On October 17, 2025 the symposium “Age and Gender in the Humanities and Social Sciences” was held in honor of Roberta Maierhofer and her scholarship in aging studies.
The celebration started with welcome remarks by Nicole Haring (Organizer, University of Graz), Florian Bieber (Director of the Graz School of Interdisciplinary Transnational Studies, University of Graz) and Sarah Zapusek (Coordination Centre for Gender Studies and Equal Opportunities, University of Graz).
Heike Hartung (University of Potsdam, Germany) and Nicole Haring (University of Graz, Austria) introduced and discussed Roberta Maierhofer’s scholarship in aging studies.
The first panel “Queering Age” was moderated by Elfi Bettinger (Free University Berlin, Germany) and featured presentations by Núria Casado-Gual (University of Lleida, Spain, online), José Armengol (University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain), and Dovrat Harel (Bar-Ilan University, Israel, online).
After a short lunch break, the Round Table “Aging Studies: Contested Territories in Times of Crisis” was moderated by Barbara Zach (ÖAG, Austria) and featured Aagje Swinnen (Maastricht University, Netherlands, online) discussing the development of ENAS, along with panelists Ros Jennings (University of Gloucestershire, UK), Kim Sawchuk (Concordia University, Canada, online), Linn Sandberg (Södertörn University, Sweden, online), and Roberta Maierhofer.
The round table was followed by an online intervention featuring Julia Henderson (Chair of NANAS, University of Britisch Columbia, Canada), a personal account by Peg Cruikshank (University of Maine, USA), followed by Kate de Meideiros (Concordia University, Canada) and Tom Cole (UTHealth Houston, USA).
The final panel “Aging Mentorship, and the Life-Course” moderated by Marta Corezo Moreno (UNED, Spain) welcomed Hernando Gómez Prada (University of Murcia, Spain) and Steve Rabitsch (University of Oslo, Norway). Oana Hergentröther (University of Graz, Austria) closed this panel by personal stories and annecdotes with Roberta.
The full report with photos is linked here.