The Minerva School took place from the 4th to the 7th of September 2023 in the Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund (Social Research Centre Dortmund). 23 participants from Israel and Germany met to discuss key determinants of health inequalities such as gender, socioeconomic status, migration, widowhood caregiving and social policy. Three keynotes were given during the Minerva School. Prof. Liat Ayalon held a presentation on the “Social networks in long term care”. Prof. Yaacov Bachner presented on “Caregivers and caregiving effects among informal caregivers of chronic/terminally ill patients” and Prof. Martina Brandt gave a lecture on “Social inequalities in care, health and wellbeing in different contexts”. Together with presentations by Dr. Ella Cohn-Schwartz on “Measurement of social networks” and by Dr. Alina Schmitz together with Claudius Garten on “Inequalities in social networks and health”, this formed the basis for the intensive group work during all days of the Minerva School. Every working group developed research questions and presented their ideas and first steps at the last day of the workshop to all participants. The fruitful collaborations will continue after the Minerva School to finish articles that will be hopefully accepted for publication in scientific journals. The Minerva School brought together researchers from Israel and Germany who are working in a variety of different fields. Together they developed interdisciplinary perspectives on the relationship between health inequalities and social networks in ageing societies.
