IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen) > AGen2021 Overview

AGen2021 Overview


Special Announcement: AGen2021 will be held Online

Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, IAFOR has made the decision to hold AGen2021 entirely online via Zoom.

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Join us online for AGen2021!

March 29-31, 2021 | Online from Tokyo, Japan

Recognising and promoting the inherent dignity of people at all ages represents a foundational goal shared by societies around the world. The desire to identify meaning and value in life underpins inquiries into law and politics, religion and the arts, and it guides the resolution of ethical questions associated with scientific inquiry and resulting innovations. As medical science, public health and technology continue to advance, so lives have grown progressively longer. Increasingly, this leads to new questions regarding the kind of lives we will experience as we grow older. While advances in science and medicine increase longevity, what innovative technologies are emerging that address the changing needs faced by an aging world? Researchers, scientists, and advocates will gather in Tokyo for AGen2021 to discuss these questions and others.

Japan represents a unique location for research professionals to meet and explore the topic of aging. Japan has one of the most rapidly aging populations, which combined with a declining birthrate, represents a compelling example of the demographic transition resulting from increased longevity. The issues and challenges faced in Japan have expanded to other Pacific nations, Europe, Africa, and the Americas as all nations experience the benefits of increased longevity. Worldwide, there is a growing recognition that the kind of life we now give our elders will impact the way we will be treated and cared for as we enter our later years. Because aging is a worldwide phenomenon, the needs and opportunities of an aging world must also reflect and respect cultural and social diversity in developing programs that encourage quality of life at all ages. How do we address the collective needs of the aging population while respecting each person’s individuality? AGEN2021 provides an ideal forum for discussing and debating the many issues related to aging and gerontology. Submissions from a variety of fields and perspectives are welcomed and encouraged. Original research across disciplines, including science and technology, philosophy and politics, sociology, and psychology, will ensure an active and exciting opportunity to expand our gerontological understanding.

Now entering its seventh year, the AGen2021 Organising Committee has seen the conference grow in size and diversity of perspectives as it attracts researchers and practitioners from around the world to address this crucial topic. This year is particularly exciting as AGen will be partnering with The Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences (ACP2021), increasing opportunities for broad multidisciplinary exchanges.

Held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, this international conference encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in a forum stimulating respectful dialogue. This event will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders.

In conjunction with our Global Partners, we look forward to extending you a warm welcome in March of 2021.

– The AGen2021 Organising Committee

Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
James W. McNally, University of Michigan & NACDA Program on Aging, USA
Sela V. Panapasa, University of Michigan, USA
Haruko Satoh, Osaka University, Japan

Key Information
  • Location & Venue: Held online from Tokyo, Japan
  • Dates: Monday, March 29, 2021 ​to Wednesday, March 31, 2021
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: November 06, 2020*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: January 15, 2021
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: February 23, 2021

*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates. Learn more about our registration options.

Submit an Abstract

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Speakers

  • Kathryn M. Lavender
    Kathryn M. Lavender
    National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA)
  • James W. McNally
    James W. McNally
    University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging

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Programme

  • Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
    Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
    Panel Presentation: James W. McNally & Kathryn M. Lavender
  • Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
    Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
    Workshop Presentation: James W. McNally

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Organising Committee

The Organising Committee of The 7th Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology (AGen) is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Organising Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Advisory Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Organising Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.

  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • James W. McNally
    James W. McNally
    University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging
  • Sela V. Panapasa
    Sela V. Panapasa
    University of Michigan, USA
  • Haruko Satoh
    Haruko Satoh
    Osaka University, Japan

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AGen2021 Review Committee

IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by conference Organising Committee members under the guidance of the Academic Governing Board. Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the AGen2019 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

Apply to Join the Review Committee

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IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) – “Innovation and Value Initiative”

The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) is housed within Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and in June 2018 the IRC began an ambitious new “Innovation and Value Initiative”. Officially launched at the United Nations in a special UN-IAFOR Collaborative Session, the initiative seeks to bring together the best in interdisciplinary research around the concept of value, on how value can be recognised, and measured, and how this can help us address issues and solve problems, from the local to the global.

