Azize Aydemir, Grantee of Virtual Mobility in Grant Period 3
Bio:
I am an academic researcher at Giresun University, Türkiye, working in health and care with particular interests in person-centred approaches, vulnerable populations, participation and healthy ageing.
Grant supported actions and initiatives:
Within the PAAR-Net Virtual Mobility Grant, I worked with Oscar Zanutto on the project “Towards a Participatory Framework for Older Adults at Risk of Social Exclusion in Health and Care Decision-Making: Lessons from Türkiye and Italy.” Our collaboration combined comparative evidence mapping, joint interpretation and framework development, resulting in a Türkiye–Italy comparative report, a policy brief, dissemination materials, a preliminary participatory framework and a scientific manuscript.
Testimonial:
I am sincerely grateful to PAAR-Net and COST Action CA22167 for this opportunity. This was my first experience of working this closely with an international colleague around a shared scientific project, and it became much more meaningful than I initially expected.
Working with Oscar was both scientifically productive and personally rewarding. Although we came from different professional and national backgrounds, our online meetings and continuous exchange of documents, comments and ideas created a very natural and collaborative working process. His perspective in work and organisational psychology, ageing and social innovation complemented my background in health, care and person-centred practice and enriched the way I approached the project.
Beyond the tangible outputs, this Virtual Mobility strengthened my confidence in contributing to international research and encouraged me to engage in future collaborations. What I value most is the experience of thinking together, learning from another disciplinary perspective and seeing how a shared scientific idea can grow through genuine collaboration.
Although the Virtual Mobility is coming to an end, I sincerely hope that our collaboration will continue through the manuscript, participatory framework and future joint projects.