
鈥淏y 2030 Italy will be the fourth oldest country in the world鈥 (Euromonitor International 2015). According to听Censis听(2013), domestic workers employed by Italian families are expected to reach 2,151,000 in 2030), of whom 77.3% are foreign and 60% work for seniors as caregivers. This population of foreign domestic assistants to seniors is itself ageing, and听is expected to increase the already growing number of over-65s, who might in turn need assistance in the future (Rapporto听Varese 2015). Varese is an 80,000-inhabitant city in North-West Italy, north of Milan and just south of the Swiss border (Provincia di Varese 2017); 13% of its population is over 55 (Urbistat听2017); and foreigners represent over 8% of the province鈥檚 population, a significant proportion of whom (Rapporto听Varese 2015) is employed as caregivers to assist elderly people in their homes.听听
罢丑别听Age.Vol.A. project starts from the assumption that, given this demographic scenario, between home-assisted Italian seniors and their non-Italian caregivers, a linguistic and cultural barrier as well as a digital divide exist. This tends to increase the physical and social isolation of the elderly population, even reducing their personal space, e.g. when the home is their only living听place听but it is co-occupied by a carer who is a foreigner and, due to said linguistic and cultural barriers, also remains a stranger.听听
罢丑别听Age.Vol.A. project hypothesises that the linguistic and cultural barrier existing between home- assisted Italian seniors and their non-Italian caregivers can be removed or at least reduced by creating and introducing multilingual tools (a web portal and a smart device application) aimed at providing the carers with terminology and practical information related to their assisted and the institutions they usually deal with in the carers鈥 own language(s). To do so, a thorough study of both the seniors and the caregivers鈥 populations of the territory considered (Varese province)听will听be first carried out, to hear the voices of both seniors and caregivers discussing the lack of social spaces and the communicative gaps from their own experience and point of view. From these needs analyses, theoretical genres and models of communication will be derived. These will be used to design and create the multilingual technological products aimed to assist those who assist the elderly;听they听will听contain, divided and organised into different sections, information useful to the carers鈥 profession related to senior services, from health and healthcare to administrative issues. These will include terminological tools like multilingual glossaries, information on public institutions dealing with seniors (office hours, contacts), descriptions of administrative procedures, emergency procedures and contacts 鈥 all referring to the local territory. One or more of these sections could also be customisable, e.g. with the assisted family鈥檚 own contacts and procedures in case of emergency or need. The technological tools would be entirely localised (translated) into听a number of听selected foreign languages, based on those spoken by most foreign caregivers in the Varese province.听
Prof. , University of听Insubria听
Principal Investigator听
Her research activity is focused on the analysis of the communication strategies of national and international publicly- and privately-funded national health systems; popularisation of medical-scientific discourse; medical-scientific terminology and lexicography; terminology and multilingualism in dictionaries and glossaries. Scientific research tools are Critical Discourse Analysis, Genre and Text Analysis, Historical lexicography, also with the help of software for lexical and text analysis, e.g.听WordSmith听Tools.听
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Prof. , University of Milan听
Head of the听LangComm听research unit听听
This member鈥檚 research focuses on Translation Studies, English for Specific Purposes (politics, medicine, science), Genre Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis, popularization of medical-scientific discourse, Corpus Linguistics tools (WordSmith听Tools, Sketch Engine,听AntConc,听BootCat).听
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Prof. , University of听Insubria听
Coordinator of the Dissemination Plan听听
His research activity is focused on Science Communication: analysis of the scientific communication about environmental risks both in the geologic framework (volcanism, seismicity, tsunami, floods and听landslides) and in the climatic one (global warming, extreme phenomena as hurricanes and typhoons). In particular, he investigates how these topics are communicated by institutions and by the mass-media (TV, press, news blogs, social networks) on a national and an international scale. The research is conducted through software dedicated to the analyses of journalistic texts, like TalTac2 and听WordSmith听Tools.
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, PhD,听University of听Insubria听
Assistant Professor,听LangComm听research unit听
His research primarily focuses on English for Medical Purposes, Translation Studies, Translation Technologies and Speech and Speech and Language Processing (SLP). This interest is associated with his experience as a professional translator specialised in Medicine and Pharmaceutics (i.a.听the Italian version of听Gray鈥檚听Anatomy published by Elsevier). He is interested in the use of English in multilingual medical contexts, such as websites, brochures and forms. Drawing on mixed methods, his current research focuses on the impact of digital media on medical writing.
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, PhD,听University of听Insubria听
Researcher,听SocioComm听research unit听
Daniele Grechi has a Post Doc position at the Department of Human Sciences and Territorial Innovation at the University of Insubria (Italy), where he teaches Data Analytics and Statistics. He is also contract lecturer of Financial Mathematics and Quantitative methods for Management at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan. Previously (2011-2015) he was a research fellow in the Department of Naval, Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering of the Polytechnical School, University of Genoa where he was involved in a project concerning software cost estimation. He received (2019) a PhD in Methods and Model for Economic Decisions from the University of Insubria. His current research includes quantitative methods for economic and managerial analysis with a special focus on transportation, tourism and sustainability.听
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Giulia Rovelli,听University of听Insubria听
PhD student听
She is currently studying how older people have been represented in the lay press in the last few decades, with the aim of听tracing how the terminology used to describe this specific demographic group has evolved in order to adapt to older people鈥檚 changing status and need for respectful and representative language practices.听
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PAST MEMBERS
Prof.听, University of听Insubria听
SocioComm听research unit听
His research activity is focused on cultural anthropology, art anthropology, museology, exoticism and primitivism, photography. Fieldwork research was conducted in New Guinea, Bali and Laos. Research on new and modern systems based on long-term planning, organic interaction with the territory and on the development of international networks for sharing and promoting cultural organisations and institutions.听
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Moira Luraschi, PhD,听University of听Insubria听
Researcher,听SocioComm听research unit听
Her research activity focuses on Communication Anthropology, Cultural and Communicative Systems in the Far East. She carried out field research听among the听Xoraxan茅听Roma living in the听Arrivore听Roma听Camp in Turin, Italy; in Bamenda (NW Cameroon) as doctoral research. Sponsored by the Centro听Studi听Africani听in Turin, Italy; among the Cameroonian migrants living in Varese, Italy.听

