Paul Nash
I would never have guessed it was possible to combine an all inclusive beach holiday with academic excellence. It seems I lack the imagination of the team led by Dr. Paul Nash, ‘The Face of British Gerontology’ and his team of CIA Agents who welcomed us at the Swansea University Bay campus for this year’s BSG conference. The Centre for Innovative Ageing somehow managed to combine 5 star food, comfortable accommodation, highly original entertainment and academic excellence in what everyone agreed was a BSG conference that will become part of the Society’s folklore in the future.
The Ageing of British Gerontology
The Society’s healthy longevity was a theme throughout the week, not least because of the evocative photographic exhition The Ageing of British Gerontology, led by a team at Keele University. Going around the exhibition I had a lump in my throat looking at photographs of Kate Davidson, Alan Walker, Bill Bytheway and the other gerontologists whose shoulders we all stand on. I was particularly pleased to see that activists like John Miles were included. Gerontology in the UK has always stood out for its activist as well as academic pedigree. But what was really remarkable about this year’s conference (apart from the food, which really was delicious, there were doughnuts and tropical fruit at the same coffee break) was the evidence of continuity between the generations. Or rather, what I witnessed is intergenerational solidarity in action. This is something that BSG members have always been good at; we seem to do it naturally. The most junior or newest members are just as important as those whose influence is so great that they deserve inclusion in an exhibition on the discipline itself.
Intergenerational Solidarity at BSG
I have been attending BSG in various capacities since 2009. Back then I was a newbie, over from Ireland and so keen to impress my colleagues that I presented three papers at the conference, all on a similar theme. Every time I rocked up with presentations which combined unoriginal ideas with wild enthusiasm, I was met with friendly and supportive critique and encouragement. This supportive, friendly culture still makes BSG stand out from other academic conferences. Our tolerance and helpfulness is being rewarded. The society now has over 600 members. Over 50 papers by doctoral students and others new to gerontology were presented at the Emerging Researchers in Ageing pre-conference workshop. Our flagship journal, Ageing & Society is in the process of becoming a monthly publication. On the main programme at Swansea, we welcomed new colleagues from right around the globe. In some of the sessions I attended this week, the PhD students were presenting the most original and exciting work. Always under the guidance of someone well known within BSG. That’s intergenerational solidarity. How lovely. Given the extremely high quality of those presentations made by masters and PhD students, as well as community researchers and activists at the conference, it seems that the future of gerontology is in very safe hands. Roll on Manchester, 2018.
A wonderful capture of the conference Gemma, thank you! The venue was superb. Many thanks to the University of Swansea and the Centre for Innovative Ageing for hosting the conference, and congratulations and thanks to the Swansea staff and catering teams who delivered such an excellent experience for us as delegates. The accommodation and food were truly excellent and the scientific programme goes from strength to strength. A special thanks to Paul Nash (feature in the photo above!) whose leadership and very personal stamp made this such a success. These things do not happen by accident but by inspiration, dedication, perseverance, and sheer hard work. On behalf of the Society and of course speaking for myself, as a delegate and in my role as President of BSG, many thanks to all. A memorable conference that has made me very proud of what we are achieving in the Society.
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It is a slightly nepotistic, essentialist and white, male, and middle class epitome of british gerontology to show a picture of an early career researcher as the future of British gerontology. I met Paul at the conference and liked him. However, male gerontologists gerontologists such as Chris Gilleard or Paul Higgs should be seen as the public faces of UK gerontology given global impact of their work. Or, other Female faces are making an arguable biggerimpact such as Tine Buffell. Paul Nash may have helped a conference but he has years to prove this assertion through grants, outputs, and papers.
Naval gazing never helps a discipline when social injustices must be perpetually researched not vanity crystal balls of unproven gerontologists. UK gerontology needs a wake up call, massive contributions of female gerontologists (not just in Micra or CIA). There are many, many more of us too!
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Thanks for your comment and of course you are correct in naming some of our many world-leading gerontologists whose work has been seminal in the field. The Society honours and showcases leading figures in Gerontology through a variety of means and we have many ways of acknowledging and promoting world-leading gerontological research. Many of the symposia at the conference addressed the core issues that you raise, of social injustice, to packed audiences. These are issues at the very heart of our concerns as gerontological researchers.
The Society also acknowledges that the work of its officers on the national executive committee is vital to its functioning and always has been, and that organising a conference is an incredibly demanding thing to do. We will wait for the formal feedback to come in, but certainly it seemed to me that the conference was intellectually stimulating and highly successful from a number of viewpoints. We are very grateful to those who take on these roles year in year out, for the promotion of British Gerontology.
