Sustainability, inclusiveness, productivity and equity and the transformation of Swedish working life courses – SIPET

We propose an interdisciplinary research network to push the boundaries of knowledge about the sustainability of late work in Sweden’s ageing population.

It addresses health and skills for late work participation in an inequality-sensitive perspective on the transformation of work and productivity, shifts in policies and the ongoing life-course changes in ageing Sweden with an ambition for impact.The network is based on two complementary programmes that are rooted in demographic, social and technological changes which have influenced the realms of work in potentially unequal ways.

It is not only the availability of qualified labour but the sustainability of public finances, the inclusiveness of the society, the economic productivity in global competitions as well as generational and gender equity that describe major concerns and, hence, central policy goals in ageing societies.

Societies require interdisciplinary knowledge on education and lifelong learning, health care systems, workplaces, employers, working conditions and their effects on people’s work participation.Acknowledging the need for an equal and inclusive prolongation of working lives, it needs an interdisciplinary network beyond single research programmes to generate added value by collaboration, dissemination and training.

By initiating a series of events with programme internal workshops, seminars with invited experts and policy stakeholders from Sweden and Europe as well as public workshops and webinars, our network will foster interdisciplinarity, internationalisation and impact.

Our training and mentoring activities with a collaborative PhD forum, a training school and a master class will support junior researchers’ careers, intensify intergenerational exchange and provide early-stage researchers (ESR) opportunities for active roles in planning and execution of activities.

Moreover, we will advance capabilities for impact by joint dissemination and exploitation in Sweden and Europe.