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Research grant from Volkswagen Foundation


The Oxford Institute of Ageing (OIA) secured funding from the Volkswagen Foundation to carry out research into the reconciliation of employment and care for older family members. The OIA is the UK partner in the European project "Between Job and Care: Conflict or Opportunity?" with partners from Germany (Dortmund (lead applicant), Duisburg-Essen and Hamburg universities), Italy (Italian National Research Centre on Ageing) and Poland (Cracow).

Employment and family care are commonly seen as incompatible. The present research wants to show that the reconciliation of employment and family care is possible if accompanied by support measures at enterprise and social policy level. Thus, a forward-looking and sustainable care provision can be guaranteed in an ageing society, and new productivity potentials in form of highly motivated employees can be made accessible. This research compares individual and enterprise based reconciliation strategies in four European countries (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland).

The OIA has recruited a Research Officer, Ms Kate Hamblin, for this project to work on this study for the next two years with Dr Andreas Hoff who will be leading the British part of the study.