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Staff Profiles

Professor Thomas Scharf

Prof of Social Gerontology

Background

As Professor of Social Gerontology in the Population Health Sciences Institute, I co-lead Newcastle University's Centre for Ageing and Inequalities. I joined Newcastle in 2016, having previously been Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, University of Galway, Ireland (2010-15). I completed my undergraduate studies in Combined Honours (German and Politics) at Newcastle University in 1985 before moving on to Aston University where I was awarded a PhD in Political Science in 1990. I have since held teaching and research posts at Bangor University, Keele University and the University of Applied Sciences in Worms, Germany.

From 2019 to 2022, I was President of the British Society of Gerontology I have held visiting professorships at NUI Galway, the University of Manchester, Keele University and the University of Vienna. 

Areas of expertise

  • Unequal Ageing
  • Social Inclusion and Exclusion in Later Life
  • Ageing and Social Policy
  • Environments of Ageing

Video and audio recordings

  • In 2023, I delivered the Annual David Hobman Lecture at the Institute of Gerontology, King's College London. Watch my lecture on the topic 'From exclusion to inclusion in later life: a way forward' here
  • Watch my lecture on 'Ageism and age stereotyping during COVID-19', delivered as part of Newcastle University's INSIGHTS public lecture series, here
  • Listen to me talk about a range of topics relating to ageing and inequalities on a 'From Newcastle' podcast here
  • Watch my presentation on 'Media representations of older people during COVID-19', part of a Fuse COVID-19 seminar, here
  • Listen to my interview on 'Old Age and COVID-19' with The Lancet here
  • Listen to me in conversation with Mervyn Eastman about key issues in ageing on Age Speaks here
  • I am a regular contributor to the Later Life Audio and Radio Network. Access these recordings here

Google scholar: Click here.

ORCID: Click here.

SCOPUS: Click here.


Research

My research addresses issues relating to social inclusion and exclusion in later life, often with a focus on the spaces and places in which inclusion and exclusion arise and on the policy responses to forms of exclusion. My work has been supported by major grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and The Atlantic Philanthropies. Research findings have been published in such journals as Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, The Gerontologist, European Journal of Ageing, Ageing and Society, and Journal of Rural Studies. My most recent book, Social Exclusion in Ageing Societies: Interdisciplinary and Policy Perspectives (co-edited with Kieran Walsh, Sofie Van Regenmortel and Anna Wanka, Springer, 2021), is available to download for free here. With Chris Phillipson and Toni Calasanti, I co-edit the Ageing in a Global Context book series for The Policy Press.

In 2017, working in collaboration with colleagues at ILC-UK, I led a team commissioned by Centre for Ageing Better to produce a scoping review on inequalities in later life. This work highlights the persistent and deep-seated nature of inequalities affecting people aged 50 and over in England.

I am currently involved in two multi-centre projects. In the ADMISSION UK Multimorbidity Research Collaborative on Multiple Long-Term Conditions in Hospital, I am part of a team exploring inequalities in people's experiences of hospitalisation. In the Centre for Digital Citizens, I am collaborating on work that challenges age-based biases in digital technologies.


Postgraduate Supervision


I am no longer accepting new doctoral candidates.


Past PhD students

Rahmah Mohd Amin ‘The health of older Malays in Britain: a qualitative exploration’ (PhD awarded 2005)

Allison E. Smith ‘The geographical experience of older people living in deprived urban neighbourhoods of England and Canada’ (PhD awarded 2006)

Charles Simpson ‘Older people’s engagement with neighbourhood renewal’ (PhD awarded 2010)

Jackie Reynolds ‘Social inclusion in later life: the role of arts and culture’ (PhD awarded 2011)

Christine FitzGerald ‘Exploring behavioural change in community meals provision for older people’ (PhD awarded 2015)

Marie Hanmore Cawley ‘Intergenerational learning: collaborations to activate young children’s civic engagement in Irish primary school’ (PhD awarded 2015)

Caroline Finn ‘The inter-relationship between poverty and gender across the life course’ (PhD awarded 2016)

Alison Herbert ‘What are the perspectives on ageing of mid-life women in rural Ireland?’ (PhD awarded 2017)

Mary Greene ‘Energy biographies: careers of domestic practice over the life course’ (PhD awarded 2017)

Bernard McDonald ‘Developing an age-friendly county programme in Fingal: Older people's lived experiences and the WHO age-friendly conceptual framework' (PhD awarded 2019)

Emily Loughlin ‘Exploring community living from a life-course perspective – towards life-course policy options’ (PhD awarded 2019)

Arlind Reuter ‘Digital citizenship in later life: insights from participatory action research with older content creators’ (PhD awarded 2021)

Libby Morrison ‘Co-ordinating for age: an assessment of intergenerational justice and rural disadvantage in Northumberland’ (PhD awarded 2023)

Laura Prato 'Wellbeing of adults with cognitive impairment and their carers during hospital discharge' (PhD awarded 2024)


Current PhD students


Ruth McDonald 'Market shaping and the supply of home care for older people in English and Welsh rural communities: a comparative study'

Sena Odabas 'Older women who live alone: between social exclusion and precarity'

Freya Thompson 'Inequalities in hospital care for people with multiple long-term conditions'




Publications