Jianing Zhu

Supervisors: Dr Catherine Elliott O'Dare and Dr Catherine Conlon

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Nationality: Chinese

Working Title of PhD: Understanding the Experiences of Senior Volunteers in Time Banks: A Qualitative Study Based in Shanghai

Description of Research: According to the National Bureau of Statistics (2022), by the end of 2021, China's old population aged 65 and above reached more than 200 million, accounting for 14.2% of the country's total population. Facing the considerable pressure of population aging, the existing social services for older care are not able to support the expanding service demands. In recent years, the mutual-aid elder care model has been introduced as a feasible approach to increase the elder care provision. The time bank, as one of the typical mutual-aid models, is promising to become a crucial measure to solve the issue of insufficient older care resources and to improve the quality of life of the senior population (Ou & Hu, 2017). This PhD study seeks to illuminate how the voluntary practices are understood and experienced within time banks by volunteers, including the motivations, challenges, personal perceptions and social interactions associated with their engagement. The findings of this study could inform policy makers and activist groups both nationally and internationally, who seek social change in terms of older care, as well as inform debates on building an age-friendly future.

Funder of the research: China Scholarship Council (CSC) – Trinity College Dublin Joint Scholarship.