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CIVEX

Investigating exclusion from civic engagement in later life.

About the research project

CIVEX is an interdisciplinary research project funded under the Joint Programming Initiative ‘More Years, Better Lives’.

CIVEX aims to identify evidence-based policy responses that can address exclusion from civic activities as we age.

The project includes research teams from five European countries, representing the following welfare state regimes and cultural contexts:

  • Continental (Belgium)
  • Southern (Spain)
  • Nordic (Finland and Sweden)
  • Anglo-Saxon (UK)

The UK is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number: ES/W001438/1).

CIVEX has been developed as a co-production project. Older adults are:

  • respondents
  • co-researchers

With adults being both respondents and co-researchers, this provides an essential ‘insider perspective’. This is important when:

  • collecting data
  • analysing data
  • presenting and disseminating research findings

CIVEX uses a mixed-methods approach to meet its objectives.

Quantitative work

This involves secondary analysis of major international datasets. It allows assessment of the characteristics of older people’s exclusion from different types of civic activity across European countries.

Qualitative research

This involves in-depth life-story interviews with around 60 men and women in each participating country.

Analysis of interviews will provide an in-depth understanding of the life course pathways of older people. It will also provide an understanding of lived experiences of exclusion from civic engagement. This will give a voice to people who are most at risk of experiencing such exclusion in later life.

Further information: https://civex.eu/
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council (grant number: ES/W001438/1)
Duration: 36 months (October 2021 to September 2024)
PI and further team: Prof Thomas Scharf (PI in UK), Prof Lynne Corner (CI), PDR

Partners

  • University of Barcelona - Spain
  • Åbo Akademi University - Finland
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Belgium
  • Uppsala University - Sweden

Non-academic partners

  • VOICE
  • Elders Council Newcastle