Learn more about the Innovation and Value Initiative

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Kathryn M. Lavender
National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA)

Biography

Kathryn joined the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) team in November 2017 as project manager. She is involved with day to day operations including data deposits, restricted-use data agreements, data user requests, as well as long-term planning of NACDA activities in the research community.

Before transitioning to NACDA, Kathryn Lavender came to ICPSR from UofM Dearborn as a co-op student, and accepted a full-time position after graduating with her degree in economics. She has been involved in many areas of ICPSR, from curating data across different projects and supervising curation staff to event planning with the summer internship program. Kathryn has been a part of the ICPSR data community and staff for more than 10 years.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository

Previous Presentations

Keynote Workshop Presentation (2020) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Featured Workshop Presentation (2019) | Locating Data for Research: Data Collections and Resources for Thesis Writing, Teaching, and Grant Development for the Social Sciences and the Environment
Featured Workshop Presentation (2018) | Locating Data for Research

This presentation is co-sponsored by IAFOR and The University of Michigan

James W. McNally
University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging

Biography

Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging lifecourse. He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialized application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging lifecourse.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository

Previous Presentations

Keynote Workshop Presentation (2020) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Featured Presentation (2019) | Defining and Measuring Resilience in an Aging World
Featured Workshop Presentation (2019) | Locating Data for Research: Data Collections and Resources for Thesis Writing, Teaching, and Grant Development for the Social Sciences and the Environment
Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Health Across the Lifecourse
Featured Workshop Presentation (2018) | Locating Data for Research
Featured Presentation (2017) | Methodologies for the Collection of Comparative Community Level Public Health Data: Obtaining Powerful and Statistically Meaningful Findings for Small Populations
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Easts Meets West – Healthy, Active and Beautiful Aging in Asia
Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
Panel Presentation: James W. McNally & Kathryn M. Lavender

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of life worldwide. As we have recently passed the pandemic's one-year anniversary, there are indications that we can see a way forward where the impacts of COVID-19 are better understood and the risks are better controlled. While the horror of more than 119,097,780 Coronavirus cases worldwide and over 2,640,868 deaths, it is also important to acknowledge that over 94,635,252 have successfully recovered from the infection. With the successful testing and production of multiple vaccines now being administered in a growing number of countries, we want to better understand how COVID-19 has impacted our lives. How has it changed the way we interact as societies, and how do we move forward to a new normal? This panel will bring perspectives from various disciplines and occupations to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic was addressed and managed, but more importantly, what we have learned from the experience of moving forward during these challenging times. The pandemic negatively impacted all levels of society. From healthcare to family support, from travel restrictions to community engagement, from education to knowledge exchanges, we have had to create innovative and resilient approaches to keep moving forward. The panel will discuss different ways their disciplines overcame the challenges presented by COVID-19 and how lessons learned will help guide us in the years to come.

Read presenter's biography.

Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Workshop Presentation: James W. McNally

