Reducing Old-Age Exclusion

ROSEnet: Reducing Old-Age Social Exclusion: Collaborations in Research and Policy

ROSEnet is a European Union Horizon 2020 funded project.

About the Project

The exclusion of older people in our society is something that is sadly prevalent across Europe, and while the risks of exclusion of older people are widening and deepening, damaging gaps in our understanding of social exclusion in later life exists across Europe.

Existing knowledge is poorly developed and innovation and research in this area has stagnated, resulting in government policy lacking relevance and impact. There is also a discrepancy between the researcher's understanding of exclusion and the policy-makers understanding of exclusion.

The project identified a lack of awareness as a factor contributing to entrenched forms of old-age exclusion. Many people believed that such exclusion only existed at an economic level and to that extent, people also believed that older people were protected economically through their pensions etc. However, exclusion is far more broad and complex than these beliefs.

ROSEnet therefore aimed to develop a network of researchers and policy stakeholders across Europe, creating an innovative platform for research and policy debates. This project wanted to include researchers along with policy stakeholders and older people themselves. ROSEnet ultimately wanted to reduce social exclusion for older people in later life through collaborations in research and policy. Their key objective was to 'overcome fragmentation and critical gaps in conceptual innovation on old-age exclusion across the life course, in order to address the research-policy disconnect and tackle social exclusion amongst older people in Europe'.

Over 200 researchers and policy stakeholders from across 41 countries participated in this network.

Project Process

ROSEnet was structured around five working groups, each representing a different domain of old-age exclusion; Social Relations, Economic, Services, Community and Spatial, and Civic Exclusion (encompassing civic participation and socio-cultural discrimination) .

Each working group began by creating a 'knowledge synthesis' from regional, disciplinary and sectorally disparate dialogues, forming a coherent scientific discourse on old-age exclusion. These papers provide an analysis of state-of-the-art research knowledge, identifying critical gaps that need to be addressed in relation to social exclusion in each domain.

ROSEnet, and its working groups, then critically investigated the construction of life-course old-age exclusion across the five domains of exclusion. The project investigated major drivers of both these different forms of exclusion and multidimensional exclusion, as well as assessing the implications of exclusion across the life course.

Members of ROSEnet also sought to develop new conceptual and theoretical frameworks than could be practically applied to enhance our future understanding and approaches to combating exclusion of older people in European societies.

Through its programme of European Policy Seminars, bi-annual meetings, training schools and short-term researcher exchanges, ROSEnet built an interdisciplinary research capacity that spanned Europe, and beyond, establishing the 'European Research Area' as a hub of excellence in the study of ageing and disadvantage.

Outcomes of ROSEnet included...

Over 40 collaborative cross-national academic publications written by members
Several follow-on funded research projects, including GENPATHs, a seven-country study of men’s and women’s exclusion from social relations in later life.
69-Action Roadmap for Reducing Old-Age Social Exclusion
A 34-chapter open-access book on Social Exclusion in Later Life, with contributions from 77 authors from 28 countries, published by Springer.
Six policy briefing papers on different forms of exclusion in later life

Across Europe:

Researchers and policy stakeholders from 41 countries
Two conferences, and six ROSEnet European Policy seminars held across Europe, and organised in conjunction with policy and civil society organisations (e.g. European Committee of the Regions; AGE-Platform Europe).
Distribution of outputs to European and national policy makers, inter-governmental organisations, and international civil society.

Professor Kieran Walsh, Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, NUI Galway and Chair of the ROSEnet COST Action; Katarina Ivankovic-Knezevic, Director, Social Affairs Unit, DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission; and Maciej Kucharczyk Policy Director, AGE Platform Europe.

NUI Galway & ROSEnet

Researchers at NUI Galway have extensive experience in the area of old-age exclusion research. They have written extensively on social exclusion in later life and ageing and public policy. The current director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, Kieran Walsh, who was Chair of ROSEnet, has led and currently leads on a number of projects related to social exclusion and policy.

Irish Centre for Social Gerontology

The Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG) is part of the Institute for Lifecourse and Society. With a view to informing a holistic understanding of later life in public policy, the ICSG conducts research on ageing and the life course that responds to gaps in scientific knowledge, policy and practice, while promoting the diversity of ageing experiences. The work of the ICSG is particularly focused on supporting the voice of marginalised groups of the older population, and integrating these perspectives into research and public policy design and development. The ICSG works in collaboration with older people, representative organisations and national and international policy makers to contribute to scientific knowledge, critical policy analysis and research-led teaching and training. ICSG focuses on the areas of: social exclusion and inequality; work and retirement; place and community contexts; and care and support.

Prof Kieran Walsh Ph.D

Kieran Walsh is Professor of Ageing & Public Policy in Economics and Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG), National University of Ireland Galway. Kieran has extensive experience in ageing and public policy and interdisciplinary social gerontology research and has published extensively within the field of ageing. With a track record of working closely with senior levels of public policy and professional practice, Kieran is focused on translating research into real-world impact and integrating this experience in the design of impactful research and teaching programmes.

Enhancing Policy and Society

We work to build a foundation of people-centred knowledge so that policy frameworks and economic approaches can be improved for the benefit of society.

Through engaged research with communities, we focus on inclusive societies, children, families and human rights. Through our work with businesses and government agencies, our people carry out research in fields such as health policy and economics, sustainable economic development, business innovation and entrepreneurship.

Our international reputation is supported by research from across our Colleges and by our Institute for Lifecourse and Society and the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change.