Organization

NEAR is organized as a consortium that includes eight universities: Karolinska Institutet, the universities of Umeå, Jönköping, Gothenburg, Lund, Uppsala, Stockholm, and the Blekinge Institute of Technology. The 2017 and 2022 consortium agreements define and regulate the consortium.

Steering Group
NEAR is led by a Steering Group comprised of members with nationally and internationally recognized expertise in aging research and research infrastructures, societal issues related to aging, and the user perspective. The Steering Group has overall responsibility for strategic plans, budgets, and steering documents.

Members:

• Björn Halleröd, Chair, Professor in sociology, University of Gothenburg
• Wilhelmina Hoffman, President of the Swedish Dementia Centre (SDC)
• Anne Ekdahl, Senior lecturer, senior physician, specialist physician, Lund University
• Luigi Ferrucci, Scientific Director of National Institute on Aging, USA
• Kaare Christensen, Professor of epidemiology at the University of Southern Denmark

Associated members: Laura Fratiglioni, Lena Lewin, Debora Rizzuto, Davide Liborio Vetrano, Linnea Sjöberg

Internal Leading Group 
The Internal Leading Group comprises the NEAR director and a representative of each of the NEAR databases, all of whom are well-known researchers in aging and health. The Internal Leading Group prepares proposals for the Steering Group concerning the strategic plan, the budget, and the implementation of the guidelines. In addition, they are responsible for NEAR’s overall implementation and quality control.

Members:

• Laura Fratiglioni, Professor of Medical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet
• Deborah Finkel, Professor of Psychology, Jönköping University
• Sölve Elmståhl, Professor of Gerontology, Lund University
• Linda Hassing, Professor of Psychology, University of Gothenburg
• Carin Lennartsson, Associate Professor in Sociology, Karolinska Institutet
• Gunnar Malmberg, Professor of Human Geography, Umeå University
• Lars Nyberg, Professor of Neuroscience, Umeå University
• Nancy Pedersen, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet
• Johan Sanmartin Berglund, Professor of Health Sciences, Blekinge Institute of Technology
• Ingmar Skoog, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Gothenburg
• Anders Sköldunger, PhD in Geriatrics, Karolinska Institutet and Umeå University

Associated members: NEAR Operational Group

NEAR Central

NEAR is centrally coordinated by the NEAR Operational Group that is located at the Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Health (NVS), Karolinska Institutet

The operational group is overall responsible for operating NEAR, managing all user contacts, and promoting NEAR. The Steering Group plans and approves all of the Operational Group’s activities.

Members:
Director Laura Fratiglioni
Scientific Coordinator Debora Rizzuto
Scientific Communicator Linnea Sjöberg
Statistician Bolin Wu (on parental leave until April 2025)
Database Coordinator Maria Wahlberg
Database Coordinator Peiyu Jiang
Scientific Promoter Davide Liborio Vetrano
Project Coordinator Ingrid Ekström
Project Coordinator Ulrika Isaksson

Local Databases
NEAR consists of 15 local databases. The principal investigators (PI) of each database, together with their database managers, are responsible for maintaining, upgrading, and enriching the databases with data collected according to strict quality standards.