Healthy Ageing Research Funding Programme

Healthy Ageing Research Funding Programme is sponsored by Velux Stiftung. Supports innovative, interdisciplinary research on healthy ageing and environments affecting older adults' functional ability.

Healthy Ageing - VELUX STIFTUNG Healthy ageing is fundamental for long-lived societies to thrive. As more individuals live longer lives, our focus must shift to developing the benefits these additional years can bring.

This requires prioritizing health span and functional ability over lifespan, and recognizing that reaching advanced age with good health, autonomy, meaningful relationships and a sense of purpose is what makes a life well lived.

Environments and context influence and interact with our health, and shape functional ability in older age – whether healthy behaviours are easy or difficult, whether opportunities for participation exist, and whether allowing older people to live independently. Functional ability as defined by the WHO’s Decade of Healthy Ageing combines a person’s intrinsic capacity with their environment and their interaction.

We have so far focused on a bio-psycho-social approach to healthy ageing. From 2026 onwards, our focus shifts to a complex systems approach: supporting research on how modifiable environmental and contextual factors interact to shape functional ability in later life . The aim is to enable people to remain healthy, to contribute to society, and to pursue what matters to them for as long as possible.

The healthy ageing program at a glance We seek research projects that Go beyond single-cause thinking. Study how environmental and contextual factors interact to shape functional ability in later life. Show the interaction, not just the factor.

Capture pathways of risk and resilience, and identify which features are modifiable enough to act on. Match method to ambition. Use systems thinking in established designs, or complex-systems methods directly and translate findings into scalable, context-sensitive solutions.

Changing the narrative of age and ageing Heat and out-of-home mobility & activity in later life For more information, see pp. 5-6 of the call for proposals. One specific call for proposals every year.

The full details of the 2026 call for proposals is available here . Max. CHF 75’000 per year, for projects up to 4 years Available overall funding for this call is approx.

CHF 2 million Application requirements are described in the call for proposals pp. 7-8 24 November 2026, 23:59 CET, with a final decision in June 2027 All applications go through a formal screening by the foundation management. The selection of the applications that will be presented to the board is performed by a scientific committee according to our funding criteria.

The foundation board of Velux Stiftung will take the final funding decision. More information is available on our page about the selection procedure . The priority is set on research addressing neglected issues whose results have a high potential to contribute to change.

Research projects investigating the biology of ageing that aim to slow down, pause or reverse the ageing process itself will not be considered for funding. Biomedical research on aetiology, diagnosis and therapy (development and evaluation) of age-related diseases will not be supported. These exclusions concern biological and biomedical research as the object of study.

Health status and intrinsic capacity may still feature as mediators, moderators or secondary outcomes. Healthy ageing, urban environments & climate change Quality of life and the ageing heart Retirement and second language learning Empowering individual capabilities I'm an academic researcher I work in a research office I have read and accept the Data Protection Policy of Velux Stiftung. If you are human, leave this field blank.

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