Economics of Ageing

This research theme incorporates a number of different strands. Resource allocation issues for older people dominate the agenda, incorporating research on information, efficiency, effectiveness and outcomes in care of the elderly. Some of the specific strands under this theme include: the exploration and interpretation of quality of life of older people; economic evaluation of community and residential care for dependent older people; funding and financing issues for dependent older people; social entrepreneurship in social care; economics of voluntary care; disability and labour force participation; and ageism in the labour market.

Rural Ageing

This theme focuses directly on older people living in rural areas. Rurality raises many issues of importance for older people, sometimes incorporating philosophical issues such as rural identity; other times incorporating practical issues such as access to shops and services. Some of the specific research strands under this theme include: the demography of an ageing rural population; health and disability among rural elderly; access to health and social care services for older people in rural areas; the geography of health and social care delivery; integrated care for rural elderly; transport for older people in rural areas; the relationship between identity and place; rural immigration; and dementia prevalence in rural populations.

Technology and Older People

This theme examines the costs and consequences of various information and communication technologies (ICT) for older people in Ireland and internationally with a view to realising the potential of ICT as an integrated, proactive, health-enhancing intervention in the care of older people in different care situations and settings. Some of the specific research strands under this theme include: assessing ICT activity in Ireland and Europe within the fields of telecare, assistive technology services and smart homes; public attitudes to, and willingness to pay for, ICT for the care and support of dependent older people in Ireland; development of integrated technical and organisational ICT infrastructural models to support the independent living of older people at home and in residential care settings; economic and social evaluation of community-based integrated ICT projects in Ireland and internationally.

Sustainable Communities (ISSP)

This Irish Social Sciences Platform is funded through the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions administered by the HEA and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) “ISSP is an all-island platform of integrated social science research and graduate training focusing on the social, cultural and economic transformations shaping Ireland in the 21st century.”

The Irish Social Sciences Platform (ISSP) brings together academics from 19 disciplines in 8 institutions across the island into a common programme of research centered on knowledge, innovation, society and space. ISSP will focus its efforts on investigating three broad themes of national importance – creating balanced development, sustaining communities and building the knowledge economy.