Heidi Kaspar

I am a professor for participatory health care research at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland. As a social and health geographer my particular interest lies in caring spaces and practices across the globe and locally. More recently, I have been exploring the nexus between care and participatory approaches in projects initiating caring communities to support healthy aging.   

IAGG is an international conference uniting the scientific community of gerontology, geriatrics and aging studies around the globe. IAGG is an umbrella organization bringing together national gerontological and geriatric associations from five regions around the world: Europe, Africa, Asia/Oceania, North and South America & Caribbean. The 23^rd World Congress on Gerontology and Geriatrics in Amsterdam in July 2026 welcomed over 3,500 participants across a broad range of disciplines in social, natural and medical sciences and the humanities from more than 80 countries and hence provided a great opportunity to present work conducted within PAAR-net to the scientific community such as the study protocol of a scoping review on the impacts of participatory approaches with older adults on agism, a work conducted within WG1 presented as a poster at the conference. In a session hosting five oral presentations co-organized with colleagues from PAAR-net and beyond we expanded the focus on impact to the transformatory potential of participatory approaches with older adults to those involved (co-creators and researchers alike) and the research process and output. Both session and interactions at the poster presentation generated great interest in participatory approaches in ageing research and enthusiasm to further advance the field in scholars beyond PAAR-net members.