About Us

who we are?

Centre for Gerontological Studies, a voluntary organization of Kerala, has been championing the cause of older people in the areas of policymaking, providing quality service, conducting research, and organizing seminars and conferences on the issues of ageing at the national and international level. It is registered under the Societies Registration Act (Registration No.187 of 1983).

Established in 1983

By some forward-looking social scientists from the universities in 5 South Indian states as an international centre for inter-disciplinary studies and research on ageing.

These social scientists under the leadership of Dr P.K.B. Nayar drew their inspiration for this venture from the Unite Nations International Assembly on Aging, Vienna, 1982. The collaborating universities are Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati (Andra Pradesh), Karnatak University, Dharwad (Karnataka), Kerala University Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Madras University. Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Marathwada University, Aurangabad (Maharashtra).

The first Governing Body of the Centre consisted of Senior Professors and Heads of Departments of Sociology of the collaborating universities, the Director of the Centre for Social Research, Trivandrum and three faculty members from the Kerala University Dept. of Sociology. Hence throughout it existence, it has had an academic and research orientation besides organizing and executing programmes for the welfare of senior citizens. The commanding position of the Members of the Governing Body in their respective universities enabled the centre to have excellent academic base from the very beginning. The Heads were able to bring within the sphere of influence of the Centre, the faculty members, research scholars and students of their departments which in turn gave their teaching and research (including M.Phil and Ph.D programmes) a gerontological perspective. Indeed this resulted in having a number of M.Phil. and Ph.D. theses of these depts. with aging as their topic. This was also reflected in the themes or sub themes of the seminars and conferences they organized. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the membership of the Heads of Departments of the five South Indian Universities in key decision making roles in CGS has enabled gerontology to have sound and solid academic roots in South India.

Our Experience & Expertise

Experience

Centre for Gerontological Studies has become a unique International Centre of its kind for interdisciplinary studies and research on Ageing. Besides effectively involving the community in their programmes, the Centre also assisted in the formulation of the State Policy and Plan of Action for the Elderly in the States of Kerala and Goa. In addition, the centre has also been taking up various other activities such as advocacy, training, consultancy and promotional work on ageing.

Expertise

The Centre feels that it has some expertise in the following areas:

Undertaking assignments and projects on elderly
Providing consultancy on aging
Making feasibility studies on new and ongoing programmes for the aged and the aging
Providing advice on aging matters
Setting up programmes of all kinds in the field of aging
Research and action programmes on aging
Organizing conferences - national and international
Attention to marginalized groups among elderly, especially women and oldest old
Provide assistance in all matters relating to the elderly - health and medical aspects, institutional and non institutional care, illness and treatment of the elderly, Elder care Homes, provision of umbrella support for the old, interventions on all matters for elder empowerment

awards

The vayoshreshta samman

Centre for Gerontological Studies was awarded Government of India’s highest award in the field of aging – the Vayoshreshtha Samman in the year 2009. The citation mentions inter alia that CGS “has become a unique international centre of its kind for interdisciplinary studies and research on aging”.

Special Consultancy status with un-ecosoc

In 2017, the United Nations conferred on CGS Special Consultancy Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC)

Library

The Centre has a modest library containing books, reports and periodicals and it is perused regularly by the research scholars of local colleges and university departments. Outstation students and faculty also visit CGS and meet the Centre faculty for consultation and collection of materials.

networking

Over the years, the Centre has built up an excellent network of similar agencies, associations and professional groups across the world so much so that CGS is quite familiar to the international fraternity of professionals and intellectuals on ageing.

UN International Institute on Ageing (INIA), Malta
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
Help Age International
International Union for Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and its regional chapters
International Forum for Social Sciences and Health (IFSSH) and it's subsidiary the Asia Pacific Network (APNET)
The Initiative for Research in Health Expectancy Calculations (REVES, Paris)
International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG)
International Federation on Ageing (IFA)
International Society for Equity in Health (ISEqH)
International Longevity Centre (ILC)
Global Alliance for the Rights of Older Persons (GAROP)

CONSULTANCY

The Centre has been doing a lot of consultancy work, chiefly for those needing assistance on problems related to ageing – how to start an old age home, how to take care of Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients, how to cope with un-accommodative old kin, how to select an old age home for a prospective client, how to select a topic for research, how to prepare research project for seeking funds, and the like. These services were free and this added attraction to the advice-seekers. There were other mega requests from bigger agencies including governments with bigger assignments; CGS has formulated old age policies and plans of action for the states of Kerala and Goa.