dario.pizzul@unimib.it

February 20-21, 2025
Department of Sociology and Social Research
Room De Lillo, Building U7 – Civitas, Floor 2
University of Milano-Bicocca
Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi 8, Milan

Call for contributions

Ageing Societies is an interdisciplinary research group that studies population ageing, active ageing, and the opportunities and challenges for older adults brought about by the increasingly important role of digital technologies in contemporary Western societies.

The End-of-Project Conference of “Ageing in changing societies. Older people’s social and digital resources in pandemic and post-pandemic ITaly” (ACTIVE-IT)  aims to create a debate on ageing and ICTs in the current digital acceleration scenario from a quantitative, qualitative, ethnographic, or mixed-methods perspectives. We welcome submissions comprising empirical evidence, theoretical discussion, and critical reviews of the literature on:

  • Active ageing, ICT and well-being in pandemic and post-pandemic societies: Research on the impact of COVID-19 on older adults’ well-being, and digital resilience. 
  • Digital media practices among older adults and phenomenological and/or Science and Technology Studies (STS) approaches: Exploration of older adults’ digital practices and narratives of digital uses and consumption, addressing the importance of socio-cultural contexts and environments and their effects on forming human and non-human subjectivities and relationalities.
  • Digital inequalities and social exclusion risks: Studies addressing the digital divide among older adults from an intersectional perspective (e.g., regarding differences in terms of gender, socio-economic background, etc.) and its impact on social participation, healthcare access, well-being, etc.
  • The digitalisation of public services, related opportunities, and risks: Analysis of public services digitalisation: to what extent do digital public services meet older adults’ needs and preferences? What are the risks in terms of older adults’ exclusion?
  • Non-uses of ICTs and digital services: Research addressing characteristics and lived experiences of poor uses or “non-uses” of ICTs and digital devices among older adults: e.g., studies that discuss choices, preferences, and forms of digital resistance or compliance between agency and societal/ structural pressures.
  • Digital literacy programs: Exploring initiatives designed to enhance digital skills among older adults, i.e., through intergenerational and peer-to-peer cooperation.
  • Participatory and co-design methods for digital literacy and technology adoption: Studies involving older adults in designing and developing digital tools, using participatory approaches to improve technology adoption and digital education​​.
  • Methodological challenges in studying older adults and digitalisation processes: Reflections on methodological challenges and innovations (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches) for collecting empirical data on the relationship between older adults and digitalisation processes.
  • Imaginaries of ageing and digitalisation: Research exploring cultural and social representations of the relation between ageing and digitalisation. This includes critical approaches to active ageing as a normative model, ageism, ageism in artificial intelligence (IA), and reflexive accounts of age discrimination and bias in empirical research.

Submissions should consist of an abstract of no more than 500 words, describing clearly the topic that will be addressed, the research questions, the data and methodology, and preliminary research results from empirical studies. Abstracts should include the names and affiliations of the authors. The conference will be held in a hybrid format. There are no participation fees. However, conference participants are responsible for travel, accommodation, and food costs.

Deadline for abstract submission: December 1, 2024
Notification of abstract acceptance: by December 20, 2024
Deadline for confirmation of participation: January 10, 2025

All submissions should be sent fulfilling the following form: https://forms.gle/YCf6tsYdzSrJaU5RA

Scientific and Organisational Committee

Simone Carlo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Francesco Diodati (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Annalisa Dordoni (University of Milano-Bicocca); Giulia Melis (University of Milano-Bicocca); Dario Pizzul (University of Pavia); Daniele Zaccaria (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland – SUPSI).

For further information: ageingsocieties@unimib.it

Dowload the pdf of this call for contribution here