The world is rapidly ageing but the technological innovations are also rapid penetrating the world. Older adults are facing several major challenges regarding how to age-in-place, deal with dementia or other chronic disorders or how to retrofit their homes our adjust their environment aligned with the functional and/or cognitive decline. These aspects will be addressed in the Gerontechnology course. Furthermore, the latest developments trends and innovations in the field of gerontechnology will be addressed in this course.
Gerontechnology, a combination of 'gerontology' and 'technology', is an interdisciplinary academic and professional research field dedicated to helping ageing adults fulfill their life goals. Gerontechnology is concerned with providing technology to better support the health, housing, mobility, communication, leisure and work needs of older people. Students will gain an insight into aging and the challenges of old age and how technological applications can be helpful. Furthermore, they learn to focus on ageing adults' goals and ambitions when developing a technology application, instead of limiting themselves to technological requirements only.
The course has an interdisciplinary approach and is a combination of lectures, coaching and individual guidance by (grand) masters in gerontechnology. The course is open for students working in any field of aging and technology.
At the end of the course students will have acquired knowledge about Gerontechnology, they know how to apply the Gerontechnology principles to their projects, they will have more self-confidence in working in co-creation with older people to find solutions to tackle their challenges. Moreover, students will be able to approach a challenge from a multidisciplinary perspective based on the Gerontechnology principles.
Programma Gerontechnolgy 2023 Website.pdf
Lecturers
Dr.ir. Emelieke Huisman, postdoctoral researcher and senior lecturer research group Technology for healthcare innovations, coordinator of the course Health and Technology and a background in building engineering.
Prof.dr. Helianthe Kort, Holder faculty chair Technology for healthcare innovations and full professor Building Healthy Environments for Future Users at Eindhoven University of Technology. President of the International Society for Gerontechnology and master of the World Academy for Gerontechnology.
Target audience
Dutch and international students (Bachelor level or advanced bachelor) and professionals with an interest or experience in the domain of aging and technology are the main target groups of this summer course.
Aim of the course
Enhanced knowledge of Gerontechnology through:
- Introduction in Gerontechnology
- Enhancement of state of the art knowledge
- Visits and assignments
Study load
Two weeks of lectures, workshops and visits (in total 60 hours), self-study (20 hours). During the summer school students will do an assignment. An assessment will follow at the end.
Costs
- The fee for professionals, both international and Dutch is €950
- Students receive a €300 discount
- Hogeschool Utrecht students receive a €950 discount
Please do not make your payment before the discount has been applied. This discount will be added once you have been accepted to the course.
Additional information
If you would like to make use of the Utrecht Summer School student accommodation, please make sure to check this page. You can check in on or after Sunday 2 July 2023, after 12.00 (noon). More information regarding the check-in is available in the pre-departure and day-to-day document.
Application
Please include your motivation if you are a student and are eligible for one of the discounts.
For this course you are required to upload the following documents when applying:
Contact details
Emelieke Huisman | E: emelieke.huisman@hu.nl | T: 0031-6-38763309