Partner Profile

The Albert Schweitzer Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology

Areas of Expertise

The Albert Schweitzer Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology performs research that benefits patients, residents and society as a whole.

The Geriatric Health Centres of the City of Graz (GGZ), Austria, are a non-profit organisation and a competence centre for geriatric medicine and nursing. The company consists of three business areas: hospitals, nursing homes and daycare centres, as well as alternative living arrangements for the elderly. Although the company is financially independent (i.e. not government funded), it is a legal component of the city of Graz and thus a 100% municipal entity.

In 2014 a research unit within the centres was founded: the Albert Schweitzer Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology. As a research unit our mission is to benefit not only patients and residents but also society as a whole. In collaboration with national and international partners, our interdisciplinary team deals with questions surrounding medicine, nursing science and public health, and tries to develop the important research questions of our time. Research is supported by public funds (Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) and the local government of Styria (Zukunftsfonds Steiermark)).

Our institute comprises four competence areas: research, education, consulting, and knowledge management.

• Research: we investigate current issues in geriatrics and gerontology in close collaboration with universities and other research units in order to obtain results that will have everyday implications;
• Education: we focus on the training and development of health professionals, students and interested laypersons in collaboration with established education facilities;
• Consulting: we want to utilise the knowhow and experience of the GGZ to support other organisations in the health and social services sector; and
• Knowledge management: we try to develop and implement platforms for the efficient dissemination of knowledge within the company, as well as for distributing knowledge.

Recent Publications

Profile in Pan European Networks Science & Technology – issue 22