2021: The year in review

At the beginning of the new year, we would like to summarize all the events of 2021 and also look ahead to 2022.

Relaunch of the CoRe-Net Homepage

The year 2021 began with the relaunch of our CoRe-Net homepage. Our website is now restructured according to the two funding phases and we are very happy to present you all the information about CoRe-Net in a modern design.

Launch Event: 1^st CoRe-Net Supply Report

Within the framework of CoRe-Net II, a total of three supply reports with different thematic focuses are being developed. The data required for this are taken from the CoRe-Net database.
In August 2021, the 1^st CoRe-Net supply report on the topic of “Care for people in their last year of life in Cologne” was presented at a digital launch event.

The report includes topics such as communication about the finite nature of life, the desired place of death and decisions about complex care needs. It also derives recommendations for action.

Read more here.

Cooperation project “K-APAT“ wins the MSD Health Award 2021
We are very pleased that our cooperation project K-APAT has been awarded the special prize “more patient autonomy” of the MSD Health Award.

Watch a video clip about the project here. (German language)

Cooperation with the City of Cologne
Since December 2021, we welcome the City of Cologne as a new cooperation partner in the CoRe-Net network.

Not all people living in large cities like Cologne have equal access to medical and other health services. In addition, existing medical health services and complementary services are not always linked in the best possible way; integrated planning and provision of services optimizes outcomes while keeping overall costs as low as possible.

In many disciplines, it has been demonstrated that evaluation and feedback of results – probably also through the reflection based on them – already exert a beneficial influence on what is studied. This is also true in the field of health services research.

The University of Cologne, especially the Center for Health Services Research Cologne (ZVFK) and CoRe-Net, can and would like to make a scientific contribution to a continuous improvement process in municipal health care in Cologne. The City of Cologne has clear visions, pursues its strategic aims for the city and implements a continuous improvement process. Therefore, the initiatives of the City of Cologne and the University of Cologne complement each other in a particularly favourable way.

We are looking forward to the cooperation!

CoRe-Net Events

Career Day 2021
On February 18^th2021, our first CoRe-Net Career Day took place. The event was organised in cooperation with the ZVFK.
Like many of our events, the Career Day was conducted digitally due to the Covid 19 pandemic. We are pleased about the great interest – a total of 58 persons participated via the Zoom platform and received an overview into the various fields of work from research and development in healthcare through the 14 speakers.

Methods forum on the topic: “Qualitative Research Methods”
On March 22^th 2021, our digital methods forum on “Qualitative Research Methods” was organised in cooperation with the ZVFK.
Three workshops were offered on the following topics:

Qualitative research methods
Working with MAXQDA
Assessment of evidence from qualitative systematic reviews with GRADE-CERQual

Event series: “COVID – Research at the University of Cologne
On three evenings in May 2021 our digital event series “COVID – Research at the University of Cologne” took place in cooperation with the ZVFK.
The three themed evenings gave an overview into the research projects of the University of Cologne in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic for all interested citizens.

12^th May 2021 – Nursing and school life in pandemic times
19^th May 2021 – Social effects of the pandemic
26^th May 2021 – Medical sectors in the pandemic

Academy for young researchers: “Support for the application process”
On June 25^th 2021, the digital workshop “Support for the application process” took place in cooperation with the ZVFK as part of our academy for young researchers.
The participants heard presentations on the various funding opportunities in health care research (range of topics: third-party funding) and received advice on which specifics are important in a project application. Finally, they were given the opportunity to put the information they had received into practice and to reflect on it during an exercise and subsequent discussion.

General assembly 2021
On October 27^th 2021, our second CoRe-Net general assembly of the second funding phase took place. In accordance with the 2G rule, this meeting was organised in the presence of the members. The meeting took place in the premises of the University Hospital Cologne. A total of 27 people attended the meeting.

After the two-hour meeting, the participants exchanged views on the meeting topics and upcoming projects over drinks in the spirit of the network character.

Methods forum on the topic: “Effective and efficient interdisciplinary teamwork”
On November 11^th and 12^th 2021, two successive course days were held as part of our digital methods forum on the topic of “Effective and efficient interdisciplinary teamwork“. The event was again organised in cooperation with the Center for Health Services Research Cologne (ZVFK).

In our methods forum we addressed opportunities and challenges, especially in the context of scientific project work and current framework conditions that can accompany work in an interdisciplinary team.

All publications

In 2021, a total of eight book and journal articles were published as part of the CoRe-Net (cooperation) projects. In addition, the first CoRe-Net supply report was presented and published.

CoRe-Net I

Pfaff, H., Albus, C., Bach, L., Blaschke, K., Britz, A., Hower, K., Ihle, P., Jessen, F., Kasdorf, A., Kuntz, L., Meyer, I., Peltzer, S., Scholten, N., Schultz-Nieswandt, F., Seibert, M., Stock, S., Strupp, J., Vennedey, V., Voltz, R. (2020). CoRe-Net – Cologne Research and Development Network: Schlussbericht 2020: Laufzeit des Vorhabens: 01.02.2017-30.04.2020. Köln: Universität zu Köln. Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen