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We are excited to share the highlights from NEAR’s scientific workshop “A National E-Infrastructure to Improve Public Health” at the European Public Health Conference 2024 in Lisbon. Ingrid Ekström chaired the workshop, beginning with an introduction from Linnea Sjöberg, who provided an overview of the NEAR infrastructure and its role in advancing aging research in […]
On a beautiful fall day on 15 October, NEAR held its sixth workshop in the majestic facilities of the Swedish Society of Medicine. After the initial welcome from NEAR’s Director, Laura Fratiglioni, the workshop continued with various presentations led by the Chair, Björn Halleröd. During these, leading experts of extensive longitudinal and epidemiological studies presented […]
Don’t miss the opportunity to join us for the upcoming NEAR workshop: “Aging Research with High Clinical and Public Health Impact – Dialogue Among International Infrastructures” on 15 October from 8.30 AM to 5.00 PM. This year’s workshop aims to foster an environment where leading experts in large longitudinal and epidemiological studies or infrastructures will […]
On June 12-14, NEAR attended the 27th Nordic Congress of Gerontology (NKG) 2024 held in Stockholm. Bringing together gerontology knowledge and innovation, the congress theme was ageing in a transforming world. Over 850 attendees from more than 44 countries participated in the conference. NEAR was featured with an interactive booth where attendees could explore a […]
NEAR is looking for a Database Coordinator with Data Scientist tasks. Join us in driving innovation and discovery in aging research. Apply now to be part of the NEAR team and contribute to a transformative initiative with far-reaching implications for public health and well-being. Your Mission We are looking for a highly capable data scientist to […]
On April 8-9, NEAR database managers met at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Karlskrona for a two-day workshop onsite and online. The first day started with welcoming and updating everyone about recent NEAR activities. This was followed by two well-attended presentations by Robert Thiesmeier, who discussed missing data methods, and Debora Rizzuto who presented […]
Ingmar Skoog’s book “70 is the new 50” discusses how aging has changed over the past 50 years. The book is based on research results from the NEAR-based H70 studies, which examine the health of different birth cohorts of 70-year-olds. The oldest cohort of 70-year-olds was born in the 20th century (1901-02 and 1906-07) and […]
On November 21, NEAR attended and held a symposium at the Swedish Graduate School on Ageing and Health (SWEAH) conference in Norrköping. SWEAH is a multidisciplinary research school on aging and health, which Lund University coordinates. The theme of the conference was: “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Sustainable Ageing” and was aimed at researchers at all levels […]
On November 8, NEAR organized its fifth workshop in collaboration with the Ferrero Foundation during Healthy Aging Week 2023 in Alba, Italy. This year’s workshop focused on new opportunities for aging research in Europe. NEAR presented several examples and projects using NEAR data. The workshop was chaired by Maria Eriksdotter, Dean of Karolinska Institutet (KI) […]
On October 12th, NEAR and the Comparative Research Center Sweden (CORS) held a seminar entitled “Ethical Perspectives on Data Usage in Research Infrastructures”. The seminar aimed to understand the ethical aspects of using secondary data in research infrastructures. During the afternoon, around 100 participants attended, on-site or online, to listen to the seminar, which involved […]
On September 20-22, NEAR attended and held a symposium at the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EU-GMS) 2023 in Helsinki, Finland. EU-GMS’s mission is to develop geriatric medicine in Europe as an independent specialty caring for older people with age-related diseases. Around 1700 participants from across the world met in Helsinki to discuss and present research […]
The Swedish Society of Medicine (SLS) awards SEK 150,000 annually to someone who has made outstanding contributions to Alzheimer’s research. This year, the Bengt Winblad Prize is awarded to the Director of NEAR, Laura Fratiglioni, Professor of Medical Epidemiology, focusing on dementia diseases at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet. Laura Fratiglioni […]
NEAR will organize its next workshop in collaboration with the Ferrero Foundation during Healthy Aging Week 2023. From 6 to 11 November 2023, the Ferrero Foundation of Alba will host Healthy Aging Week 2023, a series of scientific events, seminars, and workshops organized by the Ferrero Foundation in collaboration with the Academy of Medicin of […]
NEAR is expanding with two databases, the Swedish national inventory of health and care (SWENIS) and Sheltered Housing (TRYBO). The two databases are part of the U-age program, initiated by David Edvardsson at Umeå University. SWENIS collects nationally representative data on residents’ health and quality of life. It also collects data on care provision characteristics […]
In January 2023, Davide Liborio Vetrano joined the NEAR Central Operational Group as a Scientific Promoter. We asked him a few questions to get to know Davide better. You are now a NEAR team member. Tell us who are you? I am originally from Italy. I have an MD degree and a geriatric medicine […]
NEAR is looking for a Statistician to assist NEAR users in the delivery of statistical and epidemiologic support to research projects. Your mission 1) Works as a member of a research team/study team to provide appropriate statistical input in the design, execution and analysis of studies; 2) Participates in the development of operations and procedures […]
The newly formed Steering Group and adjunct members had their second meeting via Zoom on May 8. Various topics were discussed, such as collaboration with other Swedish infrastructures, ethical issues, and activities for 2024.
