Professor Sarah Vickerstaff

Professor Sarah Vickerstaff joined the University of Kent in 1984. She completed her PhD in Sociology, passed without revision, at the University of Leeds and her BSc in Sociology with First Class (Honours) at the University of Leicester.  She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She partially retired at the end of 2020 but continues a role as a mentor to colleagues and provides guidance on research grant applications.

Professor Vickerstaff’s main research interests are in the changes to the relationship between paid work and the life course, in particular at the beginning and end of working life. Her primary research in recent years has been tracking changes in transitions to retirement particularly in the context of policies and legislation designed to encourage people to delay retirement and work for longer. 

Her most recent ESRC funded project in this field has been with Dr Mariska van der Horst, from the Free University Amsterdam: Internalised and gendered ageism and disableism and its consequences for labour market participation of older workers: a mixed method study 

• See website
• Is some ageism really ableism? This animation explores the question whether some aspects of ageism are really hidden ableism.

Professional Memberships

• 2017 Elected Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (FGSA)
• 2019 Elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)

Cost Action video

• Gender and Health Implications of Extended Working Life: key policy messages

An AgeingBites video
from The British Society of Gerontology 46th Annual Conference

• Uncertain Futures: Older workers in an age of extending working lives

Think Kent lecture video

• Changes to the relationship between paid work and the life course