Fiona Schrading

Bio:

I am a doctoral researcher at the Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany), working within the ethnographic research project “Waste/Land/Futures: Intergenerational relations in places of abandonment and renewal across Europe” (2024-2028). My doctoral project, titled “Un/doing Time: Re-localizing Pasts and Futures in the Anthropocene”, explores ways of engaging with pasts and futures in the context of the Anthropocene (differently).

Grant supported actions and initiatives:

At the SIEF Congress in Aberdeen, I presented a paper titles “Rewriting Futures: Re-storying intergenerational Relations in Places of Abandonment”, as part of the panel “Unwriting ageism through participatory approaches to research, policy-making and practice intervention designs”. Drawing on the research project “Waste/Land/Futures: Intergenerational relations in places of abandonment and renewal across Europe”, my presentation discussed participatory methods for co-creating new narratives of the future together with older people living in places in which current global changes have left a sense of abandonment and uncertainty about the future.

Testimonial:

The panel brought together some impressive projects and offered me a great opportunity to meet exciting researchers and learn more about the challenges and opportunities of participatory approaches in research with older adults. It inspired me to take a closer look at the effects and value that participatory research can have for the older people involved — and to explore when and how it can be empowering (or not). Overall, the whole conference was truly incredibly inspiring and brought me into contact with exciting people with whom I hope to continue exchanging ideas in the future. The experiences and new connections I made at the conference were truly enriching for my research– many thanks to PAAR-net for the support!