GeroPLAN: Perspectives for an interdisciplinary research on aging

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Gerontology is the fundamental science of the aging process and an actual interdisciplinary field of research. With a view to the population's age structure, gerontological research is becoming increasingly important in terms of health policy and society. At the same time, however, there is a lack of innovative research proposals and good prospects for young scientists in Germany in an international comparison. In order to position gerontology sufficiently well for current social requirements (demographic change, evidence-based prevention, age-appropriate work), there is an urgent need to integrate and translate research of the fields of biology, psychology and social sciences with clinical research, especially geriatric medicine and health and social sciences nursing science. Geriatric and gerontological research must be expanded in an interdisciplinary manner in order to be able to cope with the existing challenges of an aging society and also to be able to use and shape the potential of aging. Therefore, we want to promote aging research in Germany by founding a Workshop for Early Career Investigators in the field of gerontology, which offers structured planning of scientific projects by junior researchers through targeted mentoring of the best candidates and assists in applying for pilot studies (1 year). Within the workshop, the common goals for an interdisciplinary joint research in gerontology are to be defined and cooperation in the projects is to be supported and promoted. The scientific focus of the workshop GeroPlan is on the dynamics of the loss of plasticity and resilience in the aging process on a biopsychosocial level, taking into account causality and interaction patterns and the development of innovative intervention concepts to promote plasticity and participation or to counteract the losses.