$$News and Reports$$

Jul. 04, 2018

​​​​​​​​​​​​​Dr. Moriah Ellen of the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management Department of Health Systems Management of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has been granted the European Commission's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Grant for Innovative Training Networks, one of the largest, most prestigious grants available to researchers.

This multinational grant, totaling € 2 Million, is apportioned among the nine research institutions of Ellen and her research colleagues forming the Trans[Transition]-Senior EJD (European Joint Doctorate) Network. Her colleagues hail from Katholieke Universiteit KU Leuven (Belgium), Universitat Basel (Switzerland), Landesfachhochschule für Gesundheitsberufe (Italy), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), Maastricht University (Netherlands), Jagiellonian University (Poland), Ferati van Wit-Gele Kruisverenigingen van Vlaa (Belgium).

The TRANS-SENIOR EJD-network, formed by a team of researchers including Dr. Ellen over four years ago, is concerned primarily with healthcare transitions that put seniors in harm's way beyond necessity. The number and age of seniors has grown, and continues to grow in Europe and other countries. Says Dr. Ellen, “it's important research that needs to be done, and couldn't be done without this funding. This whole Network is to fund next generation i.e. 13 PhD research students who are carrying out the study over 13 different projects."

Ellen's BGU research portion of the € 2 Million is € 500,000 over three years. The aim of the Network's research projects is to overall understand and improve on the continuum of care for elderly – homecare, hospital care, transitioning; how to facilitate and support the process.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks ITN's aim is to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers, able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit. supports competitively selected joint research training and/or doctoral program, implemented by partnerships of universities, research institutions, research infrastructures, businesses, SMEs, and other socio-economic actors from different countries across Europe and beyond. Fellowships are awarded by the European Commission across scientific disciplines within the framework of Horizon 2020 [https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/get-funding/innovative-training-networks_en].

RESEARCH ABSTRACT: The TRANS-SENIOR EJD-network builds capacity for tackling a major challenge facing European long-term care systems: the need to improve care for an increasing number of care-dependent senior citizens. Its specific focus is on avoiding care transitions (hospitalizations, nursing home admissions etc.) that are not necessary and on optimizing care transitions that are really needed. This is important as research and practice show that unnecessary or poorly managed care transitions in senior citizens lead to negative health and well-being consequences and high costs for society.

RESEARCH objectives of TRANS-SENIOR are to generate evidence on 1) when and where avoiding care transitions is possible, 2) the benefits of innovative transitional care models, and 3) methods for involving senior citizens and informal caregivers, and sustainable implementation of new care models.

TRANS-SENIOR PRODUCTS are: tools to support senior citizens and informal care givers in decision-making and in preparing for transitions; guidance for professionals' triage, citizen empowerment and decision-making; protocols for the effective delivery of transitional care models; a toolbox for the implementation of these care models; an assessment tool for evaluating the financing of long-term care; policy briefs to inform future long-term care policy and processes; and a training syllabus to inform future doctoral training in Europe. TRANS-SENIOR will train health care innovators. Our multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral team will give the ESRs the knowledge, research expertise and transferable skills needed to lead improvements in real-world care settings.  TRANS-SENIOR's health care innovators will be able to operate on the cutting edge of practice, science, policy and innovation.​