Research projects
Members of the Centre are actively engaged in world-class research related to ageing over the lifecourse and older people.
Below is a summary of collaborative research projects members are currently engaged in or, have recently been engaged in.
NIHR School for Social Care Research
Acceptability of and satisfaction with social care among South Asian groups (ASC)
This project, which is funded by the National Institute for Health Research, is run by members of the Centre, Dr Rosalind Willis, Professor Maria Evandrou, together with Dr Pathik Pathak from Sociology & Social Policy. Evidence indicates that black and minority ethnic groups (BME) report lower levels of satisfaction with social care services when compared with white people. Examining the reasons for such differences is an important step in improving the provision of services for BME groups. The study aim is to explore the attitudes of individuals from South Asian communities to social care services. In addition, the project will investigate social care service attitudes of White British individuals as a comparison group, as well as the views of social service staff members on the reasons behind low satisfaction levels. The study results will facilitate gaining a greater understanding as to why South Asian groups report lower satisfaction with social care services, which it is hoped would in turn contribute to the more informed design of appropriate services in social care.
ESRC Pathfinders Initiative
The impact of migration in China and South Africa
Members of the Centre (Evandrou, Vlachantoni) are part of an international team on the ESRC-funded project entitled ‘Left behind? Assessing the impact of internal labour migration on patterns of intergenerational support and the health and well-being of children and older people: the cases of China and South Africa'. This exciting project involves collaborations between the University of Southampton, where the PI, Prof. Jane Falkingham and other project members are based (Jordan, Padmadas, Hosegood, Wahba), the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the University of Witwatersrand/ Agincourt DSS and the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies. The research team will explore the impact of internal labour migration on the health and well-being of the household members who are ‘left behind’ in rural sending areas in China and South Africa, particularly children and older people.
EPSRC
The Care Life Cycle
The UK population is ageing. But although older people are major users of health and social care services, affecting the demand side of care provision, at the same time the health workforce itself ages, affecting the supply side of care provision. This exciting multidisciplinary project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, brings together social scientists, complexity scientists and computer modellers from across the University of Southampton in order to model the supply of and demand for care for older persons in the UK. The project is led by Professor Jane Falkingham (PI) and includes Professor Maria Evandrou, Dr Rebekah Luff, Dr Athina Vlachantoni and Dr Rosalind Willis, as well as seven other researchers from the ESRC Centre for Population Change, the Centre for Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems, and the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation. For more information, please visit the CLC project's website here.
ESRC
Centre for Population Change
The ESRC Centre for Population Change was established in January 2009, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council it is the UKs first research centre on population change. Based jointly at the University of Southampton and the National Records of Scotland (NRS), the ESRC Centre for Population Change brings together expertise from the Universities of Southampton, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Stirling and Dundee as well as the General Register Office Scotland and The Office for National Statistics. The centre undertakes research based around four themes: Dynamics of fertility and family formation past, present and future; Household dynamics and living arrangements across the life course; The demographic and socio-economic implications of national and transnational migration; and Modelling population growth and enhancing the evidence base for policy. The Centre is directed by Professor Jane Falkingham with co-investigators Professor Maria Evandrou and Dr Elspeth Graham.
SWAP
Using new technologies in policy-relevant postgraduate teaching: a scoping study of using Second Life in teaching Gerontology
Members of the CRA (Vlachantoni, Evandrou, Schroeder-Butterfill) are involved in this one-year project, funded by the Higher Education Academy's Social Policy and Social Work Subject Centre (SWAP), which is aimed at trialling the usefulness of Second Life as a pedagogic tool in teaching policy-relevant topics in Gerontology. For more information on the project, please visit this page.
ESRC/DFID
Left behind in transition? Poverty, social networks and social support amongst older people in Central Asia and the Caucasus
Directed by M. Evandrou and J. Falkingham, this project investigates the living conditions, financial position and social support networks of older people in the seven poorest countries of the former soviet union, that is the CIS-7: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. For more information on this project, you can read the ESRC's Impact Case study feature here.
ESRC SAGE
Research Group Simulating Social Policy in an Ageing Society.
Directed by M. Evandrou, J. Falkingham, P. Johnson and K. Rake. The ESRC SAGE Research Group was one of only two Research Groups funded under the ESRC Future of Social Policy Initiative. Further details of the output of the Groups is available.
Nuffield Foundation
Lifetime events and the incomes of the older population in the British, German, Swedish and American welfare states.
Directed by M. Evandrou (PI), J. Falkingham, and P. Johnson. The project investigates inequalities in the incomes of older people. It adopts a life course perspective to investigate how (dis)advantage has accumulated across older peoples’ lifetimes and the role that the welfare state has played in reducing or perpetuating such inequalities. The research uses a comparative framework and the cases of Britain, Germany, Sweden and the US are explored.
University of Southampton ‘Adventure in Research’ Grant
Migration, Transnational Networks and Identity: The Case of Older Transylvanian Germans in Romania and Germany
Directed by E. Schröder-Butterfill, this research project will examine the transnational social support networks of older Germans living in Transylvania (Romania) in a context in which large proportions of younger Germans have settled permanently in Germany. It will also investigate the networks formed by migrants from Transylvania who moved to Germany in old age.
The Wellcome Trust
Ageing in Indonesia
Directed by P. Kreager and consisting of an international team of researchers (E. Schröder-Butterfill, University of Southampton; E. Indrizal and T. S. Fithry, Andalas University, Padang, Indonesia, V. P. Dewi and P. Haryono, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia), this multi-stage research project examines old-age support networks and older people’s contributions in three rural communities in Indonesia. The project combines longitudinal qualitative and quantitative ethnographic and demographic research.
ESRC/AHRC Cultures of Consumption Initiative
Ageing and Consumption in Britain 1963-1998
This multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional project, which was directed by P. Higgs (PI) UCL, with M. Evandrou, C.J. Gilleard, I.R. Jones, R.D. Wiggins, and C.R. Victor, examined consumer culture in later life across time and across across different cohorts in Britain.
ESRC Growing Older Initiative
Family, Work and Quality of Life: Changing Economic and Social Roles
This project, which was directed by M. Evandrou (PI) with Karen Glaser, explored family and work roles in mid-life in the UK, examining longitudinal data, and caring and work histories. The research examined changes in economic and social roles across time and across cohorts and drew out the implications for policy.
ESRC
Modelling Social Policy in an Ageing Europe
This grant, which was directed by M. Evandrou, J. Falkingham, P. Johnson and K. Rake, was aimed at organising a major International Conference on Modelling Policy for an Ageing Europe. The Conference took place in January 2001 and was attended by around 100 delegates from 12 different countries.