Interdisciplinary Aspects of Healthy Aging

The course is intense and combines lectures and project work. The students will learn the basic research concepts and principles in diverse disciplines including humanities, social science, epidemiology, neurology, physiology, and molecular biology from the lectures. The students will then form different groups (3-4 students per group) during the course, and carry out a research project under the supervision of tutors from CEHA programs. This course is aimed at students who have gained a first bachelor level degree and are interested in all aspects of aging research. Students from all fields are welcome to apply.

This course is open to Master students and above.  Students who have obtained a bachelor degree from any discipline, have interests in ageing research, and have good English skills are welcome to apply.  The applicants are encouraged to write an essay about their interests and plans for their future studies as part of their application.  A few fellowships will be given to outstanding applicants to cover their travel and accommodation expenses.

The course will be divided into two parts: lectures in the first 3 days and practical course in the following 11 days. The lectures will cover the basic knowledge in different aging research fields including: humanities, social science, epidemiology, neurology, physiology, and molecular biology.

On the fourth day, introduction will be given to several interdisciplinary research projects by researchers from CEHA. These projects are examples of the research that contains shared interests across different areas of ageing research. The aim is to give students the opportunity to learn and use research methods from other disciplines, and they can develop those projects within the practical course. The topics of projects include: fatigue, memory, mobility, adaptability, preventive medicine, and mechanism of aging. Please refer to the following website for the interdisciplinary projects currently being carried out in CEHA: http://healthyaging.ku.dk/research/interprojects/.

On the following 10 days, the students will form groups and choose one of the practical projects as their course project. Each student group will carry out the research project under supervision from CEHA researchers. At the end of the course, they will write an essay about their findings/conclusions and present their reports to the class. The students will be closely followed by the CEHA researchers and their performance will be evaluated at the end of the course.

The recommended reading material of this course are listed as below:

• Satariano WA. Epidemiology of Ageing. An Ecological Approach. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlet Publishers.2006.
• Handbook of Ageing and the Social Sciences, Seventh Edition, Robert H. Binstock 2010
• Handbook of the Psychology of Ageing, Sixth Edition, James E. Birren (Editor) 2005
• Kelly, K. M., et al. "The neurobiology of ageing." Epilepsy Research 68.Supplement 1 (2006): 5-20.
• Physical Dimensions of Ageing. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. 2005.
• Molecular Biology of Ageing (Cold Spring Harbor Monograph Series 51), Leonard P. Guarente, Linda Partridge, and Douglas C. Wallace, 2007

The students will gain foundation knowledge and practical experience in diverse fields of ageing research including humanities, social science, epidemiology, neurology, physiology, and molecular biology.

Assessment

7.5 ECTS points will be given from this course. Students will be assessed based on:
25%: active participation of the course;
50%: a 6000 word essay from each group formed by 3-4 students;
25%: 1 x oral presentation.

The International Office at the University of Copenhagen will find housing for all IARU students.

Tuition fee

• Students from EU/EØS countries, IARU universities and other universities with exchange agreements - No tuition fee
• Students from non-EU/EØS countries with a permanent Danish residence permit – No tuition fee
• Students from non-EU/EØS countries – Tuition fee is DKK13,000

Accommodation: DKR 3,000-4,500/month

Estimated living expenses: DKR 2000