he Minerva Center on Intersectionality in Aging (MCIA) at the University of Haifa’s Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences was founded in order to initiate an innovative, interdisciplinary, multi-method research and implementation project related to multiply marginalized old persons.

Such marginalization is a consequence of a socially constructed process including ageism, various social and health-related disadvantages, and a lack of balance between needs and rights of this population. Marginalization is manifested by intersectionality within and between, older adult immigrants, old persons with diverse sexual orientations, people with disability, experiencing lifelong abuse, and elderly criminals. The center aims to provide an evidence-based strategy utilizing research-based practice models, training programs, guidance and supervision, related to marginalized and socially excluded older populations.

The Center’s objectives are:

1. To enable a better understanding of the unique aspects of social marginalization and ageism in old age and the multiple ways it is internalized by older population groups and social agencies and policy makers.
2. To examine the lifelong effect of vulnerability and resilience in an intersectional context.
3. To develop a comprehensive model of intersectionality for research and practice on individual, family and societal levels.
4. To increase awareness, and develop and distribute knowledge, which can serve as the basis for future intervention models.
5.  To identify and develop a new generation of graduate students and young researchers with a broad intersectional orientation towards studying marginalization in old age.
6.  To examine cross-cultural similarities and differences, by adding a comparative component with German academic colleagues.