SIA (Social Inequalities in Ageing) network

The ageing population is one of the greatest societal challenges of our time.

This demographic change is in itself a success story, but it also poses major challenges to our societies, and not least to the Nordic welfare model.

Our aim with the SIA (Social Inequalities in Ageing) network is to stimulate research and capacity building on social research on ageing in the Nordics. We have a strong focus on inequalities and comparative multidisciplinary social research on ageing.

The network includes leading researchers from the Nordic countries, and with a large participation of junior researchers.

We will also actively work to bring the research to relevant actors outside academia.SIA started as a large Nordic research program that also included many junior researchers. SIA has then continued as a network for almost three years with the support of FORTE.

During this time, we have, among other things, organized 3 successful workshops where junior researchers from the Nordic countries have presented ongoing research and perhaps most importantly been given the opportunity to exchange ideas with each other and get impulses for new research ideas and collaborations.

On each occasion, two senior researchers have also given keynotes.

This capacity building will be intensified in the proposed network.Among the research fields central to ageing research that the network will address are: trends in health and mortality and not least social inequalities in these trends; life course influences on the health and living conditions of older people; the relationship between formal and informal care and effects on inequality; how the organization, reforms, fragmentation and privatisation of social care and health care affect social inequality; long-term effects of the pandemic; poverty and social exclusion among older people.The network will organize annual junior and senior workshops and additionally use newsletters and website to achieve the above-mentioned aims.