FuturISE Conference Presentations at the ESA Conference 2026
From 25 to 28 August 2026, the FuturISE team participated in the European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference in Warsaw. As a project team, we contributed to the joint session “Civic engagement of older people in communities and societies 1”. Paul Higgs (UK) chaired the session and opened it with a short introduction. Representatives from each of the three FuturISE teams then presented current findings from their respective country contexts.
Nico Mira (Sweden) presented “Legitimising Intergenerational Fairness: Media Constructions of Obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden”, discussing how Swedish media articles articulated and justified intergenerational obligations within public discourse during the pandemic.
Patricia Donovan (UK) held in cooperation with Eva Katharina Boser, Lena Dörmann, Nico Mira, Lijun Peng and Niklas Ellerich-Gropppe a presentation on: “Intergenerational relations beyond the pandemic: A sociological analysis of media debates in the UK, Germany and Sweden”. Drawing on an international comparison and qualitative content analysis of 817 news articles from the UK, Germany and Sweden, the presentation critically examined discourses surrounding physical and social distancing measures during the pandemic.
Lena Dörmann (Germany) presented “Intergenerational Care in an Ageing Society: Empirical Insights into Sustainable Care Futures beyond the Nuclear Family”, exploring how intergenerational care in informal settings is morally understood and evaluated, based on eight focus groups with participants from Germany.
Beyond the session itself, the conference provided valuable opportunities to exchange ideas with researchers from different countries working at the intersection of ageing, intergenerational relations, solidarity and care. These discussions offered new perspectives and opportunities for further exchange around questions that are central to FuturISE.
On Friday, the week concluded with a hybrid FuturISE consortium meeting, bringing together the team members who had been unable to attend the conference in Warsaw. This provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on the conference, discuss ongoing project activities and continue our joint work across the three country teams.
