Interdisciplinary Research Program: Gerontopole Brussels, centre of expertise for Gerontology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

The GerontopoleBrussels is an interdisciplinary research network of various faculties at the VUB, set up around the central theme of Active and Healthy Ageing. The general aimsof the Gerontopole Brussels are to run a comprehensive multidisciplinary research program identifying the factors hindering Active and Healthy Ageing(AHA), anddeveloping strategies to facilitate AHA.The research project will focus on the multidimensional concept of frailty and the assessment of frailty through“frailty-scales”, such as the International Classification of Function, Disability and Health (ICF).The Research Group Fundamental Rights and Constitutionalismwill take part inthe project through a study ofthe related legal characteristics of frailty in elderly persons aged 80 years and over, and how theselegal characteristics can beportrayed according to the ICF. The valorisation of the ICF classification system in the social protection system specifically targeted to the oldest old requires that the requirements of the fundamental right of privacy and data protection be outlined and streamlined before such a system is put in place. One of the researchobjectives would thus be to analysehow data protection laws are set up and, more explicitly, whether monitoring of frail older persons is compatible with the underlying principles of data protection and privacy and whether it is possible to give shape to a legal framework to ensure privacy and, at the same time, the attainment of important social policy goals.