Prepping for an upcoming update to my Change Rangers website Resource section, here is Part 4 of my Ageing & Longevity Resource Digest, where I cover six global networks, thought leadership forums, research centres and other non-governmental organizations that produce research studies, develop policy proposals, reports and surveys, apart from other groups in this category that I regularly follow and showcase in my weekly blog posts.
In the first three instalments I featured a tight selection of close to twenty academic institutions in Canada, the USA and other countries around the world that conduct research and publish content on ageing and longevity. If you are exploring career opportunities in the field or just want to research what’s up, then I hope this Resource Digest series has served to help you get started.
A dynamic and vast European network of non-profit organizations of and for older people, AGE Platform Europe has a focus on developing policy areas such as anti-discrimination, employment of older workers, digital technologies and intergenerational solidarity. Collaborating with others, one of its major global campaign areas is the promotion of UN convention on the rights of older people.
Project areas of advocacy are complimentary to other such organizations around the world, covering five areas – Age-friendly Environments, Healthy Ageing and Long-term Care to name three. The website has a good resource area featuring publications, videos and news reports.
As a global thought leadership forum advocating policy and strategy “inspired by the opportunities longevity presents”, this organization positions itself as a “global network of influencers, which spans the business and policy elite across all sectors, we work to advance the worldwide longevity dialogue on a comprehensive level”, producing white papers, roundtables, webinars and other presentations.
HelpAge is another global network with over 170 member organizations in 90 countries that seeks as its mission “to promote the wellbeing and inclusion of older women and men, and reduce poverty and discrimination in later life.” Read their concise, realistic forward thinking2030 Strategy: Ageing in a Just World to get a good sense of the reach of their influence.
Over the last few years I attended some on line speaker events where a HelpAge leader has spoken and benefited from the global perspectives, learning about ageing in countries less fortunate. To get a sense of the conversations from around the world, the website has great news and resource pages including over 1000 links to their publications and other international blogs.
First established in 1990 by the world renowned gerontologist Robert N. Butler in the USA and Shigeo Morioka in Japan; over the past more than 30 years the ILC now has membership in 16 countries including Canada, with each country focusing on the interests of their own country while working together on collaborative initiatives such as the Advocacy to the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing, and calling for a UN Convention on the Rights of Older People.
Since 2020, ILC Global on-line Events are particularly informative and feature panel discussions with highly respected professionals sharing international perspectives. ILC-UK is hosting one on March 16th alarmingly titled Pandemics and longevity: Will we die, survive, or thrive next time?
The Milken Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank with offices in the USA, Singapore and the UK with numerous centers and areas of practice including the Future of Aging, which as they state, “Advances healthy longevity and financial security for all through high-impact policies, research, convenings, and multisector partnerships.”
Some years ago I attended one of the Milken conferences on-line and found much to stimulate thinking from the high level of discussions. Here is a link to their Winter 2023 Newsletterwith articles on Improving Dementia Care and Advancing healthy Longevity. The centers website is also rich in content.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2023, globally networked, the UK-based institute is a multi-disciplinary group with demography as their main focus, conducts research into the implications of population change. The Institute has collaborative agreements with universities in China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea.
A more recent Oxford Institute partnership initiative, The Design Age Institute works with Royal College of Art the International Longevity Centre and the Design Museum, and a variety of stakeholders from design, business, policy and academia, to “address the importance of design in the light of global ageing”, both in the home and the workplace.
