Session: Aging Research, Education, Advocacy, and Practice (Aging-REAP) Network (Society for Social Work and Research 31st Annual Conference)

At the 2026 SIG, we had more than 40 attendees across the career spectrum, including doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and early-career, mid-career, and senior faculty. This was the largest turnout in recent memory, made possible due to robust pre-planning. This included faculty from multiple schools of social work who advertised this through their networks and to their students; the decision by a separate SIG – the Grand Challenge to Advance Long and Productive Lives group – to join forces with this SIG to have a single, aging-focused meeting; and advertising by the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGE-SW) to its network of scholars across the career spectrum. We anticipate matching or exceeding our 2026 totals for the 2027 SIG. No current formal affiliation with any other organization or entity exists. We do collaborate with AGE-SW and the Grand Challenge to Advance Long and Productive Lives to share communications and strategize on how our groups are complementary and additive. We were happy to announce the SSWR SIG at GSA in 2026 during an AGE-SW event, and will continue this practice for future GSA and CSWE annual program meetings and through AGE-SW membership. All conveners are active members of AGE-SW currently and in communication with AGE-SW leadership.