Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Statement
Leadership Roles
Director of Internationalisation, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, 2025- 2027
Founder and Faculty Lead, Queen's on Ageing.
Member of UKRI Peer Review College
Academic Lead, Strategic Partnership with University of Southern California
Disciplinary Lead, Social Policy, 2020-2022.
International Liaison, Executive Committee of the British Society of Gerontology 2015 -2020.
Editorial boards: Ageing & Society & Journal of Adult Protection.
I am a social and cultural gerontologist who works across disciplines to explore human ageing. I have taken a leading role in developing innovative approaches to understanding ageing from inter and transdisciplinary perspectives. In 2024, I founded Queen's on Ageing - a cross-Faculty initiative of over 60 leading researchers of ageing at QUB.
I have been commissioned by the UKRI to write funding calls on international aspects of ageing and regularly review for all the major journals and funders. I have been invited to contribute chapters to major international handbooks and encyclopedias since publishing a well-received textbook Critical Questions for Ageing Societies in 2020.
Since moving to Queen's from the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology in 2014, I have developed a range projects around the inter-disciplinary studies of ageing with colleagues from ARK, the Science and Culture Research Group and the Centre for Public Health. Initiatives include Med Age doctoral training programme, the Lively Project funded by the Wellcome Trust, which used material culture to explore the meaning of living a long life and an AHRC funded project called Dementia in the Minds of Characters and Readers. I am a member of the Centre for Inclusion, Transformation and Equality a vibrant centre for collaborative work on social justice. I lead the ageing research theme for CITE.
I started my postdoctoral career by winning a large grant to investigate policy formulation and critique in the area of civil society engagement with the State, in particular on corporatism and policies for disadvantaged groups in the Republic of Ireland. Later, I was also one of team of researchers on Changing Generations, a longitudinal, grounded theory study of solidarity between generations in the Republic of Ireland.
In recent years, my work has taken a more global focus, identifying policy responses to ageing populations as problematic in a range of country contexts. For instance, I am PI of Changing Generations in India, with colleagues from Tezpur University.
I am keen to support applications for postgraduate research in any of the above areas but especially on furthering our understanding of ageing and older people, cultural gerontology, politics of ageing or gender scholars with an interest in ageing societies.
Teaching
Convenor:
SPY2009 Questions for an Ageing World
SPY9002 Policy-engaged research for Public Sociologists
I also contribute to:
SPY1004 Introducing Social Policy
SOC9038 The Sources and Construction of Qualitative Data
LIB3001 Uses of the Past
AEL2001 Gender, Culture and Representation: Backwards and in Heels
Published textbook Critical Questions for Ageing Societies, September 2020 (with Paul Nash at the Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, USA). This book has been nominated for the Richard Kalish Award 2021 for innovation in research and publication in aging.
As well as Holly Mulhern, who is part of the Dunhill Medical Trust doctoral training programme, I am supervising Murchana Kaushik who is researching intergenerational transmission of sectarian values through the Tezpur-QUB knowledge exchange programme. Previous PhD students include Angel Leira Pernas who is now a policy officer at Commissioner for Older People, NI and Elizabeth Martin, lecturer in Social Policy at Queen's.
I am interested in supervising PhD students on social policy in ageing societies, cultural gerontology and projects relating to lifecourse issues which use either qualitative or participatory research methods.
I won a student nominated University Teaching Award, 2019 for my use of a diverse range of inclusive teaching methods and resources to critically engage students with complex elements of their learning. The students said 'Dr. Carney is a wonderful role model who continues to research and write and go beyond the teacher's role to get her students to learn.'
