A matter of life and death
AUTHOR: Cameron Cooper DATE: 06.09.07 ISSUE 1, 2007
A vital new Institute is bringing together the gamut of research on one of the most crucial issues facing the world today.
Nations around the world are getting older, and the potential economic and social impacts are profound. Saving and investment patterns will change. Human consumption levels will be affected. The transfer of wealth and property will evolve. Labour markets will be reconfigured, and health and healthcare needs will be increasingly on the agenda.
In 2007 there are 5 Australians of working age to support every person aged 65 or over. By 2047 there will only be 2.4 people in that crucial role. |
Societies that ignore the phenomenon of ageing do so at their peril. According to the United Nations Population Division, during the next four decades the number of people in the world aged 60 or over is likely to almost triple, rising from 672 million in 2005 to about 1.9 billion by 2050.
Statistics from the Federal Government’s 2007 Intergenerational Report are also revealing. On present trends, Australia’s total population will reach 28.5 million in 2047, up 38 percent on June last year. The proportion of people aged 65 and over is projected to almost double to 25 percent of the population, and more than 5 percent of people will be aged 85 or over. While this year there are five Australians of working age to support every person aged 65 and over, by 2047 it is forecast that there will only be 2.4 people in that crucial support role.
The upshot is that managing population ageing is an issue of national significance for government, business and the general public.
In search of solutions
For all the discussion of population ageing, there is some confusion as to what it really means. The phenomenon occurs when the median age of a country or region rises. A UN Human Development Report in 2005 indicates that population ageing is occurring in all but 18 countries around the world.
Given that the trend seems irreversible, the attention is now turning to solutions that can help societies cope. The Australian Institute for Population Ageing Research (AIPAR) is set to become an important entity that informs the nation about population ageing.
Headquartered at UNSW’s Kensington campus in Sydney, the Institute will help formulate policy proposals in response to academic research. Professor John Piggott, Director of the Institute, agrees that Australia cannot afford to be complacent about the likely impact of population ageing. “Even if Australia were to stay eternally young, the fact that all the countries around it are growing old will have an impact on Australia,” he says.
Professor Piggott says the Institute will act as an umbrella that brings together disparate research activities already occurring at UNSW and the Australian School of Business. “It’s not really a new research project – it’s more a matter of coordination and communication, and also recognising a critical mass of research activity that addresses an issue of social importance.”
With an emphasis on forging alliances with business and government, AIPAR brings together UNSW researchers from a range of fields as they tackle population ageing issues. It is thought to be the first such body of its kind. While other population ageing institutes operate around the world, most focus on just one aspect of ageing – such as health, social or financial implications. Instead, AIPAR will cover a spectrum of disciplines, including economics, finance, actuarial studies, community health, engineering, computer science, behavioural science, the built environment and social sciences. “I don’t know of any other entity which brings together the very disparate range of disciplines that (the Institute does),” Professor Piggott says.
Communication between research teams will be the key differentiator between AIPAR and other research initiatives. For example, occupational health specialists and finance specialists typically take different tacks when studying an ageing workforce. The Institute will provide an environment in which collaboration can occur.
| AIPAR will act as an umbrella that brings together disparate research activities already occurring at UNSW and the Australian School of Business. |
Strong financial backing
UNSW has been awarded more than $4 million as part of the Federal Government’s Ageing Well, Ageing Productively research grant, known as AWAP. The university won two of the six joint National Health and Medical Research Council-Australian Research Council grants announced under the scheme, the best result of any institution.
“So that was very prestigious and I think that gave greater credibility to the notion of the Institute because the people who were advocating the establishment of the Institute had won this grant,” Professor Piggott says.
Some research projects are already under way. One project involves cross-disciplinary research across a range of ageing issues, beginning with a $2 million project on the implications of people staying longer in the workplace. With a title of Working Longer: Policy Reforms and Practice Innovations, the research focuses on questions around the impact of delaying retirement. The perceived wisdom is that working longer will keep people sharper mentally and physically, but the research considers, for example, the high stress levels often associated with casual work and the insecurity of tenure.
“The idea that phasing into retirement is a good thing may be misplaced, so we are looking at some of the psychological impacts of delaying retirement in these types of ways,” Professor Piggott says.
Another cross-disciplinary project under the leadership of Associate Professor Hazel Bateman involves UNSW’s Centre for Pensions and Superannuation, which is exploring the effect of casual workforces on superannuation adequacy. Early research indicates that there are an increasing number of self-employed, part-time and casual workers who may struggle to build a sufficient superannuation nest egg for retirement compared with full-time workers.
Helping rural communities
Elsewhere, the UNSW Faculty of Engineering has been engaged in research around technology that allows chronic diseases to be monitored remotely.
The project will soon come under the AIPAR umbrella.
Professor Piggott says: “In an era where population ageing is beginning to bite that’s incredibly important because you’ll find lots of communities, particularly rural communities, that are very isolated and with few younger people and limited medical expertise available.”
He says setting up internet-based capabilities to address chronic illness is “a very big step forward” that will help alleviate the shortage of doctors and medical services in the bush.
Demographic issues will be of great importance and require robust research, according to Professor Piggott. With younger people abandoning rural towns, there will be serious questions about who is going to look after those who are now elderly and fit, “but who in 20 years’ time will be elderly and frail”.
“So wherever you look, I think there’s a dimension to this phenomenon of population ageing where research groups can get together, but thus far there has not been that much activity where there has been awareness or acknowledgement of what other groups are doing.”
Professor Piggott is confident that the Institute will help address this gap.
Shaping policy decisions
UNSW has long been known for its elite alumni and close ties with business and government. Such ties are expected to grow under the Australian School of Business, while AIPAR is also expected to draw on and add to that reputation.
The Institute is anticipated to help government, industry and academia in four key ways.
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Professor Piggott admits the pro-Institute backers have had to work hard to persuade the appropriate stakeholders that it is a worthwhile initiative. Already AIPAR has strong industry investment with support from a range of sponsors from the public and private sectors.
Advisory committees compromising researchers and public and private sector representatives will play a key role in turning authoritative research projects into vehicles for improving communities.
A critical aim of the Institute is to use research outcomes to shape government policy decision-making. Professor Piggott is confident that senior representatives of government and business will be actively involved in the Institute’s activities.
It is also expected that AIPAR will help boost UNSW’s already considerable research credentials. Specialised research training for PhD students and postdoctoral fellows through AIPAR will help create a new generation of outstanding researchers. Professor Piggott says at all stages communication between the research teams will be encouraged – a factor he believes will ensure the Institute’s success. “I think that is really quite important in changing the way that people think about the priorities that they have for their own research agendas,” he says.
Following AIPAR’s launch, Professor Piggott says the plan is to hold a symposium in the first half of next year where researchers can present their work and engage in substantive interaction. “And that will be where I guess that rubber meets the road in terms of how successful this model may be.”