In 2015 the main theme of the conference was “The Old Man and His Environment”. What, in general, is the environment in which we grow old? How can we influence this environment to avoid that the natural aging process becomes a verdict and leads to the isolation of a person. How can we make it possible to continue the active life and self-realization?

The first day of the conference began with the Plenary Session “Quality of Life of Elderly Men in Russia - the Reality and the Needs of Society."

The concept "quality of life" began to be applied as a reference point of social policy of the state rather recently. This is multivariate index, the level of which depends not only on economic development, but also on the existing traditions and stereotypes of interpersonal relationships. Specific importance the concept “quality of life” gains in when it comes to vulnerable groups of population, such as elderly people and disabled persons, as the strength and stability of the society can be judged on the quality of their life. The following issues were discussed:

• the quality of human life as a complex concept: key aspects;
• challenges for society on the quality of life of the elderly people in developed countries and in Russia;
• opportunities to combine society efforts to improve the quality of life in Russia;
• formation of a comfortable environment for an elderly person: overcoming barriers in space and public opinion.

The Plenary Session was moderated by the anchorman Andrey Maximov. The following persons took part in the discussion:

• Galina Karelova, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation
• Lothar Johannes Shih, the First Secretary of the German Embassy in Russia
• Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, Chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, Director of “Social Information Agency” NGO
• Kirill Kaem, Vice-president, “Skolkovo” Foundation
• Helen Hamlin, Official Representative of the UN International Federation on Ageing, USA
• Dmitry Leontiev, Head of the Laboratory for Studying Quality of Life, the HSE
• Alana Margaret Officer, Coordinator, WHO Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities, Switzerland
• Olga Tkacheva, Chief Freelance Specialist of the Ministry of Health on geriatrics
• Moira Allen, Co-Founder and International coordinator, The Pass It On Network, France
• Maria Privalova, Director of Moscow Institute of the Social and Cultural Programmes
• Alexei Muratov, partner of  KB “Strelka”

Helen Hamlin, the Official Representative of the UN International Federation on Ageing, who turned 92 years old, talked about the importance to understand and convince the public that an old man is a “resource, not a burden”.  According to her, you need to convince your children and grandchildren that “healthy ageing” begins in the early years. Vice-President of “Skolkovo” Foundation, Kirill Kaem, said that the fund currently supports more than 120 developed projects related to the fight against diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer etc. Scientific breakthroughs in the fight against such diseases will help to increase life expectancy in our country. Aleksey Muratov, KB “Strelka” partner raised the issue of improvement of streets, forming a barrier-free urban framework (blurring of boundaries between the sidewalk and the roadway).

IIS was represented at the conference by Irina Miroshnichenko, “Infodonor” programme manager, and Olga Kopyeva, manager. The participants of the Conference were provided with the information on the program of technological support “infoDonor” providing the NGOs with the opportunity to get software donations through it.