The National Graduate School for Aging Research is a collaboration between five institutions: the Aging Research Center (ARC) in Stockholm, the Center for Aging and Supportive Environments (CASE) in Lund, the Department of Sociology at Umeå University, and the Division of Occupational Therapy and the Alzheimer Disease Center (KASPAC) at Karolinska Institutet.

The aim of the graduate school is to offer a broad, multidisciplinary study program, and to contribute to high quality, internationally viable aging research.

Ageing research is a relatively young scientific discipline but of growing importance as the proportion of elderly people in the population increases. This demographic change affects patterns of disease and other health problems, as well as elderly people’s living conditions and available care resources. Moreover, differences in health and living conditions can be seen between men and women, and between different socioeconomic and ethnic groups.

The Graduate School will utilize the competence at each collaborating institution, thereby pooling the available knowledge and understanding of aging for the benefit of the graduate students and their research. The Graduate School aims to take advantage of theories and methods from several different scientific disciplines. Students will be expected to understand different disciplines’ approaches to research questions in the field of aging.

The study program is open for all PhD students interested in aging research. The Graduate School will offer special courses, seminars, workshops, international forums and other activities to PhD students, regardless of where they are enrolled. The Graduate School may also assist with supervision when appropriate.

The educational activities will be held in Stockholm, Lund and Umeå. Information about the Graduate School’s study program will be available on the collaborators’ homepages.