The NEAR Principal Investigators, Ingmar Skoog and Carin Lennartsson participated in the Swedish radio program “Kropp & Själ” in P1. In this program, they discussed loneliness in old age in Sweden. “It is a myth that older adults are more lonely in Sweden than in other countries”, says Ingmar Skoog Professor of Psychiatry. Studies show […]
On March 9-10, the database managers of NEAR held a two-day workshop on-site at the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet, with the main purpose of discussing and developing overall matters of database management. The first day was focused on publishing and sharing your data, where three representatives from the KI Data Access Unit (DAU) […]
Wilhelmina Hoffman who is part of NEAR’s Steering Group, is one of this year’s recipients of an honorary doctorate of medicine from Karolinska Institutet. She is specialist in geriatrics, and CEO of Silviahemmet and the Swedish Dementia Centre. Medical advances require research, innovation, education and the effective clinical implementation of scientific evidence. Wilhelmina Hoffman has […]
Willhelmina Hoffman, Björn Halleröd, Kaare Christensen, Luigi Ferrucci, Anne, W Ekdahl NEAR has now entered phase 2.0, with a focus on consolidation and expansion. Due to that, a newly formed Steering Group has been appointed. The newly formed Steering Group consists of members with national and internationally recognized expertise in aging research and research infrastructures, […]
Every year, the Great Gerontology Prize is awarded by the Swedish Gerontological Association, SGS to people who have made a name for themselves in the elderly and aging field. During the autumn, the SGS board received nominations and at the beginning of December it was announced that the recipient of the 2023 Great Gerontology Prize […]
In the beginning of November, NEAR was on site in Indianapolis when the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) took place. GSA is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. Several NEAR representatives were present and held a symposium to present the […]
From the 1st of November we are happy to welcome Maria Wahlberg as a Database Coordinator in the NEAR team. Maria has a Master of Science degree in Statistics from Linköpings Universtitet. She has worked as Data manager for the Kungsholmen Project since 1997 when she began her carrier at Karolinska Institutet. Since the start […]
On 18-19 October, 60 persons from 12 different universities gathered at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm for NEAR’s annual workshop. This year’s workshop focused on collaboration. More specifically the purpose was to create more opportunities to work together, learn more about other infrastructures’ work, and what we can learn from each other. The workshop was chaired […]
During 6th -7th October, NEAR attended the Collaboration in Science conference in Flemmingsberg. The conference is an initiative of Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge and aims to strengthen and promote translational research collaborations between basic science and clinical research. During the conference, there were both opportunities to take part in inspiring speakers and […]
Photo: Maria Youhang On September 15, Basile Rommes joined NEAR as a Software Developer. We took the opportunity to ask a few questions to get to know him a little better. You are new to the team at NEAR. Tell us, who are you? I am originally from Luxembourg, I have […]
Photo: Maja Rudolphson For three days 8-10 June, NEAR attended the 26th edition of Nordic Congress of Gerontology which this year took place in Odense in Denmark. The theme of this year’s congress was CHANGE & CONTINUITY and NEAR participated as one of the sponsors and had an exhibition booth where we presented NEAR and […]
NEAR consists of 15 databases and four of those belong to the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC). This year SNAC is celebrating 20 years, and recently they met at a Jubileum retreat in Stockholm archipelago. Researchers and the data collection staff working with the SNAC met at Djurönäset, Stockholm, during a two-day […]
