Research project on raising the age of retirement receives SNSF Ambizione grant
A Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) research grant of CHF 735 000 has been awarded to Dr Isabel Baumann for her project «Health inequalities in the context of working life extension». The grant comes from the Ambizione funding programme, which is designed to support junior researchers.
In her project «Health inequalities in the context of working life extension», Isabel Baumann explores the question of whether raising the age of retirement would impact different socio-economic groups in different ways. In addition, Baumann, who holds a position as research associate at the ZHAW Institute of Health Sciences, examines what it would mean for older employees with health issues if their working life were extended. With this four-year project, the social scientist touches on a topical subject of great political and societal interest, with current public debate taking place in many western countries on the prolongation of working life and on sustainable old-age pension schemes.
Successful application at SNSF
In her search for funding, Isabel Baumann was successful with her application to Ambizione, an SNSF funding programme that supports young researchers who wish to establish and carry out an independently planned project at a Swiss higher education institution; the goal of the funding instrument is to foster researchers from both Switzerland and abroad. After gaining more details about the Ambizione programme – for instance at SNSF’s Advanced Researchers’ Day – Isabel Baumann submitted her proposal. This was then subjected to a two-phase review process, after which SNSF allocated research funding of CHF 735 000 for the next four years.
International and interdisciplinary project team
The project was launched in January 2019; participating researchers come from a range of disciplines at ZHAW and various universities in Switzerland, Sweden, Chile and the US. In addition, Innovage – a Swiss non-profit organisation made up of retired managers and specialists – is also a project partner. Thanks to the collaboration with Innovage, the project can draw on a wealth of knowledge and experience of the target group (i.e. retirees) while also promoting practice-based, participatory research. Baumann is currently putting together datasets for the project’s first quantitative analyses; these include the secondary dataset «Survey on Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)» and «Vivre-Leben-Vivere», both based on surveys of people over 50 and over 65 years of age from 27 European countries and Switzerland. Plans are also underway to hold an initial workshop with Innovage. And in summer, Isabel Baumann will travel to Sweden to spend a few months working with local researchers.
About the researcher
Isabel Baumann has been a research associate in the ZHAW Institute of Health Sciences since 2015. Her research focuses primarily on labour market integration and health.