Social Inequalities in a Globalised World

Date: Sunday 5 July
Venue: RAI Amsterdam and online
Time: 09:00 – 16:00
Maximum number of participants: 25 in person. No limit on online participants
Organizer: Norah Keating, Director, Global Social Issues on Ageing, International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics

Target audience:
The workshop is for people who are:
enrolled in a PhD programme or within 10 years after completion of their PhD,
undertaking research, policy development or practice that is relevant to the social inequalities addressed in the master class,
planning to attend the IAGG World Congress

Agenda

The Congress theme presents a vision of a world in which people are interconnected, knowledge is shared, and ageing is both understood and celebrated. This master class responds, engaging with global leaders to identify challenges to this vision and strategies to address them. Senior scholars and representatives of global policy organisations will discuss their insights, agendas and pathways to solutions. This is a rare opportunity for a small group of Early Career Scholars to interact with leaders in global policy issues that frame our research and can have powerful impact on the lives of older persons.

Background

Social inequalities reflect uneven access to personal and material resources that are fundamental to ageing well. They exclude people from the societies in which they live and truncate opportunities for a good old age. While there has been progress toward enshrining human rights of older persons, inequalities persist.

This master class features representatives from UN and other international agencies and global scholars whose mission is to address social inequalities of older persons. They will talk with participants about their work in framing broad social policy agendas relevant to the lives of older people. These include income security/poverty; social connections/loneliness; place/ageing in the right place; and social care/decent work for informal and paid carers.

Objectives

To inspire early career scholars to pursue research careers aimed at understanding and addressing inequalities among older persons
To introduce early career scholars to global policy leaders who are working to make injustices visible and actionable
To provide an opportunity for early career scholars to build their international professional networks.

Speakers

Norah Keating, Director IAGG Global Social Issues on Ageing
Judith Phillips, Professor of Social & Environmental Gerontology, University of Stirling
Shereen Hussein, Professor of Health and Social Care Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Amal Abou Rafeh, Chief, Programme on Ageing, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
Kai Leichsenring, Executive Director, European Centre for Social Policy and Research
Maciej Kucharczyk, Secretary General, Age-Platform Europe

[1] This Master Class is offered by Global Social Issues on Ageing (GSIA), a core activity of the IAGG. GSIA supports the IAGG mission of promoting outstanding global research and training toward ensuring the well-being and quality-of-life of older persons. It aims to highlight regional and international issues in social, cultural and humanist aspects of aging.

Registration pre-conference & IAGG2026