For a large part of humanity, the last decades have brought an unprecedented increase in healthy life expectancy. This raises questions about how the longer life expectancy has been shaped by and will shape individual behaviour over the life cycle. Although a welcome development, the increase in life expectancy poses policy challenges for social security and the cohesion of society given that social groups benefit from a longer life to a varying extent. This conference invites researchers from all social sciences to present work on the individual and social causes and consequences of a prolonged life cycle at both the micro and macro levels. Empirical and theoretical papers as well as overviews are welcome.