The SIPET network has its core in two complementary programmes, “EIWO – Exclusion and Inequality in Late Working Life” and “A Sustainable Work Life for All – Challenges and Future Opportunities’ that are funded by FORTE, the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare,within the framework of programmes ‘Challenges of Working Life’. By this, SIPET is conceptually rooted in the ambition to understand the ongoing demographic, economic, social and technological changes which influence the realms of work in potentially unequal ways. It is not only the availability of qualified labour but the sustainability of public finances, the inclusiveness of the society, the economic productivity in global competitions as well as generational and gender equity that describe major concerns and, hence, central policy goals in ageing societies. Societies require interdisciplinary knowledge on education and lifelong learning, health care systems, workplaces, employers, working conditions and their effects on people’s work participation.

Acknowledging the need for an equal and inclusive prolongation of working lives, it needs an interdisciplinary network beyond single research programmes to generate added value by collaboration, dissemination and training. By initiating a series of events with programme internal workshops, seminars with invited experts and policy stakeholders from Sweden and Europe as well as public workshops and webinars, our network will foster interdisciplinarity, internationalisation and impact. Moreover, SIPET’s training and mentoring activities with a collaborative PhD forum, a training school and a master class will support junior researchers’ careers, intensify intergenerational exchange and provide early-stage researchers (ESR) opportunities for active roles in planning and execution of activities. SIPET will advance capabilities for impact by joint dissemination and exploitation in Sweden and Europe.