Equality and Wellbeing across Generations is the fourth call for proposals within the Joint Programming Initiative More Years, Better Lives (JPI MYBL). The call is open for transnational collaborative research projects.

The focus of the call is how the major demographic changes taking place across Europe affect the distribution of resources, responsibilities and power between generations. The objective is to fund research projects that increase the understanding of the demographic changes and how society can promote equality between people. Funding will be granted for a maximum of three years.

Transnational collaboration

Within this call for proposals, only transnational projects will be granted funding. Forte participates as one of twelve funding organisations from different countries, and each proposal must involve a minimum of three eligible applicants from at least three different countries participating in the call. For a list of participating funding organisations, see www.ewg-call.org.

Research topics

Proposals may choose to focus on one, two or all three of the following topics:

Income and wealth: Income in later life is very unevenly distributed on the basis of previous employment, earnings, and the structure of different pension systems. Patterns of intergenerational inheritance change as people spend longer in retirement, and as the costs of social care impact on savings.

Caring responsibilities: A high proportion of older people undertake caring responsibilities, for parents, grandchildren, or partners. Caring can be emotionally rewarding, but when it makes heavy physical or emotional demands, it can have a seriously damaging effect on the mental and physical health, and on employment opportunities of the carer.

Social and political participation: In many countries older people are more likely than young people to participate in formal political processes. However, many are disengaged, especially in later life, and some feel that their interests and concerns are underrepresented in political decision making. Older people are also more vulnerable to social isolation and loneliness, with less support from younger generations than in the past.

It is important to note that not all countries participating in this call are providing funding for all topics. See the guide for applicants for more information.

Where appropriate, applications should also account for the potential impact of the COVID19 pandemic, both as a potentially relevant contextual factor to their research and as a potential obstacle in the implementation of their research activities.

Time plan

14 September 2020 – Deadline for applications to Belspo

26 August 2020 – Prisma opens for applications

17 September 2020 – Deadline for applications in Prisma

December 2020 – Grant decisions