Dr Miguel Acanfora – IAGG Vice President, joined distinguished colleagues at 3° Convegno Internazionale di Gerontologia e Geriatria che si svolgerà a San Marino il 26/27/28 settembre 2024 – Centro Congressi Kursaal 

   IAGG GSIA Activities

Important Issues for Early Career Researchers. 27 th Nordic Congress of Gerontology.Stockholm, Sweden. 11 th June, 2024.
This preconference workshop was organized by SAIN (SWEAH Alumni Interdisciplinary research Network); British Society of Gerontology; UKRI Healthy Ageing Challenge and the Swedish Gerontological Society, with support from the IAGG Global Social Issues on Ageing. Its purpose was to provide an opportunity for early career researchers to interact with senior researchers about career choices and pathways. 125 early career researchers from 20 countries attended the session which was described as “a panel discussion with highly accomplished senior researchers in gerontology with informal conversations about career choices”.
The session was coordinated by Dr Charlotta Nilsen, Institute of Gerontology at Jönköping University and coordinator of the SAIN network. Panel moderators were early career researchers, all of whom have university appointments and are involved in their national professional societies. They are Dr. Rebecca Baxter, Umeå University, Sweden; Dr Amy Prescott, Brunel University UK; and Dr Junjie Huang, University of Stirling UK. Panel members were Luigi Ferrucci, National Institute on Aging, USA; Merril Silverstein, Syracuse University, USA; Nancy Pedersen, Karolinska Institute, Sweden; and Norah Keating,
Global Social Issues on Ageing, IAGG. In response to questions developed from Early Career Researchers panel members spoke of several issues. They discussed the early stages of their careers and their strategies for finding opportunities to collaborate and develop networks. They talked about the high demands of an academic career and how you can thrive if you love what you are doing. Their vision of gerontology in the future included more cross-disciplinary research and emphasising contexts of ageing. A reception after the workshop provided an opportunity for networking among participants and panel members. For information on SAIN see https://www.sweah.lu.se/en/about-sweah/sain-sweah-alumni- interdisciplinary-network

Anti-Ageism Alliance

A global Geriatric Task Force for oldeadr ult’s care – Saturday April 6 th , 2024

SESSION VI – Presentation and discussion of the Chart of Florence Luigi Ferrucci, Andrea Ungar and the Scientific Board

Report Meeting:  The discussion among the members of the scientific board led to the development of a preliminary action
plan that can be summarised as follows:

1. Creation of the Anti-Ageism Alliance as a working group: the scientific board agreed that the Anti-Ageism Alliance conference offers the chance to create an operative working group aiming to increase awareness of ageism; expand research and knowledge on age-related discrimination in healthcare and other fields; implement intervention strategies to counteract ageism and its manifestations. The Alliance is expected to work in team across different countries, supporting
selected projects or actions that are consistent with the group mission statement. In attach the mailing list of the actual member.

2. Dissemination of the Carta of Florence: the Carta of Florence should be translated into different languages and disseminated by the Alliance members with the support of their departments. National geriatric societies could also participate in translating and adapting the Carta to the reality of their countries and would have a critical role in disseminating to their members. One possible strategy is to include link of the Carta in their congress registration. The Carta of Florence was presented as a “living document”, that is expected to evolve into a broader discourse on ageism, as the activity of the working group evolves.

3. Role of national geriatric societies: the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) and all national geriatric societies may have a pivotal role in the implementation of the Alliance action plan. With this view, we should propose that societies identify dedicated representatives who can work with the Alliance members to develop operational interventions in each single country. Effort should be made to include ageism in the programmes of the national
conferences of geriatric and gerontological societies.

4. Online data sharing: sharing of presentations, publications and discussions of the Alliance on a dedicated online depository might help disseminate the contents and encourage diffusion of ideas and research. Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) have suggested utilizing the Global Campaign to Combat Ageism website for this purpose.

5. Data collection and research implementation: increasing the knowledge on the prevalence of ageism across different settings and countries is a necessary step towards the implementation of specific interventions. Data collection using questionnaires or surveys may provide useful information and prompt the development of future research. For this purpose, support has been offered by WHO members suggesting the use of available sets of questions and the International Social Survey Programme as a platform for survey dissemination. Based on preliminary data discussed during the conference, the investigation of attitudes towards older persons among medical students has been proposed as the first project to be developed.

6. Dissemination to the scientific community: the alliance agreed on the importance of making the discussion accessible to the scientific community through the dissemination of papers or documents and the participation of the alliance members in relevant scientific events. Emergency departments, intensive care units and older persons’ abuse have been prioritized for discussion with the scientific community and other professionals.

7. Engagement with healthcare professionals of different specialities: tailoring specific messages, e.g., in the form of statements, targeted to experts of different specialties such as cardiology, oncology, and emergency medicine, can increase knowledge on ageism and effectively promote anti-ageism
initiatives in non-geriatric settings.

8. Engagement with Policy-makers: engagement with policy-makers involved in educational, social and medical policies is necessary to effectively implement anti-ageism strategies across the different level of society. Providing data on ageism prevalence and impact should be the first step for engagement, followed by proposals of intervention strategies to address age-related discrimination in different fields. It is important that messages to policy maker be stated in plain
language, with emphasis on goals to be accomplished.

9. Education: incorporating ageism in university curricula is essential. However, as the positive impact of such an initiative might become evident in the long term, it may be useful to extend anti-ageism education to lower educational levels, as early as elementary schools.

10. Dissemination to the general public: disseminating the Alliance's initiatives through press releases and social media may be useful to raise awareness of ageism among the general public and help to recognize its manifestations.

11. Engagement of the general population: participation of individuals of all ages, including older persons and their caregivers, in discussions about ageism may be useful to recognize ageist attitudes and behaviors from a different perspective.

12. Continuity of activities: regular updates and periodic meetings (e.g., every two years) of the Alliance members are essential to ensure the continuity and efficacy of the action plan and the continuous development of future projects.

The meeting recording is now available online on the “Fondazione Menarini” website ("Video and Slide" section) at the following link: https://www.fondazione-menarini.it/Home/Eventi/Antiageism
Alliance/826/Presentation . Free registration on the website is required for access.

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP

LONELINESS: SOCIAL AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS – IAGG/SPGG – ISCSP – 14 and 15 – September 2023 – Lisbon

On the 14th and 15th of September, the International Workshop: Loneliness: Social and Clinical Implications, was held at the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon.

The SPGG and IAGG (International Association of Geriatrics and Gerontology) have made a public appeal for the urgent need to create conditions in our societies that limit loneliness and social isolation, through measures that promote increased social connections.

Social loneliness is an epidemic with significant health risks, including increasing the occurrence of various mental and physical health problems, such as anxiety, depression, dementia, stroke and heart disease.

The mission of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics is to promote the highest levels of achievement in gerontological research and training worldwide, and to interact with other international, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations in the promotion of gerontological interests globally and on behalf of its member associations. The Association pursues these activities with a view of enhancing the highest quality of life and well being of all people as they experience ageing at individual and societal levels.

IAGG By-Laws comply with the regulations of the Belgian Government, legally admitted and approved by the Ministry of Justice and published in the official Belgian Journal on April 4, 2007. The Manual of Operating Procedures (MOP), revised in 2005, is an appendix to the By-Laws.