“You can age publicly until you cannot any longer, because it has become too sad, too lonely, too old.”
— Ana Cristina Santos (2026, p. xii)
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Exploring Ageing, Sexuality, Citizenship, and Social Justice
A Research Agenda for Queer Ageing, authored by Professor Ana Cristina Santos, Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded project TRACE – Tracing Queer Citizenship Over Time, and published by Edward Elgar Publishing.

Bringing together leading international scholars, this volume explores the intersections of ageing, sexuality and gender diversity, citizenship, and social justice. The book offers a timely and critical contribution to the growing field of queer ageing studies, placing Sociology at the centre of contemporary debates about ageing populations and their diversity.
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Why This Book Matters
As populations age across the globe, the experiences of older LGBTQI+ people remain significantly underrepresented in research, policy, and practice.
A Research Agenda for Queer Ageing addresses this gap by showcasing cutting-edge scholarship on queer ageing while highlighting the resilience, agency, and diverse life experiences of older LGBTQI+ people. Through a global and interdisciplinary perspective, the volume advances new ways of understanding ageing, belonging, and citizenship in later life.
The book is inspired by the research and insights generated through the European Research Council-funded project TRACE – Tracing Queer Citizenship Over Time: Ageing, ageism and age-related LGBTI+ politics in Europe.
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Read the Book
The full volume is available Open Access and can be read online HERE.
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Recommend It to Your Library
Help expand access to this important resource by recommending it to your university or institutional library throught Edward Elgar Publishing library recommendation page HERE.
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Hear from the Author
Watch Professor Ana Cristina Santos introduce the book and discuss its key themes HERE.
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Help Spread the Word
We hope this book will inspire students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to contribute to more inclusive, dignified, and joyful futures for older LGBTQI+ people.
You can support the dissemination of this work by:
- Sharing the Open Access link
- Recommending the book to your library
- Adding it to course syllabi and reading lists
- Share it through your networks
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Acknowledgements
The conceptualisation and development of this book draws on two research projects coordinated by the book editor, Dr Ana Cristina Santos, at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (CES-UC), Portugal: project REMEMBER, funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (reference n. PTDC/SOCASO/4911/2021. DOI 10.54499/PTDC/SOC-ASO/4911/2021); and project TRACE, funded by the European Research Council (ERC-2021-COG, TRACE, reference n. 101044915)
Reference: Santos, Ana Cristina. 2026. A Research Agenda for Queer Ageing. Elgar Research Agendas. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035337095.
Keywords: Lgbtqi+; Memory And Archive; Intergenerationality And Life-Course; Ageing; Narrative And Biographic Studies; Sexuality And Diversity