Crispin Barker

The dramatic global demographic shift brought on by an aging population in a world of limited resources is potentially one of the biggest sources of conflict in the future. Mr. Barker hopes to contribute to our ability to cope with this problem by systematically analyzing the history of aging research and its influence on international policy in the 20th century. Specifically, he will look at how increasing knowledge of the aging process influenced issues such as institutional support for aging research, the creation of a global community on gerontology institutes, and the development of international policy on aging, including the creation of the UN Program on Ageing and the International Plan of Action on Ageing. At Cambridge, Mr. Barker will work closely with the Cambridge Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ageing and the British Society for Research on Ageing.