The WHO Regional Office for Europe has designated the Ulysseus Innovation Hub on Ageing and Well-being, hosted by Université Côte d’Azur in France, as a WHO collaborating centre.
Led by Professor Anne Vuillemin, the new WHO Collaborating Centre for Systems Thinking and Innovation for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) aims to support WHO’s strategic priorities through capacity building, research and technical collaboration focused on addressing complex health challenges.
“The designation of our Ulysseus Innovation Hub on Ageing and Well-being as a WHO collaborating centre is both an honour and a responsibility,” said Professor Vuillemin. “It acknowledges our commitment to advancing innovation in public health and formalizes our partnership with WHO.”
The centre will contribute to global efforts to reduce the burden of NCDs by strengthening the use of systems thinking in public health policy, practice and training. “This designation amplifies our ability to contribute to global health by aligning our work with WHO’s strategic priorities, particularly in addressing the growing burden of NCDs,” she said.
A whole-system approach
Building on its joint initiatives with WHO in recent years, including the delivery of summer schools, through its work from 2025 to 2029, the centre will focus on 3 key areas: capacity building, applied research and technical collaboration.
It will organize annual in-person training sessions to build public health workforce skills and lead applied research projects to generate evidence and develop tools, such as system maps and causal loop diagrams, that support more adaptive and equitable health policies.
In addition, the centre will provide technical input on the design and implementation of systems-based public health strategies and support WHO’s efforts to foster a public health innovation ecosystem.
Professor Vuillemin’s work focuses on the environmental, social and organizational conditions that support health-enhancing physical activity and effective public health interventions, including the use of a whole-system approach to policy implementation. She is also the President of the French Society of Public Health and a former member of the steering committee of the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s HEPA network – from 2012 to 2023.
“My motivation to develop systems thinking in health comes from the need to better understand and respond to the complexity of health challenges that are not just the result of individual choices,” she said. “These choices are driven by underlying systems that shape behaviour, access and opportunity. What drives me most is the opportunity to work collaboratively across sectors and disciplines to address root causes and structural determinants of health.”
“We are delighted to welcome the Ulysseus Innovation Hub on Ageing and Well-being, hosted by Université Côte d’Azur in France, as a new WHO collaborating centre,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. “This comes at a crucial time: by 2050, 1 in 3 people in Europe will be over 60 years old, and NCDs such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes already account for nearly 90% of deaths in the Region. The Hub will use systems thinking – an approach that looks at how health, social, economic and environmental factors interact – to design smarter, more sustainable solutions for ageing and well-being. By connecting innovation, research and practice, this WHO collaborating centre will help us to find new ways to support healthy ageing, reduce the burden of NCDs and make progress towards the goals of the second WHO European Programme of Work, 2026–2030.”