NEAR is looking for a highly capable system developer with a central role in the development of the national e-infrastructure for aging research (NEAR). Your daily work will include a mix of system development, maintenance of existing systems, system communication, data management (transformation, uploading, extraction) and statistical strategies for harmonization. The system developer will be […]
NEAR participated at the Swedish Meeting for Alzheimer Research in Aula Medica, Stockholm. The KI President, Ole Petter Ottersen opened the conference followed by H.M. Queen Silvia. The NEAR Scientific Coordinator, Debora Rizzuto, held a presentation about dementia research within NEAR. Other speakers during the day included the NEAR Board members, Lars Nyberg and Miia […]
The local databases in NEAR: H-70, SNAC-K, SNAC-N, SNAC-B, SHARE-Sweden, and SWEOLD are collecting data on Covid-19. The Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort Studies collected Covid-19 data via surveys between December 2020 and January 2021, where 1103 participated who were 75-76 years old and born 1944 were included. This was financially supported by FORMAS. The survey […]
The different regional projects within The Swedish National study on Aging and Care (SNAC) have begun their 7th wave of data collections in 2019 and will continue into 2022. In this phase there is both a follow-up of previous participants and also a recruitment of new cohorts of 60- and 81- year old’s. The 8th […]
The NEAR Steering Board held an E-meeting on March 7. At the meeting, various topics were discussed, such as ongoing applications and projects, new personnel, budget, the new contract for 2023-2028, and future activities in NEAR.
The Scientific Communicator of NEAR, Linnea Sjöberg, presented NEAR and talked about older adults’ health at a seminar arranged by Länsnykterhetsförbundet, Västra Götaland on 24 February, 2022. Around 200 persons attended the seminar and it rendered discussions on the importance of studying health in older persons, aging in Sweden and globally from demographic- and historical […]
NEAR is looking for a Scientific Communicator where the primary task is to promote and facilitate ongoing communication and support for the National E-Infrastructure on Aging Research (NEAR). The assignment includes: continuously work with the project’s own website (WordPress), as well as with news and calendar events related to the project on ki.se (Drupal) develop […]
NEAR is looking for a Database Coordinator where the primary task is to enhance the performance of the organization’s database included in the National E-Infrastructure on Aging Research (NEAR). The Database Coordinator will be responsible in implementing standardized database management procedures, and overseeing the installation, security, and upgrading of the NEAR’s database. You will be […]
The Database Coordinator of NEAR, Alexander Darin-Mattsson presented NEAR at the 7th annual Big Data Conference at Linnaeus University Centre for Data Intensive Sciences and Applications (DISA) in Växjö, Sweden, 1 December 2021.
The Scientific Communicator of NEAR, Linnea Sjöberg, presented NEAR at the virtual morning coffee meeting with the Center for Alzheimer Research (CAR) at Karolinska Institutet (KI), 1 December 2021. The seminar rendered a lot of discussion on the possibilities and potential use of the NEAR data among the participating researchers.
NEAR’s third workshop entitled: ”Methodological issues in harmonizing and pooling of data” was conducted on-site, as well as online with 70 attending participants. It was chaired by Debora Rizzuto. After a short update and welcome addressed by Laura Fratiglioni, Alexander Darin-Mattsson and Xiaonan Hu presented how to conduct a study within NEAR and demonstrated the […]
We are happy to announce that NEAR will hold its third workshop on “Methodological issues in harmonizing and pooling of data”, 27 October 10 AM- 3 PM. Due to the current situation, the workshop will take place online (Zoom) and onsite (KI Solna Campus) for selected participants only. Register for the event latest by 26 […]
The NEAR Steering Board held an E-meeting on October 6. At the meeting, various topics were discussed, such as procedures for handling NEAR applications, user-fees, renewal of the NEAR infrastructure grant, and future activities in NEAR.
