Why this matters. Population ageing is reshaping medical practice across Europe. WHO/Europe projects that the population aged 60 and over in the WHO European Region will exceed 300 million by 2050. Future doctors in every specialty will routinely care for older adults with complex combinations of frailty, multimorbidity, cognitive impairment, polypharmacy, functional decline and palliative care needs.

An evidence-based starting point. Undergraduate exposure to Geriatric Medicine remains variable: it may be taught as a dedicated module, dispersed across other disciplines, or not explicitly identified. The European Undergraduate Curriculum in Geriatric Medicine was developed through international Delphi consensus and provides a common foundation for the knowledge, skills and attitudes expected of medical graduates. GERI-CHARM uses this evidence base as a practical starting point for curriculum implementation.

The GERI-CHARM collaboration. GERI-CHARM was stablished through CHARM-EU’s seed-funding framework, CHARM-ED, as a collaboration between Trinity College Dublin and the University of Barcelona. The partners have mapped and compared curricula, exchanged teaching materials, and worked with academic, clinical and professional stakeholders, including Hospital Clínic Barcelona, the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS), the UEMS Geriatric Medicine Section and CHARM-EU partners. The July 2026 Barcelona exchange focused on making geriatric competencies more visible, integrated and assessable and on developing the toolkit for potential use across the wider CHARM-EU Alliance.

What the toolkit provides. It helps institutions build the case for change and leadership; map current teaching, assessment, gaps and duplication; convene disciplines and stakeholders; choose a standalone, transversal or hybrid curriculum model; define learning outcomes; design challenge-based and case-based teaching; assess learning; pilot and evaluate; and embed sustainable governance. Ready-to-use tools include curriculum and discipline mapping templates, module planning forms, a stakeholder workshop agenda, pilot evaluation questions, and quality-assurance and sustainability checklists.

Designed to be adaptable. Universities can use the toolkit whether Geriatric Medicine already has a dedicated module, is partially distributed across disciplines, or is not yet visible. The Service Portfolio uses the simpler eight-stage pathway shown in the infographic; the full toolkit provides the detailed sub-steps, templates and examples behind each stage.

A CHARM-EU fit. The toolkit complements CHARM-EU educational principles, particularly challenge-based, transdisciplinary, student-centred and clinically situated learning. Geriatric Medicine offers an authentic context for addressing a complex societal challenge while strengthening communication, teamwork, ethical reasoning and systems thinking.

The following resources provide background, practical guidance and reusable CHARM-EU tools for adapting the GERI-CHARM approach.

• GERI-CHARM: University of Barcelona and Trinity College Dublin collaboration – official CHARM-EU project news and context.
• European Undergraduate Curriculum in Geriatric Medicine – European consensus curriculum and minimum learning expectations.
• CHARM-EU Pedagogical Guidelines – educational principles and implementation guidance.
• CHARM-EU Teaching and Learning Strategies Handbook
• Challenge-based learning: a workshop template – reusable activity plan for applying challenge-based learning.
• Joint curriculum design: a hackathon template – practical support for multidisciplinary and inter-institutional co-design.
• Effective feedback: a workshop template – a reusable approach to strengthening feedback and evaluation practice.

Use the pathway flexibly. Institutions do not need to start from zero: curriculum mapping is intended to reveal what is already being taught, then make relevant content more coherent, visible and assessable.

The full GERI-CHARM Implementation Toolkit contains the detailed templates, example learning outcomes, challenge-based cases, assessment options and evaluation tools that sit behind this summary pathway.