the numbers of people over 85 – sometimes called the ‘oldest old’ is growing faster than any other.

This growth in population ageing is often framed as a demographic time bomb, which will create an unaffordable ‘burden’ on society and health and care resources. But what do we know about the experiences of ageing and living into old age? How can older people’s voices challenge negative stereotypes and assumptions about old age?

We are committed to researching contemporary critical challenges in relation to the psychosocial aspects of ageing, social relations and the lived experiences of growing older.

Bunty Bateman, Co-researcher

Care ethics

Care is a contested concept and can refer to services, practices, relationships and values. It is central to people’s wellbeing, resisted because of an association with dependence and necessary to social justice in conditions of vulnerability. Care ethics recognise the significance of care to both personal relationships and political decisions, and names care as a matter of morality as well as service delivery.

We are developing research using feminist care ethics to explore the significance of care in relation to ageing, older people and intergenerational relationships. This includes thinking about our own participatory research practice with older co-researchers as not just a matter of good research design, but of ethical practice. Care ethics start from a recognition that human beings need other people to survive and flourish and that we all need care. It goes on to suggest how ‘care thinking’ offers a way of thinking about what is necessary to achieve social justice, as well as what caring relationships look like. Interest in care ethics is growing internationally and across disciplinary fields. We are contributing to these developments and applying care ethics to lived experience, service delivery and policy. We held a major international conference in 2012 attracting over 100 academics and practitioners from 17 countries.

Research projects

Wellbeing

We have been working in partnership with Age UK Brighton and Hove for a number of years developing participatory research with older co-researchers that contributes to older people’s wellbeing. Relationships with families, friends, strangers, and service providers are vital to wellbeing in old age. Inter-generational relationships between older and younger people are increasingly the focus of policy in areas such as social welfare and the design of urban spaces. Our work explores the lived experience of changing relationships amongst older and younger people, as well as the significance of values such as care, reciprocity and trust in relationships between older people and those who support and care for them, and in shaping public policy for an ageing society. 

With funding from the ESRC we set up a Knowledge Exchange with older people and social care practitioners to develop learning resources from the research findings. These are being used in social care practice and for those working or supporting older people.

Research projects

Dementia

Research projects

Technology and ageing

Older people can both contribute to and benefit from cultural and technological innovation. Technology has an increasing role to play in the lives of older people, helping transcend the physical limitations on accessing spaces beyond the home, or assistive technologies that can reduce the impact of physical frailty. We are contributing to such developments through a number of different projects.

Research projects

Challenging ageism

‘Active ageing’ has become a key plank of public health policy as people are living longer, often with chronic conditions, and as politicians debate the ‘burden’ of the ageing population and the cost of providing appropriate long-term care to such people. At the same time, lifestyle media (LSM) - such as TV makeover programmes - often aimed at women, encourage active engagement in activities that are presented as slowing the process of ageing, framing such engagements as ‘healthy’. We are developing research that addresses the need to develop theoretical and methodological tools to interrogate how ‘active ageing’ is mobilised - both within and across policy and lifestyle media - and with what consequences.