The NEAR Director, Laura Fratiglioni had the opening lecture with the title: “Aging research: achievements, current challenges and future perspectives” at the Swetaly Ageing online research seminar 28 September 2021. The host for the research seminar was University of Gothenburg. Program
We are happy to announce that the National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) received the renewal of the research infrastructure grant by the Swedish Research Council (VR) for the period 2023-2028. Laura Fratiglioni, current NEAR Director, expresses her satisfaction and states: “This second grant allows us to consolidate and expand NEAR after the building phase […]
NEAR is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to conduct work on gene-environment interplay in older adults included in NEAR. Specifically, longitudinal analyses will be conducted to understand how interventions from drug therapy interact with individual aging trajectories as assessed by different biomarkers of aging. The post-doc researcher will mainly be working with NEAR data harmonization for […]
On 11th of June 2021, Jenna Najar at University of Gothenburg, defended her doctoral thesis entitled: “Risk factors for dementia – Lifestyle, hormones, neurochemistry, and genetics”. The aim of this thesis was to expand the understanding about the effects of lifestyle factors, indicators of endogenous estrogens, and genetic factors on the risk of dementia and […]
NEAR is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to conduct work on epidemiological research on depression in relation to neurodegenerative disorders in older adults. The postdoc researcher will spend her or his time at KI and GU carrying out a project concerning the complex interrelations between psychiatric- and neurodegenerative disorders. The postdoc researcher will be working […]
NEAR is looking for a statistician to provide biostatistical and epidemiological support to the NEAR projects’ researchers. Primary job duties include: 1) Working as a member of a research team/study team to provide appropriate statistical input in the design, execution and analysis of studies; 2) Participating in the development of operations and procedures for the […]
The NEAR database managers held an e-meeting on 28 May on local electronic application systems, codebooks and updates for the Swedish National Data Service (SND).
On 24th of May 2021, Harpa Sif Eyjólfsdóttir at Karolinska Institutet, defended her doctoral thesis entitled: “Unequal tracks? Studies in work, retirement and health” The overall aim of this thesis was to study how retirement is influenced by health status, socioeconomic position, and gender in Sweden; and in turn how the timing of exit from […]
The core interests of the postdoc position rely on the identification of modifiable risk factors for the development of neurocognitive disorders, based on multifactorial data from the National E-Infrastructure on Aging Research (NEAR) by using deep learning and other artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. The postdoc researcher will spend her or his time at KI and […]
NEAR is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to conduct work on gene-environment interplay in older adults included in NEAR. Specifically, longitudinal analyses will be conducted to understand how interventions from drug therapy interact with individual aging trajectories as assessed by different biomarkers of aging. The post-doc researcher will mainly be working with NEAR data harmonization for […]
The NEAR Steering Board held an E-meeting on May 3. At the meeting, various topics were discussed, such as procedures for handling NEAR applications, user-fees, electronic application systems and the upcoming NEAR workshop.