I am External Examiner on the Gerontology programme at University of Southampton
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Keywords
- H Social Sciences (General)
- social policy
- social gerontology
- gender
- ageing
- aging
- old age
- interdisciplinary
- humanities
- cultural gerontology
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- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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R2087CPH: Medicines in an ageing society – an interdisciplinary research programme: MED-AGE
McGuinness, B. (PI), Barry, H. (CoI), Carney, G. (CoI), Ellis, G. (CoI), Heron, N. (CoI), Hughes, C. (CoI), Maguire, A. (CoI), McKenna, G. (CoI) & Montgomery, L. (CoI)
13/12/2023 → …
Project: Research
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R1365SES: Informing Public Debate of the Impact of COVID 19 and SocialDistancing on 'Vulnerable Groups’
Carney, G. (PI)
10/06/2020 → 31/12/2020
Project: Research
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R1023AEL: Dementia in the minds of characters and readers
Lugea, J. (PI) & Carney, G. (CoI)
19/02/2019 → 30/06/2022
Project: Research
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R2300SSP: Material Objects on the Journey of Life
Carney, G. (PI) & Hannan, L. (CoI)
03/06/2016 → 28/02/2017
Project: Research
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‘Sometimers, Alzheimer’s? I love that! That’s definitely me’: readers’ responses to fictional dementia narratives
Carney, G. M., Lugea, J., Fernandez-Quintanilla, C. & Devine, P., 01 Dec 2023, In: The Gerontologist. 63, 10, p. 1610-1618 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Citations (Scopus)127 Downloads (Pure) -
Women (Re)Negotiating Care across Family Generations: Intersections of Gender and Socioeconomic Status
Conlon, C., Timonen, V., Carney, G. & Scharf, T., Oct 2014, In: Gender & Society. 28, 5, p. 729 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile54 Citations (Scopus)936 Downloads (Pure) -
Commission on the Voluntary Sector and Ageing: a policy review
Carney, G. M., 01 Jul 2014, In: Voluntary Sector Review. 5, 2, p. 203-211 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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‘Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt’: solidarity between generations in the Irish crisis
Carney, G. M., Scharf, T., Timonen, V. & Conlon, C., Aug 2014, In: Critical Social Policy. 34, 3, p. 312-332 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile17 Citations (Scopus)1260 Downloads (Pure) -
Dementia in the minds of characters and readers – a transdisciplinary study of fictional language
Devine, P., Lugea, J., Carney, G. M., Fernandez-Quintanilla, C. & Carson, J., 22 Apr 2025, (Early online date) In: Dementia. 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile23 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
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Queen's University Teaching Award 2019
Carney, G. (Recipient), 29 Jun 2019
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Broad Curriculum Teaching Fellowship
Carney, G. (Recipient), 2002
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Entrance Exhibition to Trinity College Dublin
Carney, G. (Recipient), 1994
Prize: Fellowship awarded competitively
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Activities
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British Society of Gerontology
Carney, G. (Chair)
01 Sept 2014Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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The Case for Solidarity between Generations
Carney, G. (Keynote speaker)
17 Jun 2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited or keynote talk at national or international conference
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Take Five to Age Well - Northern Ireland
Carney, G. (Chair)
25 Mar 2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited or keynote talk at national or international conference
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Visualising Age - an international, interdisciplinary symposium exploring ageing on screen
Carney, G. (Organiser), Barber, S. (Speaker), McGovern, J. (Invited speaker) & FitzPatrick, N. (Invited speaker)
14 Mar 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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Justine McGovern
Carney, G. (Host), Barber, S. (Host) & Devine, P. (Host)
13 Mar 2025Activity: Hosting a visitor types › Hosting an academic visitor
Press/Media
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‘A seismic shift’ How US President Joe Biden altered perceptions of age
25/11/2024
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Finding hope in the long, lonely journey of Alzheimer's
16/06/2024
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Calor Housewife of the Year
Hill, S., Carney, G. & McTighe, T.
11/09/2023
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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The lessons to be learned from the pandemic are not new – we need a properly funded, regulated and state-guaranteed system of social care
Gray, A. M., Carney, G. & Devine, P.
20/11/2020
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Coronavirus: Social gerontologist Dr Gemma Carney on why arbitrary isolation for over 70s is wrong
03/04/2020
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
Impacts
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Dementia Fiction Reading Groups
Lugea, J. (Participant), Carney, G. (Participant), Devine, P. (Participant), Fernandez-Quintanilla, C. (Participant) & Carson, J. (Participant)
Impact: Quality of Life Impact, Societial Impact