Fortes call for participation at the Canadian summer programme on Longer-living older adults (SPA 2023) was open for applications in February-March this year. Five applicants were approved funding and could join SPA 2023 in Nova Scotia in June.

The aim of the SPA 2023 Training Program was to provide doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, interested in research on this year’s theme, an advanced training program that crosses disciplines, sectors, institutions and geography. In the call, Forte funded the actual participation in the summer programme, housing and travel costs.

Portrait photo of Ulrika Thomsson Myrvang, senior research officer
Ulrika Thomsson Myrvang, senior research officer

– We are very glad that we could send five ambitious Ph.D. students to SPA 2023 hosted by Nova Scotia Centre on Aging this June, says Fortes Senior Research Officer Ulrika Thomsson Myrvang. We have now read their reports and it really seems like we managed to succeed in our goals with the call! The participants both learned a lot about current research on ageing, and they also took every opportunity to network and exchange knowledge with other participants and the high-level lecturers.

Aber Sharon Kagwa, Ph.D. student at Karolinska Institutet, was one of the five participants from Sweden.

– The most valuable outputs from the program were learning about ageing and health within a multidisciplinary and global environment. An important thing I will take with me is the importance of including stakeholders with lived experiences in every step of the research process, she says.

See what else the Ph.D. students Aber Sharon Kagwa and Tímea Zsuzsanna Popucza thought about the summer programme in the short film below: