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EAST is the 'Central and Eastern European Research Network' of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing.

Research Projects in Central and Eastern Europe:

The Oxford Institute of Population Ageing has an extensive research programme in the EU countries and is developing its research capacity within Central and Eastern Europe.

Cross-European Research Projects at the Institute are:

  • Advancing Knowledge of Telecare for Independence and Vitality in later life (AKTIVE) (Hamblin)
  • Intergenerational relationships in bilingual families (Harper, Mann, Bianchera)
  • Between Job and Care: Conflict or Opportunity? – A European Comparison (Hoff, Hamblin)
  • Working Family Carers of Older Dependents in Europe (Hoff, Leeson, Kaiser)
  • Age Discrimination in Social Care (Leeson)
  • Migration in Response to Population Ageing (Leeson)
  • Migrant Health and Social Care Workers (MILES) (Leeson and Hoff)
  • Replacement Migration in Scandinavia (Leeson)
  • Grandfathers (Harper, Leeson, Mann, Khan and Ortega)
  • Impact of Migration on Families (Harper, Leeson, Aboderin, Hoff)
  • Bulgarian Health & Social Care Workers in Greece (Harper, Ruicheva)
  • Family Care in Denmark and Germany (Leeson and Hoff)
  • Global Ageing Survey (Leeson, Harper and Khan)

Coordinator: Dr George Leeson

About EAST

Working closely with colleagues throughout Central and Eastern Europe, the OIA undertakes collaborative research on issues of ageing and assists in capacity building through its training and mentoring programmes, which include an annual EAST workshop.

In recent years, gerontological research has become very popular in the context of growing awareness of population ageing and the resulting changes of social structures and institutions (family, welfare state, etc.). Although population ageing set in much later in Central and Eastern Europe than in other parts of Europe, the demographic trends of the 1990s and 2000s (dramatic drop in fertility, mass emigration of many younger people, and slow but continuous rise in life expectancy) let us expect a much more rapid demographic ageing in Central and eastern Europe than in Western or Northern Europe. Many, if not all, Central and Eastern European societies are ill-prepared for yet another dramatic societal transition, following in the wake of the transition from socialism and planned economies to capitalism and free market economies.

However, the speed of ageing processes and institutional adjustment to these changes as well as social conditions faced by older people vary widely across Central and Eastern Europe and within individual Central and Eastern European societies (in rural vs. urban areas, for example).

 

EAST aims to bring together academics (and policy makers) from the region with a research interest in population ageing in the post-communist societies of Central and Eastern Europe. Research on population ageing in the region, particularly research looking into the social implications of an ageing population, is still quite a young discipline. As a consequence, there are few academics involved in this kind of research.

EAST aims to help both more senior scholars and emerging researchers to make contact with each other, to learn about research on population ageing, to share their own research with colleagues from across the region, and to develop cross-national research projects.

Currently, around 100 researchers from Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Ukraine are members of EAST.

The EAST network welcomes academics and policy makers and practitioners from across the region working with population ageing. For more information on the network please feel free to contact:

Dr George Leeson

Membership information

 

To become a member of the EAST research network please send an email to Nana Nanitashvili who will then add your email address to the EAST mailing list. Membership in EAST is free. The mailing list is used to inform members of news on ageing issues in/about Central and Eastern Europe, such as conferences/workshops, publications, statistics, funding opportunities, scholarships, updates of the EAST website, as well as specific EAST activities. Furthermore, a feature of EAST is a ‘research directory’ where EAST members provide information about their research interests and methodological skills, which could be used by other researchers looking for partners in joint research projects.

If you would like to add your profile as well please fill in the EAST Membership Form