THE PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF AGEING RESEARCH LAB

The overall goal of the lab is to understand psychological and social aspects associated with ageing and old age. To do so, we rely on a multidisciplinary approach, which takes into account older adults, their family members, social networks and the society in which they live. A major area of research in the past few years has been ageism: Stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination towards people because of their age. Although ageism can be directed towards any age group and can be both positive and negative, our lab is focused primarily on the negative consequences of ageism in an attempt to ensure that we live in a world for all ages, in which old age is no longer seen as a burden or a liability.

Liat Ayalon, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Social Work, at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Prof. Ayalon is the Israeli PI of the EU funded MascAge program to study ageing masculinities in literature and cinema. She was the coordinator of an international EU funded Ph.D. program on the topic of ageism (EuroAgeism.eu; 2017-2022). Between 2014 and 2018, Prof. Ayalon has led an international research network on the topic of ageism, funded through COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology; COST IS1402, notoageism.com). She consults both national and international organizations concerning the development and evaluation of programs and services for older adults. In recognition of her work, Prof. Ayalon was selected by the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing as one of 50 world leaders working to transform the world to be a better place in which to grow older.

Prof. Liat Ayalon CV