Kieran Walsh

Kieran Walsh is Professor of Ageing & Public Policy and Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, University of Galway. Kieran has extensive experience in ageing and public policy and interdisciplinary social gerontology research and has published extensively within the field of ageing. Before taking up the role of Director of the ICSG, he served as Project Director of Project Lifecourse within the Institute for Lifecourse and Society, a €1.5 million three-year programme of work dedicated to capturing the subjective realities of children and youth, older people and people with disabilities in their neighbourhoods and communities. With a track record of working closely with senior levels of public policy and professional practice, Kieran is focused on translating research into real-world impact and integrating this experience in the design of impactful research and teaching programmes. He has played a leading role in the development of international multi-site and interdisciplinary research studies. Kieran’s research interests and expertise focus on: social exclusion in later life; the relative nature of disadvantage in cross-national contexts; place and life-course transitions; and informal and formal infrastructures of care. Kieran is also Chair of the European COST Action CA15122 on ‘Reducing Old-Age Social Exclusion’ (ROSEnet), which has over 180 members from 41 different countries. With objectives that address critical gaps in research, policy, and international interdisciplinary research capacity, ROSEnet aims to overcome fragmentation in conceptual innovation on old-age exclusion across the life course, in order to address the research-policy disconnect and tackle social exclusion amongst older people.