What does it mean to grow old in Dubai?

For many long-term residents, Dubai is more than just a place to live and work—it is home. Like everywhere else, retirement is a milestone not just for older residents but for their families, bringing questions about future life plans.

Researcher İdil Akıncı, whose current work focuses on aging and retirement, led this participatory discussion, turning our attention to questions around aging, family support, and intergenerational relationships in the city.

This session was part of our Spring 2025 Residency public programmes - read more about our residents here.

Biographies

İdil Akıncı is a Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. Her research explores migration, citizenship, and belonging in multicultural societies, with a focus on the Arab Gulf States. She holds a PhD in Migration Studies from the University of Sussex, where she explored the everyday experiences of national identity and belonging by young resident communities and Emirati citizens in the UAE. Before joining Edinburgh in 2019, she taught sociology, migration, and social anthropology at the University of Sussex and Zayed University in Dubai.

Image Source: reddit.