The plan is to cycle around 50 km a day during 24 days in May, together with stakeholders, local researchers and PhD students from the profile area Proactive Ageing, the CASE research network, the Swedish Gerontological Society (SGS) and the national graduate school SWEAH.
– I have booked around 22 stops at libraries, meeting points and universities, where research lectures will be held along the journey. In this way, we hope to reach a larger audience, says Oskar Jonsson, who is used to keeping busy in nature.
He and his fellow cyclist will talk about ageing and health, as well as the research underway in the field. This could cover everything from social rights and housing, to the different phases of ageing and how we develop proactive approaches in healthcare and community planning.
With the tour, he also hopes to create interest in The Pool of Interested Parties (in Swedish ‘Intressentpoolen’), a new communication channel that will facilitate the interaction between academia and various actors in the society.
– As sedentary lifestyle is one of our biggest public health problems, I want to be a role model and inspire others to be physically active. I look forward to all the meetings with people and the mutual exchanges in the different locations. My tour company and I will be out in nature and have time to reflect on life and research, says Oskar Jonsson.
Several SWEAH profiles are cycling along
A number of SWEAH profiles are cycling along on his tandem tour and also giving lectures; SWEAH's coordinator, Professor Susanne Iwarsson, the supervisors at SWEAH's partner universities, Professor Susanna Guidetti (Karolinska Institutet), Sofi Fristedt (Jönköping University) and Lisa Ekstam (Lund University), SWEAH doctoral students Pernilla Siljehag (Karolinska Institutet) and Glenn Möllergren (Lund University). On other sections, the researcher representatives on the SWEAH board, Tove Harnett (Lund University) and Marie Elf (Dalarna University), and Jimmy Lindberg, PhD student (not affiliated) at SWEAH's partner university Linköping University, follow.
Other guests include architects in housing for older adults, the project manager for the Accessibility Database (TD), the chairman of the CASE Stakeholder Council, the secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and the Editor-in-chief of Äldre i Centrum as fellow travelers on the tandem bike.
In addition to his research assignments and SWEAH supervisor, Oskar Jonsson has been project manager for The Pool of Interested Parties, activity coordinator for Lund University's thematic collaboration initiative Social rights and housing for the ageing population. He also has an assignment as Impact officer in the national graduate school on ageing and health, SWEAH, which is coordinated by Lund University.
Read more about the Tandem tour spring 2025 (in Swedish).