Dr Heidrun Mollenkopf

Heidrun Mollenkopf is a sociologist and gerontologist. Before she retired, she was Senior Researcher at the German Centre for Research on Ageing (DZFA) at the University of Heidelberg. Her main research focus was the interplay among personal, societal, technical, and further environmental conditions regarding maintaining autonomy and social participation and, by this, quality of life in old age. She has pursued this interest in several large-scale research projects on technology and ageing and on the neighbourhoods and outdoor mobility of older people, first at the University of Mannheim, then at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the Free University of Berlin, and finally at the former DZFA. In addition, she worked as a lecturer at several universities in Germany and Switzerland and served as a consultant and evaluator in several European bodies of experts, supporting the wishes, needs and interests of older persons. In 2012, she received the Order of the Federal Republic of Germany for her commitment to improving the living conditions of older persons.

2007-2014, Heidrun was member of the German National Association of Senior Citizens' Organisations (BAGSO) Expert Council and Chair of the “Universal Access and Independent Living” Expert Group of AGE Platform Europe. In this capacity and due to her specific interest in environmental conditions for satisfactory ageing, she participated in the First International Conference on Age-friendly Cities in Dublin, 2011. Since 2014, she is member of AGE Task Force "Age-Friendly environments". Besides, she was Co-Chair of the working group 'User requirements' of the BMBF/VDE Innovation Partnership AAL and speaker of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection's committee of experts to promote the German National Action Plan on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Since 2014, Heidrun Mollenkopf is Board Member of BAGSO and represented BAGSO regularly at the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing at the UN in New York(2016 to 2024). From 2014 to 2022 she was Vice President of AGE. In 2023 she has been elected President of AGE Platform Europe.