Text by: Marie Stebner – Student Assistant at RWTH Aachen University; Vera Rick -Research Assistant at RWTH Aachen University
The RWTH Aachen University, located in Aachen, Germany, is one of the Universities working on the WorkingAge Project.
The University was founded in 1870 and first received the name “Königliche Rheinisch-Westphälische Polytechnische Schule” (Royal Rhenish-Westphalian Polytechnic School) which was later “shortened” to “Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen” (Rhine-Westphalian Technical University Aachen).
With more than 45,000 students, the RWTH Aachen University is the largest University for technical studies in Germany.
This year the University is turning 150 years old and in order to show the many things the RWTH Aachen University is working on, has worked on and achieved over the years, a “150 Years of RWTH” Special was filmed and uploaded onto YouTube, the link can be found down below. Even though the video is in German, English subtitles can be chosen in the settings.
The actual department, which is working on the WorkingAge Project, is the “Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics”. This institute is the oldest Institute in Germany dedicated to this field of research and was founded in 1928. Buzzwords such as Industry 4.0, demographic change and digitalisation increase the relevance of ergonomic workplace design to enable a long-term healthy working life and ensure the protection of the safety and health of employees. Against the background of such a variety of influencing factors, their interaction and dynamics, which lead to a constant change in work, the need for interdisciplinary research to ensure humane and economic efficiency as well as effective work is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, the aim of the WorkingAge project is more important than ever to guarantee a long-term healthy working and private life. We are therefore pleased to be part of the WorkingAge consortium and to be able contribute to healthier working conditions around Europe.
