The Intergenerational Interdisciplinary Meeting Place

As the topic of ageing and life span development gains momentum in Australia many social discourses in society challenge policy-makers to focus more on social integration in the context of population ageing and changing family norms.

The Intergenerational Interdisciplinary Meeting Place is an effort to address those issues. It aims to create a society for all ages in which discussion on aspects of human development will be important for every person.

This Meeting Place will present the challenges and effects of human development in its diverse cultural and social manifestations on ageing. It will aim to lead to a deeper understanding of life processes, questioning and deconstruction of prejudices, misconceptions and taboos in which we are all involved. It will open discussion of interesting themes, go beyond the perception of ageing as presented in literature, and it will include attitudes to life phases from the point of view of health, sociology, politics, economics, and the media.

In the long-term the goal of the Intergenerational Interdisciplinary Meeting Place is to deepen the understanding of the interplay between family culture, intergenerational relations, and interdisciplinary service systems and their impact on older people's autonomy and quality of life. Overall, the Meeting Place will aim to build partnerships between families, communities, institutions, researchers and policy-makers.

The purpose of the Intergenerational Interdisciplinary Meeting Place is:

1. to allow researchers, professionals, service providers and other interested persons to inform themselves about this unique effort, its progress, and its results;
    
2. to be a resource where any visitor may find information about related issues and selected links to further data;
    
3. to provide a forum for knowledge exchange that facilitates learning on how family cultures and service systems may enhance autonomy and delay dependency in old age; and
    
4. to promote quality of life and improve the basis for policy and planning.
    

For researchers

The Meeting Place will aim to offer a network of multi-disciplinary opportunities:

1. to identify the balance between family care and service systems and their relationship to quality of living for older people;
    
2. to analyse the interaction role of families, service systems and individual coping on quality of life in old age;
    
3. to determine culturally appropriate variations in family norms and transfers that enhance intergenerational solidarity across age cohorts in communities; and
    
4. to address the issues of intergenerational ambivalence caused by individuals and families at risk of dependency.
    

For policy makers

The Meeting Place will aim:

1. to generate recommendations for enhancing efficiency, quality and user acceptability of services at the beginning of care provision to older people;
    
2. to shed light on links between the family dynamics of intergenerational and caring relations and the access to service systems for satisfaction to quality of life of the older members; and
    
3. to foster the design of culturally appropriate public policies that guides the extension of older people's autonomy in the remote, regional and urban communities and variable socio-economic settings.
    

For educational institutions

The Meeting Place will aim to be:

1. a drop-in centre and informal meeting place for students, staff, faculty, visiting scholars and alumnae, offering connections for intellectual and social networks and activities, including exploration of postgraduate life;
    
2. a hub for community engagement and public service to provide students the opportunity for community engagement and a chance to get involved with neighbourhoods outside of the institutional environment. In particular, it will offer the opportunity for high school students (Year 11 and 12) and undergraduates to explore the field of community and public service prior to pursuing careers, and foster a deeper sense of social responsibility within the campus community;
    
3. a network to coordinate and support organizations for community engagement for groups and projects, and as a resource for individual students, faculty, and staff through student advising, a directory, workshops, a website, a listserv, and speaker panels;
    
4. a network for faculty, staff, students, and administrators to create forums and other events that broaden the campus exposure to issues concerning community engagement and public service; and
    
5. a publisher of an Annual E-Report on Community Engagement at ACU and a Directory of Community Engagement Student Guide.
    

For students

The Meeting Place will aim to be:

1. a forum to bring together student leaders, staff, tutors, and career services personnel to provide a central source for community information, opportunities for collaboration, training resources, advocacy for undergraduate public service, and fellowship and career information to:
    
1. link students with service projects or programs;
    
2. provide information about community resources and organizations;
    
3. provide technical assistance on fund raising for programs, internship placements, and fellowships;
    
4. advise students about careers and career planning;
    
5. develop training programs (first aid, community development, mentoring);
    
6. present workshops and seminars;
    
7. publicise public service events; and
    
8. support student projects that link academics and community engagement.
    

As the name reflects, an important point of departure from the common Internet chat rooms is that this Meeting Place makes visible to the next generation of scholars that equal opportunities exist for collective exploration of the different ways in which we are situated in our times. Thus, the exercise of network building will share agendas for the production of knowledge to discuss differences and to work through intergenerational perceptions and the different kinds of theoretical and political figurations.

It is anticipated that the dynamics involved in this network building, and the kind of communities and collectives it creates will, to a great extent, be connected to the activities of the locally active groups. As this network progresses a more sustainable network may be necessary, one that is capable of incorporating - in a multitude of different ways - previous and anticipated experiences and activities.

This Intergenerational Interdisciplinary Meeting Place is shaped to accommodate your needs. While it is just starting to establish its space for knowledge creation and sharing, it is user friendly and makes information sharing accessible in a spirit of caring and sharing. It offers a do-it-yourself guide on how to get involved. As time goes by, adequate space will be provided on the website for locally or thematically organised groups to affiliate with the network.

Involve Yourself

What?

• Democratisation of higher education through interconnected dimensions with horizontal categories according to disciplines and vertical categories according to themes that interest you.
   
• To overcome the classic conception of the university as an "ivory tower" we will use autonomous and decentralised methods of knowledge production and information exchange.
   
• We will promote interconnectedness among institutions, students and community groups.
   

How?

• Get your friends and colleagues interested enough to develop a world-view of life and its many facets.
   
• Discuss topics of interest and relate with scholars to your particular situations (whether it is for intellectual exchange or for concrete action as an activist for social change in your university, school, library or community group).
   
• Engage with the Intergenerational Interdisciplinary Meeting Place and subscribe to create a Special Interest Group (SIG).
   
• And finally, engage in the Meeting Place to make friends with like-minded individuals who share your interests.
   

Have you ever wished there was a way to widen your intellectual and social circle? This is it.

If you wish to subscribe to this Newsletter, or participate in interactive research and information sharing on Ageing Research and Education please email me at m.bhatia@mary.acu.edu.au

Monika Bhatia
Editor

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