Interdisciplinary Aspects of Healthy Aging
General introduction to the course
As populations age, we need to understand how to ensure life-course processes that enable older adults to live independently in good health, stay engaged in social relationships within families and communities, and uphold social roles important to well-being.
From the molecular basis to the politics determining the societal resource allocations, all aspects of ageing have an inherit concept of sustainability. This include the decision of cells to become senescent to avoid becoming cancer cells, the clinical decision of weighing a life extending treatment against a loss of life quality due to side effects, and the societal decision of when an individual is allowed to depart the labor market.
At this international summer course, you will explore the concept of sustainable ageing through an interdisciplinary lens and combine research results and concepts from the humanities, social sciences, epidemiology, neurology, physiology, public health, and molecular biology. You will be able to identify your most important stake holders and how to reach them through dissemination events, publication strategies and grant applications.
Objectives & course format
The primary objective is to gain interdisciplinary knowledge and research experience in the field of aging to better understand how elderly people can preserve their vitality and enjoy a robust older age. We will focus on the concept of sustainable aging throughout the course.
Over three weeks, you will meet engaged and highly skilled researchers and work with ambitious students from a wide range of academic backgrounds and countries. The course provides experience with interdisciplinary work and aging research under the supervision of researchers from Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Copenhagen. The course is offered as part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) Courses.
After the course, the participants will gain:
Knowledge:
- On aging as a complex phenotype that necessitates research integrating concepts from the humanities, social sciences, epidemiology, neurology, physiology, public health, and molecular biology.
- On defining the necessary methods that can be used to conduct aging research.
- On the principles for carrying out interdisciplinary aging research.
Skills:
- To evaluate and discuss the essential concepts of sustainable aging from an interdisciplinary perspective.
- To critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of aging research presented in the course.
- To discuss and evaluate research methods presented.
- To synthesize and present current knowledge and practical experiences into a research proposal.
- To transform a research proposal into a grant application.
Competences:
- To independently adapt to a new environment and take responsibility for professional development.
- To collaborate and effectively communicate with peers from different disciplines.
- To critically evaluate, to acquire new knowledge, and to reflect on how this can be incorporated into other contexts.
- To evaluate presentations on research proposals of peers.
On-campus module | 9 - 27 August 2021 |
Exam | 27 August 2021 |
Credit points | 5 ECTS |
You can participate, if you have completed a bachelor's degree and have a keen interest in aging research.
You must be able to express yourself in English, be ready to enter into discussions, and be prepared to invest in group work.
If you have not studied a full degree in English or passed an English test (TOEFL 83 or IELTS 6.5), you may be invited for a Skype interview to assess your English skills.
The course will combine lectures, interdisciplinary workshops, presentations, and project work in groups.
The following objectives will be achieved over three weeks in August 2020.
- Week one: The main objective is to provide knowledge on the interdisciplinary nature of the aging process and how to evaluate the strengths and limitations of this research field.
- Week two: The main objective is to design an interdisciplinary research project. You will work in small groups.
- Week three: The main objective is to learn how interdisciplinary research projects are written down and evaluated. In groups, you will write grant proposal, which will be presented and defended in a mock grant evaluation. An individual written proposal will be submitted for evaluation on a pass/fail basis at the end of the course.
Field trips also will be arranged during the three weeks course.
For inspiration, please see the course schedule from 2019.
Lecturers:
- Assistant professor Maarten Rozing, UCPH
- Associate professor Claus Desler, UPCH
- Associate professor Maria Kristiansen, UCPH
For more details, please read the course description in UCPH's course database
The application deadline is 1 April 23:59 (CEST).
You apply through the link in the top right hand side of this web page.
You are exempted from payment, if:
You are enrolled at a Danish university and the course is part of your master's programme. Danish students must provide a pre-approval of credit transfer from their home institution upon application.
You are a student at UCPH enrolled in one of the following programmes, you do not need to apply for pre-approval of credit transfer:
- MSc in Global Health
- MSc in Human Biology
- MSc in Public Health Science
You are an exchange student and attend the course as part of the autumn exchange semester (min. 3 months stay).
You are an exchange student nominated through Nordplus express or Nordlys.
You are a student from an IARU university with a exchange agreement with the University of Copenhagen (UTokyo).
Fee-paying participants:
All other participants (students, working professionals, etc.) must pay tuition fee according to the information below.
EU/EEA citizens = 4,000 DKK
Non-EU/EEA citizens = 6,250 DKK
The fee covers participation in the course. It does not cover course materials, travel, accommodation and living expenses during the course.
Full payment of course fees must be transferred in May. Payment details will be provided upon acceptance.
Refund policy
You can only get a refund of your tuition fee, if you cancel at least two month prior to the beginning of the course including e-learning modules.
You can apply for the Novo Nordisk International Talent Programme (NNITP) scholarship, if you are incoming students from IARU universities, Harvard University, or University of Sydney.
- Application deadline is 15 May 2021.
Read about application procedures and the NNITP at International Education & Grants homepage.
Please note, that the University of Copenhagen does not offer any scholarships or tuition fee reductions.
Currently, we hope to carry out the course as planned.
If the situation prevent us from hosting the course as planned, the course will be offered as an online course.
We will update this information sometime in the spring 2021.
If you have questions about the course content, please write to HealthyAging@sund.ku.dk.
Course administration: Ida Marie Bergman Rasmussen
Course responsible: Associate professor Maarten Rozing, Associate professor Claus Desler and Associate professor Maria Kristiansen
Accommodation: Please note that the summer courses are non-residential. Participants are responsible for finding and funding accommodation during their stay in Copenhagen.
You can use different online portals to search for accommodation, such as:
- Airbnb
- Danhostel
- Hostel World
- UCPH Housing Foundation (acceptance letter from UCPH required)
Copenhagen has an international airport, and the city centre can be reached within 30 minutes. If you want additional information read Arriving in Copenhagen.
Please study our websites for more information about Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and the University of Copenhagen.
You can find many answers to frequently asked questions about the faculty's summer courses, such as:
- deadlines
- tuition fee payments
- visa
- arrival and departure
- certificates
If you need specific academic information about the individual courses, you must contact the relevant course responsible directly.
IARU Courses

The course is offered as a part of the initiative IARU Courses.