A multidisciplinary research center, established in 2000 by Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet, with the mission to improve the health and well-being of older individuals by contributing to the understanding of the aging process from a biomedical, psychological and sociological perspective in relation to life-long social and physical contexts. ARC conducts research and education and spreads research findings within and outside the scientific community.
Photo: Stockholms universitetThe long-term collaboration between Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet has enabled researchers at ARC to conduct high-quality interdisciplinary research in areas such as ageing and health, equal living conditions, geriatric epidemiology, and the psychology of ageing. Within these areas, we also contribute to teaching and shared responsibility for undergraduate courses and courses at an advanced level at both universities.
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Photo: Marie FranzénARC organises seminars every Tuesday and you are welcome to join on location or via Zoom.
Photo: NEARThe National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) is a unique research infrastructure that was founded in 2018. NEAR facilitates the use of databases from major population longitudinal studies on aging and health in Sweden. It is a collaboration between eight universities including Karolinska Institutet, University of Gothenburg, Lund University, Umeå University, Jönköping University, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Uppsala University and Stockholm University.
Photo: SNAC-KSNAC-Kungsholmen is part of the ongoing multi-center Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC), which was initiated in 2001 and is conducted on a sample of individuals aged 60 and older. The primary research areas include dementia and brain aging, multimorbidity and frailty, mental health, cardiometabolic health, the body-mind connection, falls and polypharmacy. Key research questions revolve around lifestyle, physical and social environments, biomarkers, time trends, sex differences, treatment, as well as medical and social care related to different health aspects.
Photo: N/AThe Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old – SWEOLD, is an ongoing, nationally representative survey of the older population in Sweden, run by researchers from Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet. The first data collection was conducted in 1992, and has been repeated in 2002, 2004, 2011, 2014 and 2021. Older adults are asked questions about their actual living conditions in a number of areas relevant to older people, these include health, health and social care, financial resources, housing, occupation, and everyday activities. The survey also includes a few basic tests on physical and cognitive performance.
Photo: Sofia Peterberg ÅdenOlder persons make up an increasing proportion of the population. The image of whom the so-called “older people” are is greatly influenced by how older people are portrayed in the media, in art and in public spaces. In 2019, a unique Arts & Science project was initiated between the Aging Research Center and students enrolled in the course Visual Communicator Photographer VKF19 at Fotoskolan STHLM to help cover that gap.
The long-term collaboration between SU and KI has enabled researchers at ARC to conduct high-quality interdisciplinary research in areas such as ageing and health, equal living conditions, geriatric epidemiology, and the psychology of ageing. Within these areas, we also contribute to teaching and shared responsibility for undergraduate courses and courses at an advanced level at both universities.
Although ARC is physically and administratively located at KI, the support from SU is significant for all our activities and forms a valuable basis for achieving stability and continuity in our work. It contributes to our interdisciplinary research, facilitates collaborations with researchers at different departments at SU, and favours the use of core facilities at the Stockholm University Brain Imaging Centre to collect data.
Increasing longevity and the requirement to be able to work even later in life, places growing demands on both research and education in various aspects of ageing and older individual’s living conditions.
Those who reach retirement age today, often have a long remaining life to look forward to. Simultaneously, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have clearly shown that older people are a vulnerable group. There are still knowledge gaps and shortcomings in how existing knowledge is applied.
ARC’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of older individuals by contributing to the understanding of the aging process from a biomedical, and psychological and sociological perspective in relation to life-long social and physical contexts.
ARC conducts research and education and spreads research findings within and outside the scientific community.
Our main areas of research include:
Our research activities are characterised by:
An important part of ARC's successful activities is the collection of high-quality data. For some years now, we house the national infrastructure NEAR – The National E-infrastructure for Aging Research, which coordinates the existing databases from major population-based longitudinal studies on aging and health in Sweden.
NEAR consists of a variety of longitudinal population studies from several universities in Sweden. NEAR is also a multidisciplinary infrastructure that includes nearly 200,000 individuals aged over 50. The infrastructure includes both nationally representative studies and regional studies with information on people's living conditions, such as health, activities and social interaction, economy, health and social care, as well as a variety of clinical investigations.
ARC has high competence and extensive experience in the field of brain imaging where data is collected at SUBIC (Stockholm University Brain Imaging Center) and at KI.
ARC actively pursues issues of importance to older people, in collaboration with actors outside academia.
We have many years of collaboration with the Stockholm Gerontology Research Center Foundation, the Swedish Dementia Centre, Region Stockholm, Socialstyrelsen och Public Health Agency of Sweden.
In addition to international academic publications, the researchers at ARC regularly publish their results at conferences and seminars as well as in popular scientific journals, and other media. In addition, the results are used in various government investigations and reports.
ARC's organisation consists of the Operational Leadership Team, the Strategic Leadership Team, the Administration Group, two Junior representatives and the External Advisory Board.
The Operational Leadership Team meets every three weeks and deals with everyday decision-making and information sharing.
The Strategic Leadership Team consists of the research group leaders at ARC. The team meets every three weeks and share responsibility for major strategic discussions and decisions.
There are currently ten research groups within the division, categorised into three scientific areas: Medical Epidemiology, Psychology and Social Gerontology.
The administration at ARC supports management, staff and affiliates in the day-to-day work.
The External Advisory Board gathers approximately three times a year to discuss ARC's scientific, economic and organisational development as well as collaboration with the surrounding society.
