SRDC attended the annual consortium meeting of the STAGE project in Frascati, Italy

SRDC attended the annual consortium meeting of the STAGE project in Frascati, Italy

  • May 4, 2026

Frascati, Italy, 21–23 April 2026 – The annual consortium meeting of the STAGE project took place in Frascati, Italy. Partners spent three days reviewing progress across the work packages, sharing results and planning the next phase of the project. The meeting opened with an icebreaker inspired by Kenkäpeli, a Finnish wedding tradition, in which participants answered a series of questions by holding up a shoe. It was a fun nod to the project’s Finnish coordinator. The programme also included the AgeingDeal conference, which brought the consortium together with the wider healthy ageing community.

STAGE (Stay Healthy Through Ageing) is a six-year Research and Innovation Action funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under the “Silver Deal – Person-centred health and care in European regions” topic. Coordinated by the University of Oulu, the project brings together 22 partners from 11 countries. It aims to show that a life-course approach can prevent accelerated ageing, which happens when multiple chronic conditions build up over time. To do this, it combines longitudinal cohorts and biobanks, exposome and disease trajectory analysis, and research on the biology of ageing. The project is building AI-powered, person-centred solutions for early diagnosis, screening, treatment and long-term management, along with a FAIR life-course health and geospatial data portal and a healthy ageing atlas of age-friendly neighbourhoods across Europe.

Gokce B. Laleci Erturkmen and Bunyamin Sarigul represented SRDC at the meeting and took part in discussions on the project’s progress and upcoming activities.

The meeting closed with renewed momentum and a shared commitment to collaboration and innovation, as the consortium continues its work towards helping European citizens stay healthy as they age.

Acknowledgement
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101137146.