IER would like to welcome Dr Mary McMahon, from The University of Queensland, who has arrived this week to start her 4 week IAS Fellowship. Mary will be presenting at various events over the next few weeks, so keep an eye on our news for more information. Professor Mark Watson, Distinguished Professor from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa, will also be visiting IER at the end of June. Together Mary, Mark and Jenny will be pursuing their international research collaboration on older women.

As part of an IER research partnership, Dr Yuxin Li will visiting Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China for the next two weeks. She will be working on the “Ageing and Elderly Care” research network that has been set up. During her stay at Sun Yat-sen University, Yuxin will also visit two universities in Guangzhou – South China Normal University and Jinan University – with the aim of extending the network. Yuxin will also be attending the International conference on Social Policy and Governance Innovation to be held at South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.

In the fifth of a series of podcasts about our work at the Institute for Employment Research, Professor Jenny Bimrose tells us about some of the findings of her international study of older workers, in particular she focuses on the career development of older women and the role of careers guidance.

Professor Jenny Bimrose, Professor Alan Brown and Dr Sally-Anne will be attending the IAEVG conference on Career Guidance and Development Practices around the World, in Cape Town, South Africa (19-21 October). Professor Jenny Bimrose will present with IER Associate Fellows, Professor Mark Watson and Dr Mary McMahon on ‘Paradoxes in the career transitions of older women’. Together with Professor Alan Brown, Jenny will be presenting on ‘Stories of career adaptability from England and Norway’. Dr Sally-Anne Barnes, with Jenny, will present on ‘Developing and integrating IT innovations in careers guidance in the UK’. Sally-Anne will also be showcasing some on the IT systems researched and developed for careers guidance organisations in the UK.

Professor Jenny Bimrose and Professor Alan Brown will be presenting new research on the role of career adaptability in skills supply at the Vocational Designing and Careers Counselling conference in Padova, Italy (12-14 September). The research undertaken for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills explores the concept of career adaptability and improves our understanding of the wide range of goals, aspirations, achievements and identities that shape the way that individuals interact with and move through the labour market. The report can be downloaded from the project web page. Professor Jenny Bimrose will also present with IER Associate Fellows, Professor Mark Watson and Dr Mary McMahon. In addition, Jenny will be leading on a symposium at which initial findings from a 5 country study of the career development of older women will be presented.