ARC Knowledge Creation Team Workshop #6 Healthy Aging and Community Interventions: Co-Creating Impactful Alliance-Wide Research Projects

Presented by: ARC Knowledge Creation Team Workshop #6 — Health & Wellbeing ARC, Santarém Polytechnic University – Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior (ESDRM), Rio Maior, Portugal

Workshop co-creation partners: Medical University of Gdańsk (Poland), Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (Germany), Universidad Francisco de Vitória (Spain), Carinthia University of Applied Sciences (Austria)

Event by: Health & Wellbeing Applied Research & Innovation Centre, ARIES Incubator

Through the workshop we aim to:

• Strengthen and develop the thematic focus and regional reach of the three existing Applied Research Centres (ARCs).
• Build bridges between ARCs by addressing interdisciplinary or cross-cutting themes that promote cooperation across the alliance’s research domains.
• Strengthen and expand junior and senior researchers’ capacities to design high-quality, impact-oriented research projects, secure competitive funding, and plan and manage projects effectively across their lifecycle.
• Promote meaningful cooperation within the Alliance by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, co-creation, and joint initiatives that bridge the Alliance’s diverse research domains.

This three-day in-person workshop supports researchers in designing, funding, and managing high-quality, impact-oriented projects on Healthy Aging and Community Interventions across the ACE²-EU Alliance. It focuses on expanding local initiatives into collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects, strengthening cooperation between institutions, and aligning research with real community needs.

Combining interactive sessions with hands-on project work, it enables participants to engage directly with experienced project managers, grant professionals, and peers, partners, and stakeholders from across the ACE²-EU Alliance to co-create robust proposals and implementation plans.

Thematic focus areas of the workshop would be:

• Oncology Patients During and After Treatment
• Women’s Health in Menopause
• Patients with Musculoskeletal Disorders
• Mental Health Promotion
• Nutrition, Healthy Diets and Sustainable Eating
• Quality of Life, Intergenerational Relations and Demographic Ageing

Submit your interest: Deadline for Registration: 15th September 2026, 23:59 CET. Registration: Register here — https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBJiteq-ninbTp3wUxyv0JEG6JPbT95OLcHBBxFxAR0qMNGA/viewform?usp=header

Virtual Coffee Call: This session is created for you to learn more about your journey through the process. Date: 10th September 2026. Time: 14:00 CET. Meeting link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88226570027?pwd=UBaEI07lrDRPLeBN4kayEPjYQCc4B3.1

Pre-event Briefing Session: Meet the researchers and collaborators from the alliance partners that will be joining the workshop, share the proposal ideas, networking and expectation settings. Date: 19th November 2026. Time: 14:00 CET. Meeting Link: will be shared as calendar invite.

Attend the Onsite Workshop: Meet your collaborators in-person and get to work developing the proposal, discussions, knowledge sharing and peer learning. Dates: 2-4th December 2026. Location: Santarém Polytechnic University – Sport Sciences School of Rio Maior (ESDRM), Rio Maior, Portugal.

• Broaden your local initiative into an Alliance-wide project with greater reach and impact.
• Co-create innovative, cross-disciplinary research projects in collaboration with peers from across the Alliance.
• Receive tailored guidance on shaping strong project proposals and identifying suitable funding opportunities.

This workshop is designed for:

• Senior, mid-career and junior researchers from across the Alliance who are leading, or preparing to lead, research & development projects. It will be especially valuable for those who wish to scale local initiatives into Alliance-wide collaborations and increase their success in competitive funding calls.
• Research group leaders, project coordinators, and principal investigators from any discipline within the Alliance’s domains are strongly encouraged to attend.

Day 1 — Morning: Opening; Session 1 (From Idea to Proposal: Foundations of Research Project Planning and Grant Writing); Session 2 (Managing Research in Practice: Applying Project Management Principles to Grant-Funded Projects). Afternoon: Session 3 (Strategic Communication and Stakeholder Engagement for High-Impact Projects); Session 4 (From Risks to Results: anticipating risks and mitigation strategies and building Quality-Driven Project — Active session).

Day 2 — Morning: Session 5 (Ethics by Design in Healthy Aging and Community Research); Session 6 (Making Results Matter: Deliverables, Dissemination, Communication, Impact and Open Access Publishing). Afternoon: Session 7 (Aligning Research with Global Agendas: Responding to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 in Grant Applications); Session 8 (Grant Templates in Practice: Turning Healthy Aging Ideas into Fundable Proposals — Active session).

Day 3 — Morning: Group work on Healthy Aging and Community Interventions across the six thematic focus areas. Afternoon: Presentations and discussions about each collaborative project that emerged from group work; Closing.