Vanda Pedrosa and Elisabete Roldão, researchers at ciTechCare in Occupational Therapy and lecturers at the School of Health Sciences of Polytechnic University of Leiria, ESSLei, integrates the team of the COST Action entitled ‘Creating opportunities for participation and accessibility through lifelong community mobility’.

This COST Action aims to promote advances in the development of scientific knowledge through a transnational collaborative network with the aim of developing a global framework to guide European and national processes in the fields of the reform of driving and accessible and usable transports for the elderly, allowing a more active and healthy aging.

Approved in May, the COST Action will last for four years and brings together 45 countries from Europe and other continents, such as the United States of America, South Korea and South Africa, with a funding of around 130,000 euros per year for the development of related activities.

According to Vanda Pedrosa, “making the community more accessible, promoting the inclusion of people, their social participation and full exercise of citizenship will undoubtedly be the added value of this project”.

Throughout the project, comparative studies will be carried out between countries and analyses of policies, interventions and best practices, and the compilation of updated resources and toolkits, disseminated through publications, public conferences, workshops and production of online resources.

The results of the action will provide guidance to professionals and stakeholders across the European continent and internationally on how to implement methods that enable older people’s participation in the community, by using all available transport options efficiently and safely.

One of the activities planned within the project is the exchange of postgraduate research students, boosting the sharing of knowledge between countries.