There are substantial numbers of outstanding researchers across the education, policy and practice sectors. We aim to offer a number of ways for researchers to promote their research, and the conference provides excellent networking opportunities where many long-standing collaborations have been forged, by people from all over the world.
Do get in touch with me to continue this conversation if you wish to. I haven’t always been at MICRA and was once an early career researcher at Surrey and then spent many years at King’s. I have found the BSG an immensely supportive and helpful learned society over the years, and we certainly aim to promote gerontological work across the spectrum.
Thanks,
Debbie
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I understand Professor Price. My point is that female gerontologists have taken a long time to be recognised in UK gerontology (outside of Micra and CIA) and a number of us at the BSG felt that there was nepotism towards certain male gerontologists. My professor mentor is a leading female gerontologist but she never gets mentioned by BSG and her contributions to critical approaches to ageing in Scotland have been world leading but ignored by BSG. It might be difficult responding to this on Feminist contributions but ‘the face of gerontology’ of a “good looking” Paul Nash detracts away from critical analysis of social injustices of gender. Gerontology needs desperately the leadership that gives visibility to sexism not defend or replicate it by ‘showcasing’ images of men. More attention on female gerontologists please especially also from female ethnic minority gerontologists. The white, middle class and youthful ‘future face’ is ageist and sexist in neglect of many, many feminist gerontologists.
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Thanks for this and I understand your point but I don’t agree that we don’t showcase, honour, recognise or promote female gerontologists [I can provide you with many details if you are happy to contact me privately]. We do try to make this as open as possible for example putting open calls out to the membership for nominations to the AcSS and for the Outstanding Achievement Award which this year went to Professors Christina Victor and Claire Wenger, both giants of gerontological research. We do this particularly because we know that there are always excellent people who are overlooked by closed processes. I completely agree that we lack ethnic diversity and I see this all over academia.
If you would like to discuss a particular case or person with me, please contact me directly.
I also feel that people who devote a great deal of time and energy and commitment to the Society, the discipline, and to gerontological education, should be recognised. I am happy for them to be publicly recognised, and it would be a very great pity if we were constrained not to acknowledge the contributions of white men when this is appropriate.
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Great capture of the conference!
Nice to see some comments about my supervisor ….Prof. Higgs as well
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Despite me being a feminist, he has been a mentor to me too. A true face of gerontology who never gets credit he deserves.
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Reblogged this on Dementia Research & Reality and commented:
Another blog about the BSG conference!
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In response to this conference I would also add that all three of the plenary sessions, with four speakers, were female; the two winners of the outstanding achievement award were female; the current and past Presidents are female; and I do hope you had the opportunity to attend and have a look at the superb exhibition of the Leverhulme funded project on the Ageing of British Gerontology, led by Mim Bernard (a former President of the Society) and honouring in the most beautiful and moving way, the contributions of 50 senior gerontologists, among them many of my own mentors in the field, both men and women.
With best wishes
Debbie
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I did see the Ageing of British Gerontologists at BSG and was impressed. I just think the BSG could rival GSA of people like Calasanti, Brown, and Carroll Estes. Tha all used these as platforms to promote a feminist and critical perspective against patriararchy. The social media by the President was all about Micra which should have been about BSG. My main comments are patriarchal attitudes are undermining the future faces of gerontology of BSG.
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My professor mentor has advised against talking private as might mean my membership gets revoked.
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Dear K Wilson
I agree that critical perspectives are vital in gerontology and that research across the United Kingdom is excellent. There were many displays of this at the BSG conference, with focused symposia and papers presenting challenging and carefully evidenced perspectives. I know it is difficult at conferences with many parallel sessions to see all those you would like to but I do hope you find the opportunity at future conferences to attend some of these.
In response to your comment I have looked at our social media activity during the conference, which was on twitter. The official conference twitter stream was @BSG2017Swansea, and the conference hashtags in use were #BSG17 and #BSG2017. I am delighted to report that there were more than 1,000 tweets during the conference which covered the full gamut of research presented. I tweet (as you may know) as @gerontologyuk. During the conference I tweeted 54 times. Eight of these tweets mentioned my research institute @MICRA_Ageing, 6 of which were to support PhD students presenting work at the conference, one to support our MICRA stall, and one to advertise that we will be hosting next year’s conference in Manchester. The remaining 46 tweets were promoting the Society and a number of excellent speakers, many of whom were engaged in presentations from critical gerontological perspectives.
I do hope that we will see you at future conferences, and I would also like to assure you contacting me privately to discuss these issues which concern you will not have any effect on your membership.
I hope that if you wish to continue this discussion that you will do so to my Manchester email. I am happy to continue to engage with you there, should you wish to do so, and I don’t propose to respond publicly again.
With best wishes
Debbie
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