International TCD Conference on Changing Lives in Ageing Societies
Posted on: 14 May 2008
A conference entitled ‘Changing Lives in Ageing Societies: Exploring the Relationships between Research, Policy and Practices’ was held this week. The conference which was opened by Dr Garret Fitzgerald was organised by the Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre (SPARC) at TCD’s School of Social Work and Social Policy featured international speakers from the US, UK as well as Ireland.
The purpose of the conference was to explore the relationship between research, policy and practices: how research can influence policies on ageing, and how issues concerning older people can be researched in a way that maximises the potential of research to influence policies and practices ‘on the ground’.
Commenting on the significance of the event, TCD’s Director of SPARC, Dr Virpi Timonen stated: “Until very recently, care of older people was a purely private, family matter but now it has become a matter of public policy. We have a very limited understanding of what works, and why, and how to go about improving care services for older people. Research, therefore, has a key role to play in achieving a better understanding of these challenges, and policies that work i.e. in bringing about improved quality of life for the older population. This conference brings together experts from the US and UK and shows that some of the lessons learnt in those countries will be useful for this country as Ireland prepares for population ageing”.
Speakers from the OECD, Cornell University in the US, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Brunel University in the UK, and Trinity College Dublin referred to specific policy areas – pensions, long-term care, aspects of healthcare provision/treatments and local or national cases of policy change/inertia – to illustrate their arguments.
Dr Elaine Wethington of Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Ageing stated that:”In the United States, emphasis has been placed on developing community-based research approaches to issues affecting older people. In Cornell University, we have established collaborative arrangements between communities and researchers with the ultimate aim of improving services for older New Yorkers. Our aim is to produce scientifically-based, high-quality research that is practical enough to engage and benefit communities”.
Ms Sue Collins of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the UK stated that:”Research and researchers can influence policy, but effective influencing is resource intensive and therefore calls for increased funding for research that seeks to be relevant to policies and practices on the ground”.
Mr Andrew Reilly of the pensions unit of the Social Policy Division, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs at OECD stated that: “Research focuses the attention of governments. In the case of child poverty, key research reports helped to bring about a greater level of awareness and action against poverty. A similar level of awareness must be raised with regard to poverty in old age”.
The event was of particular interest to policymakers, academics and organisations involved in the development and formulation of community supports and policies for older people.