On 16th of April, Ying Shang at Karolinska Institutet, defended her doctoral thesis entitled: “How can older adults combat diabetes to achieve a longer and healthier life?”. The objective of the thesis was to investigate the impact of prediabetes and diabetes on health and survival among older adults, and to identify modifiable factors that may […]
The Strategic Research Area Neuroscience (StratNeuro) will hold a lunch Webinar with the title: “The Ageing Brain” on April 12. The NEAR Director, Laura Fratiglioni and NEAR Scientific Advisory Board member, Miia Kivipelto, will participate and talk about: “Dementia in older adults: the body-mind connection”, respectively “Multidomain precision prevention for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: new findings […]
NEAR is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to conduct work on structural brain imaging data acquired within the longitudinal population studies of older adults included in NEAR. The postdoc researcher will mainly be working with NEAR data harmonization for brain-imaging variables related to the project. The major goal is to develop and evaluate a metric […]
The NEAR researcher Johan Skoog, University of Gothenburg, defended his thesis with the title: “Sleep and cognition in old age: Birth cohort differences, dementia, and biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease”. The main findings from the thesis imply that 70-year old’s of today have better sleep quality, in terms of insomnia, than 70-year old’s 30 years ago […]
The NEAR researcher, Therese Rydberg Sterner, presents a summary of her thesis entitled: “Depression among Swedish 70-year olds: Sex differences from a gender perspective” where she found that femininity was associated with a greater burden of depressive symptoms, while androgynity and masculinity were related to a lower burden, irrespective of biological sex . To listen […]
The NEAR Steering Board held an E-meeting on 30 November, lead by its new chair, Kristina Johnell. At the meeting the upcoming application to Vetenskapsrådet (The Swedish Research Council) for a prolongation of the funding was discussed, as well as post doc positions to enhance the ongoing harmonization of data.
NEAR has had the first meetings with its Ethical and Scientific Advisory Boards. At the ethical advisory board meeting, a future direction of NEAR as an ethically more aware actor was discussed. An actor that pulls knowledge from different fields together and is able to better describe the quality of health in the elderly. The […]
KI’s resource group for the health of the elderly during covid-19 invites to a webinar where prominent researchers from Norway, Denmark and Sweden present and discuss the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to the organization of elderly care in each country. (In respective language. Not in English) Tuesday 10 November, 11:30AM–1:15PM On Zoom: https://ki-se.zoom.us/j/61182752103
The first Societal Advisory Board meeting took place 10th of November 2020 on Zoom. For a detailed list of the members in the Advisory Board please see: Members of the Societal Advisory Board.
The NEAR database managers have conducted two e-meetings regarding the new platform of NEAR on November 3d and November 13th.
The webinar “Medical care of elderly during the Covid-19 pandemic, with eight months of experience” took place online on 12 October. The webinar (in English and Swedish) can be watched in full length below and the program here. It was introduced by Professor Maria Eriksdotter and Ole Petter Ottersen, President of Karolinska Institutet. The opening […]
The 4th Swedish Meeting for cohort studies in Uppsala October 12th The meeting will be held in English. Arranged by: EpiHealth in Uppsala. Lars Lind. When: Monday October 12th. Time:1.00 – 5:00 PM Programme and Zoom-link
The resource group for elderly’s health with regard to Covid-19 at Karolinska Institutet is offering a lunch webinar on Monday, 12 October, at 11:45AM–1:30 PM. NEAR’s director, Laura Fratiglioni, will co-moderate the session on experiences from Finland. The webinar will be held both in English and Swedish (for regional reporting). Programme and Zoom-link
NEAR’s second scientific workshop was conducted remotely over Zoom with 82 connected participants. It was chaired by Debora Rizzuto. After a short update and welcome address by Laura Fratiglioni, Johan Skoog from the University of Gothenburg presented the NEAR sleep disturbance and cognition project, an ongoing cooperation between researchers in the H70, KP&SNAC-K, GÅS/SNAC-S, CAIDE studies […]
The NEAR steering board held its second meeting 2020 on the 23rd of September on Zoom, directly after the NEAR workshop.
We are happy to announce that NEAR will hold its second workshop 23d of September online. You are more than welcome to participate! Link to Zoom meeting: https://ki-se.zoom.us/j/62280692747 Welcome to the second NEAR Workshop, at 13–15 Chair:Debora Rizzuto, NEAR Scientific Coordinator, Assistant professor in epidemiology 13:00–13:15 Welcome and update Laura Fratiglioni, Professor at […]
On 20th of May, Therese Rydberg Sterner at University of Gothenburg, defended her doctoral thesis entitled: “Depression among Swedish 70-year-olds: Sex differences from a gender perspective?”. The overarching aim of this thesis was to study prevalence, time trends, and subjective experiences of depression among older adults, with specific focus towards potential differences by sex and gender […]
On 8 May Christina Dintica will defend her PhD thesis “Oral health and olfactory function: What can they tell us about cognitive aging?” in the Andreas Vesalius Hall, Berzelius väg 3, Karolinska Institutet, at 1:30 PM. The thesis investigates the association between oral and olfactory conditions and cognitive trajectories, brain structural differences, and the risk […]
The NEAR database managers will conduct an E-meeting on 16 April.