Researchers increasingly recognise the value of public-use data for secondary research, thesis development, training and education and the development of independent research grants. As cutting edge international studies are emerging across Asia, Latin America, Europe, and increasingly Africa, the opportunities for cross-national and comparative research are growing exponentially. This is a particularly exciting time to work, due to the large number of trained research professionals working within their home countries and providing culturally grounded interpretations of results. An ongoing barrier, however, is knowing where and what kind of data are available for secondary analysis.
The creation and maintenance of sustainable data archives can be challenging but it offers clear advantages for a national and international research strategy. Data that is preserved can be used by multiple researchers, testing a variety of hypotheses and increasing the return on investment to the expensive process of data collection. Having an internally managed archival system also provides greater control and autonomy in the equitable distribution of data resources. This workshop, sponsored by IAFOR and the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA) will offer hands-on examples of how to discover data resources, obtain them and then implement them as part of a research strategy. Regardless of whether or not you are a student looking for a thesis topic, an instructor looking for research material for use in classroom teaching, or an established researcher looking for new opportunities, the wealth of publicly available data has created almost unlimited opportunities to explore new themes and to collaborate with other researchers worldwide. NACDA has been in existence for over 35 years, and it preserves and really distributes over 1,500 studies on the lifecourse and health in the United States and worldwide. Funded by the National Institute on Aging in the United States, NACDA represents one of the world’s largest collections of research data. NACDA is only one of many such organizations, and increasingly these data resources can be found, if not in your home country then only a click away via the Internet.
The workshop will introduce you to NACDA and our many research partners across the world. All researchers attending The Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology 2021 (AGen2021), The 11th Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences (ACP) or The 11th Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP2021) are welcome to participate in this workshop, ask questions and learn about data resources you can use for research, classroom instruction or in developing a research paper or thesis for your college classes. All you need is your laptop or mobile device and our instructors will help you better understand the wealth of information that lies at your fingertips.

An IAFOR Workshop in collaboration with the University of Michigan.

Read presenter biographies.

Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Dr Haldane is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), a Visiting Professor at the School of Business at Doshisha University (Japan), and a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA).

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

James W. McNally
University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging

Biography

Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging lifecourse. He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialized application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging lifecourse.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Creating Our New Normal: Responding, Adapting and Thriving in a Post-COVID 19 World
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository

Previous Presentations

Keynote Workshop Presentation (2020) | Aging Data: NACDA & an Open-source Repository
Featured Presentation (2019) | Defining and Measuring Resilience in an Aging World
Featured Workshop Presentation (2019) | Locating Data for Research: Data Collections and Resources for Thesis Writing, Teaching, and Grant Development for the Social Sciences and the Environment
Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Health Across the Lifecourse
Featured Workshop Presentation (2018) | Locating Data for Research
Featured Presentation (2017) | Methodologies for the Collection of Comparative Community Level Public Health Data: Obtaining Powerful and Statistically Meaningful Findings for Small Populations
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Easts Meets West – Healthy, Active and Beautiful Aging in Asia
Sela V. Panapasa
University of Michigan, USA

Biography

Dr Sela V. Panapasa studies family support and intergenerational exchanges among aged Pacific Islanders living in the US and Pacific region. Her work examines changes in elderly living arrangements and headship status in response to demographic and socioeconomic change. Her interests include family demography, race and ethnicity, measuring health disparities and comparative studies.

Haruko Satoh
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Haruko Satoh is Specially Appointed Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering Science in charge of CAREN (Osaka University Centre for the Advancement of Research and Education Exchange Networks in Asia) and also lecturer at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), where she runs MEXT Reinventing Japan project on “Peace and Human Security in Asia (PAHSA)” with six Southeast Asian and four Japanese universities. She is also the President of the The Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA).

In the past she has worked at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), Chatham House, and Gaiko Forum. Her interests are primarily in state theory, Japanese nationalism and identity politics. Recent publications include: “Rethinking Security in Japan: In Search of a Post-‘Postwar’ Narrative” in Jain & Lam (eds), Japan’s Strategic Challenges in a Changing Regional Environment (World Scientific, 2012); “Through the Looking-glass: China’s Rise as Seen from Japan”, (co-authored with Toshiya Hoshino), Journal of Asian Public Policy, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 181-198 (July 2012); “Post-3.11 Japan: A Matter of Restoring Trust?”, ISPI Analysis No. 83 (December 2011); “Legitimacy Deficit in Japan: The Road to True Popular Sovereignty” in Kane, Loy & Patapan (eds), Political Legitimacy in Asia: New Leadership Challenges (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), “Japan: Re-engaging with China Meaningfully” in Tang, Li & Acharya (eds), Living with China: Regional States and China through Crises and Turning Points, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

Professor Haruko Satoh is a member of IAFOR’s Academic Governing Board. She is Chair of the Politics, Law & International Relations section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Featured Panel Presentation | East Meets West