UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 19 OCTOBER 2018
Researchers at Birmingham City University have joined a new €4.5million project aimed at training the next generation of leaders to deliver innovations in dignified sustainable care for older people.
The project ‘INNOVATEDIGNITY’ is being financed by the European Commission and involves experts from across the UK, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Greece.
It aims to provide a world-leading research and training programme which will equip a new generation of workers with the skills needed to develop innovative systems of care for older people, including new care models and digital applications.
Researchers at the institution will lead studies into the impact of gender on care for the older person, gender balance in care leadership and gender issues in career planning, retention and workforce leadership.
The research will examine older peoples' perspectives of care systems, focusing on dignity and investigating the potential for digital applications. It will analyse gender issues to provide new insight into the best ways to support older people to live well.
Professor of Nursing and Health Research at Birmingham City University, Fiona Cowdell, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this project. Everybody deserves to live well and, with an ageing population, researching and developing sustainable, dignified care systems is crucial to achieving this.
Professor Kathleen Galvin, the University of Brighton’s Professor of Nursing Practice and a former practising nurse, is leading the research which will employ 15 PhD students.
Professor Galvin said the network will:
- Critically evaluate existing care systems and provide analyses that make use of older persons’ insights
- Examine and offer a range of conceptual, empirical and methodological conditions to develop new innovations, including digital technology that offer dignity in care
- Provide an analysis of impacts of new care models on the wellbeing of older people
- Critically examine impacts of gender on care delivery, on the leadership of caring and science careers, and the care workforce with insights for sustainability.
She said: “It will address the European problem of how ageing people can live well in caring systems with a concentration on cross-disciplinary scholarship, producing an evidence base through 15 PhD projects, interlinked with a series of integrated assignments, and supported by a coherent interdisciplinary training.
“It will produce leaders well versed in innovating care from standpoints within and beyond ‘healthcare’, sectors that engage technology, the public, and policy makers for the benefit of older people in Europe.”