About CIRAC

The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Aging and Care (CIRAC) at the University of Graz was founded in November 2020. The first of its kind in Austria, it was created to address socially relevant questions of aging, old age, and the organization of care (care structures and care cultures) from the perspectives of the humanities and social sciences. 

CIRAC has identified five core research areas that are paramount to its work. Focusing on critical and interdisciplinary issues of aging and care, these research areas are: Ethics & Politics, Ecologies of Care, Human-Technology Interactions, Cultural Representations, and Health Humanities & Narrative Medicine. Its mission is to contribute to the growing field of Aging and Care Studies by facilitating inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration and supporting early career researchers.

To fully realize its potential, CIRAC extends beyond the city of Graz by means of various partnerships and collaborations. Among these are institutions such as ENAS, NANAS, the GSA, AgeCap Gothenburg, the Trent Centre for Aging & Society as well as the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging in Canada. Furthermore, the Age and Care Research Group Graz, a collaborative research group of all four universities in Graz, which is coordinated by CIRAC, allows for cooperation with other universities and institutional partners from practical fields and the general public on a national and international level.