Mariam Kirvalidze is a medical doctor from Georgia and has a master's degree in public health. The research area is geriatric epidemiology and her research project aims to investigate the informal care of and for older adults in Sweden.

- With an ageing population and increasing demands on the care systems, it is important to be aware of changes in how we take care of older population groups.
 
What expectations do you have from being affiliated to SWEAH?
 
- I hope that I can broaden my knowledge in gerontology and meet people with similar interests. I think the networking within SWEAH is what will be most exciting for me.
 
How did you hear about SWEAH?
 
- I work at the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet. Many of my colleagues are already affiliated to SWEAH and I heard about the graduate school from them.

Susanne Iwarsson, SWEAH coordinator, says that it is of course very nice to have such a great interest in the research school.

- With this, SWEAH has fulfilled its goal of having at least 50 affiliated PhD students. We now have new students from nine of the partner universities, which is very satisfying, she says.