KU Leuven awards honorary doctorates to five researchers for outstanding research on ageing

Laura Carstensen: Ageing as a positive story

"In less than a century, life expectancy has increased by an average of 30 years in developed regions of the world. These added years can be a gift or a burden to humanity depending upon how they are used." That is the starting point of the Stanford Center on Longevity, an interdisciplinary centre that studies how quality of life at all ages – including advanced age – can be improved. Laura L. Carstensen, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, is the centre’s director and co-founder.

Her research has been supported for over 20 years by the National Institute on Aging. Of her many awards and distinctions, the Guggenheim Fellowship (2003) and MERIT Award (2005) are especially notable. Carstensen struck a chord with her ​​'socioemotional selectivity theory', a motivation theory that spans an entire lifetime.

"She has made a fundamental contribution to the understanding of the psychological mechanisms behind ageing," said nominators Mathieu Vandenbulcke and Ralf Krampe."Traditionally, ageing has been seen as a process of loss and decay, but Carstensen changed that perception. She tells a positive story and shows that ageing is paired with an improvement in social and emotional skills. These skills benefit not only the individual but also a much wider social network. Her insights can lead to a more active role for elderly people in our society."

John Clarkson and Roger Coleman: Designers' response to ageing

Roger Coleman is Professor Emeritus in Inclusive Design at London's Royal College of Art. In 1994, he established a European network specialised in design and ageing. John Clarkson is Professor of Engineering Design and Director of the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre, and has extensive experience in the field of product development.

The two joined forces, including for the research project i~design, to focus on the development of an 'inclusive design' concept. Inclusive design is the umbrella term for the design of everyday products and services usable and accessible for people excluded by rapidly changing technology – particularly, in the case of Coleman and Clarkson, older people. Products range from smart packaging to user-friendly mobile phones and fully accessible subway stations. Clarkson and Coleman developed a manual for industrial actors and the 'exclusion audit', an approach for capturing how many people are excluded from using a particular product or service.

"The main reasons for applauding these two researchers is their social importance, their pioneering role and the bridges they built between various disciplines," says nominator Ann Heylighen. "They emphasise the value of age and disability for innovation, and send a strong message to young people: our ageing society, and the challenges associated with it, is not something that concerns policy makers and social services specialists alone. Coleman put it this way: ‘The ageing society is about our future selves, and it challenges many different disciplines, include design and engineering.’"

John Myles: A broad perspective on pension systems

John Myles is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto. "He is one of the most eminent and creative Canadian sociologists," says Jos Berghman, Myles' nominator. "His first book, Old Age in the Welfare State (1984), was an instant classic in comparative studies of the welfare state. His later work on ageing and retirement protection reverberated in social policy circles."

Myles' theoretical and empirical work on the similarities and differences between various pension systems was particularly influential. "The sustainability of these systems has been at the centre of attention for the last decade, but often the emphasis has disproportionately been placed on financial sustainability. Someone like Myles thinks in a more balanced way by highlighting both financial and social sustainability – he advocates for an equitable division of future pension costs – and by questioning whether political stability could be compromised. From a socially engaged perspective, he also translates this into how the equitable distribution of all kinds of benefits in the population might look."

Myles has also published on stratification issues, such as education, employment and the explanation of wage differences.

Mary Tinetti: Acknowledging the problem of falls

Not long ago, falls by elderly people were often seen simply as unfortunate accidents associated with old age. Mary Tinetti, Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Medicine (Geriatrics) and Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases) and of Public Health at Yale University and head of the Yale Program on Aging, saw things differently. Early on in her medical career, she demonstrated a quantitative relationship between falls and their most important risk factors. She developed efficient and cost-effective strategies – crucial for many elderly people – to reduce the risk of falling. Rather than an inevitable consequence of ageing, falls were shown to be a preventable problem. Tinetti was also a pioneer in research on bruising, contusions and other injuries caused by falls.

"About one in three elderly people living at home experience a fall at least once a year," said Tinetti's nominators, Steven Boonen and Koen Milisen. "Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in elderly people. They have a great psychological impact and can cost a lot of money."

"Tinetti is one of the founders of a sophisticated approach to the care and treatment of elderly people with complex health problems. Awarding her an honorary degree goes a long way in acknowledging the problem of falls as a serious social issue, one which will only become more pressing as society ages and which urgently requires increased government funding."