The NEAR Steering Board will conduct an E-meeting on 31 March.
Mozhu Ding belonged to the Aging research center, department of neurobiology, care sciences and society at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. Her Doctoral thesis “The Role of Atrial Fibrillation in Cognitive Aging: A population-based study” was defended on 12 December of 2019. Here, she gives a short presentation of her results. The full text of the thesis, […]
Stina Ek, PhD. Thesis title: “Predictors and consequences of injurious falls among older adults: a holistic approach”. Stina defended her thesis Oct 25, 2019 at Karolinska Institutet. Johan Rehnberg, PhD. Thesis title: “Inequalities in life and death: income and mortality in an aging population”. Johan defended his thesis May 27, 2019 at Stockholm University. […]
Malin Ericsson from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, defended her thesis “Socioeconomic influences on late-life health and mortality: Exploring genetic and environmental interplay” on 4 October, 2019. The full thesis, with summary in English and Swedish can be found via this link.
NEAR’s Scientific Coordinator Debora Rizzuto and Database Manager Alexander Darin Mattsson participated in “Optimising Multistudy Integrative Research”, a conference held at the Wellcome Genome Center, Cambridge, UK at 18-20 September. Themes ranged from approaches for multistudy analyses, to challenges and solutions related to heterogeneity, data sharing, and measurement harmonization. Researchers from several prominent programmes like […]
NEAR was well-represented during the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region (IAGG-ER) Congress 2019 in Gothenburg. The NEAR director Laura Fratiglioni had a key stage talk with the title: “NEAR: A common effort for a better future” where she talked about how solutions for a better life in […]
We are happy to announce that NEAR will host its first symposium with the title: “NEAR – the National E-infrastructure on Aging Research in Sweden: Building on 30 Years of Experience to Prepare for Future Aging Research” at the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region Congress, May 2019 […]
NEAR’S FIRST SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP On March 7th to March 8th, the National E-Infrastructure on Aging Research (NEAR) hosted its first internal scientific workshop to initiate discussions for potential future research collaborations. On behalf of Karolinska Institutet, the Vice President of Research, Anders Gustafsson, welcomed everyone and enlightened the importance of epidemiological aging research, as well as […]
The database managers of the 15 included studies (from six different universities), will have their second meeting on December 6 at the Aging Research Center in Stockholm.
The second Steering Board meeting will take place on December 3 at the Aging Research Center in Stockholm.
The first Steering Board meeting took place in Stockholm at the Aging Research Center.
The Secretary for Research Infrastructures, Bjorn Halleröd, provided information on the design and timetable for the call in 2017. Link to VR presentation.
During the meeting, the Principal Investigators outlined NEAR application and organizational structure. Meeting agenda.
During the strategic meeting, the Principal Investigators discussed the strategy outlined by VR. The database managers presented their databases and discussed standards and procedures for data collection and storage. Strategic meeting agenda.
The Swedish Research Council (VR) held an information meeting about the requirements for the next grant call. VR outlined the strategic approach to identify priority areas, the aim of the National E-infrastructures, and the timeframe for the budget support.
The kick off meeting took place in Stockholm at the Aging Research Center. Kick off meeting agenda.
Laura Fratiglioni, Johan Sanmartin Berglund, Ingmar Skoog The Ministry of Social Affairs recently decided on new appointments for the members of the Council on Geriatric Research, among which we find profiles involved in the National E-infrastructure (NEAR), as well as researchers at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet. The Council on Geriatric Research […]