Call for papers

Ageing is a process shaped by social norms, power relations, historical legacies, and unequal possibilities for living and belonging. Yet the intersections of ageing and LGBTQI+ lives remain insufficiently explored. Queer ageing offers a critical lens through which to challenge dominant narratives of later life and rethink the ways in which societies understand care, kinship, memory, inequality, and the future. As the final event of the TRACE project, funded by the European Research Council, the 2^nd International Conference on Queer Ageing (ICQA) gathers scholars, experts, policy-makers, service-providers, activists, artists, students and NGOs working in the intersecting fields of sexualities, gender identity and ageing around the globe.

At ICQA we will examine how historical transformations, shifting social norms, and broader political and cultural changes have shaped LGBTQI+ lives across the life course, while interrogating the structures of power that condition the possibilities of ageing. Moving beyond frameworks centred solely on visibility, inclusion, or vulnerability, ICQA welcomes contributions that challenge established assumptions, foreground diverse lived experiences, and advance critical perspectives. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

Queer Ageing Studies, Epistemologies, and Temporalities: How can queer, Indigenous, crip, and trans perspectives challenge dominant understandings of ageing, the life course, and “successful ageing”? Whose knowledge, experiences, and futures remain marginalised?

Histories, Archives, and Collective Memory: How are LGBTQI+ lives remembered, documented, or erased? How can queer archives, oral histories, and counter-archives reclaim silenced histories of HIV/AIDS, criminalisation, and resistance, and foster intergenerational knowledge transmission?

Heritage, Representation, and Visibility: How do museums, cultural institutions, public commemorations, and media represent or marginalise LGBTQI+ ageing and trans histories?

Intersectionality, Rights, and Social Justice: How do ageism, heteronormativity, cisnormativity, racism, class, disability, and colonial legacies intersect across the life course? How can advocacy, public policy, and legal frameworks address structural inequalities affecting LGBTQI+ people in later life?

Class, Economic Inequality, and Material Insecurity: How do class, employment histories, pension systems, and unequal access to economic resources shape LGBTQI+ experiences of ageing? How do lifetime inequalities, financial precarity, and gaps in social protection affect autonomy, housing, care, and security in later life?

Care, Health, and Embodied Ageing: How do healthcare and care institutions address or reproduce inequalities in mental health, dementia care, disability, and the recognition of LGBTQI+ identities and relationships? How might care be reimagined beyond normative assumptions about family, dependency, and ageing?

Sexuality, Intimacy, and Embodiment: How are desire, pleasure, intimacy, and relationships experienced in later life, and how do ageism and heteronormative assumptions shape the visibility and recognition of older LGBTQI+ bodies and relationships?

Religion, Spirituality, and Meaning-Making: How do religious traditions, spiritual practices, and systems of belief shape experiences of belonging, exclusion, and meaning in queer later life? How does queer relate to grief and death?

Geographies and Digital Cultures of Queer Ageing: How do rural, urban, and regional contexts, migration, and mobility shape experiences of queer ageing? How do digital technologies transform community, intimacy, and access to support, and which inequalities might they reproduce?

Intergenerationality, Hope, and Queer Futures: How can intergenerational dialogue, political solidarity, and the transmission of knowledge strengthen LGBTQI+ communities? How might queer perspectives reimagine hope, happiness, and the good life beyond normative expectations of resilience and “successful ageing”? In what ways can we make housing affordable and inclusive for older queers?

Kinship, Community, and Belonging: How do chosen families, mutual aid, and community networks challenge dominant models of kinship and care? What social, institutional, and geographical conditions shape loneliness, exclusion, and possibilities for collective belonging?

The conference also welcomes contributions addressing methodological, ethical, and epistemological challenges in researching LGBTQI+ ageing, as well as interdisciplinary, creative, and practice-based approaches.

Important dates

26th January 2027 - Deadline for submitting abstracts
15th February 2027 - Selected authors will be informed
15th February 2027 - Opening of registration and payment
16th April 2027 - Deadline for early bird registration
30th June 2027 - Deadline for regular registration and payment

Fees
Students, unemployed individuals, and GPS-CES members: 50€
Early bird registration: 70€
General registration: 100€

Location | Coimbra, Portugal, one of the most charismatic ancient cities of Portugal, with its emblematic University dating back to 1290! Come and enjoy this vibrant community and its 737 years of History!

Venue
Centre for Social Studies – University of Coimbra, Portugal

Structure and language
The International Conference will include plenary sessions with keynote speakers, roundtables, parallel sessions and an exciting cultural programme. It welcomes anyone committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming society for ageing queers. The working language is English. Depending on demand, 1 of the parallel sessions may have Portuguese as the working language.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers

Lynne Segal, Anniversary Professor Emerita of Psychology and Gender Studies, Birkbeck, University of London
Juana María Rodríguez, Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies and Performance Studies, UC Berkeley
Porpora Marcasciano, Activist, Sociologist and Writer, Nobel Prize Nominee for Peace

_{Organising Committee: Ana Cristina Santos (Coord.), Ana Lúcia Santos, Irene Massa, Joana Brilhante, Pako Chalkidis, Patrícia Santos and Pedro Fidalgo}

_{Organised by TRACE -Tracing Queer Citizenship over Time: Ageing, ageism and age-related LGBTI+ politics in Europe, Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (Portugal),}

_{In partnership with DemoJUST - Democracy, Justice and Human Rights Thematic Line, GPS – CES Research Group on Sexualities, PhD Programme in Feminist and Queer Studies (CES/ FLUC).}

_{For more information, please contact: trace@ces.uc.pt}