The HeLiCA Consortium includes regional, national and international organizations committed to be stakeholders in the domain of sustainability in order to meet citizen’s expectations. Therefore the HeLiCA programme is an example of how relevant it is today to move from our traditional perspectives to embrace a new ethos and praxis regarding human experience. Analyzing risks, reducing risks and ensuring against risks is a whole-of-society and whole-of-government endeavor.

But more is needed than this risk perspective. Promoting health and pro-actively engaging the resilient individual is the sustainable perspective that needs to be triggered. In this very sense, the “one health” perspectives, inclusive of health promotion, becomes of utmost importance for future health action and policy. Although recognized today as a priority topic in the agenda, sustainable living and lifestyles lacks a reflection in an era of globalization. From the standpoint of lifestyles footprint impact on the planet, incipient and contradictory approaches populated today a vast spectrum of opinions that leads to the need of health literacy increment.

There is a lack of a comprehensive and integrative approach, since most of the time this discussion is anchored in the disease realm, without proper research and knowledge validation on health creation. Today these issues are amplified with the information society where ideas originated by someone can resonate almost instantly through the web highways reaching hordes of consumers or prosumers in a blink of an eye. Consequently health promotion & education in a public health context are the right nest to nurture the scientific approach to the dyad lifestyles and health!

Please follow these links to register  and to the progamme of the Chair Academy on Healthy Lifestyles & Health Literacy for all (HeliCA 2025).

Traditional disciplines will walk hand in hand with advanced tokens of innovation, each offering their methodological and substantial contributions. Covering topics such as how evidence is built in prevention and public health, how education contributes to the empowerment of the global citizen, how ethics transforms science to respond to promoting better health, will be the basis for training in transferable skills of students. Such skills will cover project management, planning, leadership, team work, communication skills and a comprehensive overview of theory including investigating  research and hypothesis testing. Therefore with the HeLiCA programme, employability is strengthened, increasing aptitudes to the up-and-coming move from, for example, the PhD study plan to a future career.

HeLiCA 2025 programme of Contact Hours in a nutshell (10 ECTS).

Type of Award: Certificate, up to 10 ECTS

Two options are available regarding the participation model:
a) free participation in knowledge translation (without the desire to receive the 10 ECTS credits), with the right to a certificate of attendance (attendance of at least 80% of the sessions);
b) participation with the aim of professional and academic assessment (with the desire to receive 10 ECTS credits), cumulatively the participant must have attended at least 80% of the sessions and participate in the continuous assessment that includes the presentation of a research paper dealing with a course topic (this can be the protocol for submitting the application to the doctoral program - in case of acceptance and verification of the required requirements, participation allows these 10 ECTS credits to be transferred to the credit portfolio of the HeLiCA doctoral program)

Previous HeLiCa programmes 

•            Getting involved in the HeLiCA programme will include different themes and different levels of insight. The PhD program in Public Health with a focus on Healthy Lifestyles and Health Literacy, with particular focus in issues such as healthy lifestyles, prevention, Lifestyles Medicine &sustainability, health inequalities, Health and Education, focuses on offering a complete background where creativity, innovation and knowledge are translated to the global citizen.

•            The HeLiCA programme will offer opportunities for students to develop their post graduation or PhD research in close cooperation with organizations and networks linking them to health promotion and education, public health, disease prevention and medicine, at the local, regional, national and international level.

•            Students will come into contact with current healthy lifestyles and health literacy research, at the crossroads of disciplines that very often bring isolated contributions towards a healthier society. Therefore the HeLiCA programme crosses boundaries, endorses sustainability in the demand of the health literate citizen.

•            The HeLiCA programme is designed to focus on knowledge development and translation. As an open structure it is aimed to search and test concepts and explore new praxis for solutions and proposals for a sustainable living. Therefore, the needs of participants are addressed to enhance research skills and implementation tools in health promotion and education, public health and sustainable living.

The HeLiCA programme uses English as a basic language. Except for the first mandatory Chair Academy which is offered as a hybrid event, it is fully online (with optional face-to-face and blended learning options). During the first year mandatory and optional courses will be offered to be chosen by students following the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). With this tool of the European Higher Education Area for making studies and courses more transparent, students can more comprehensively move between countries and have their academic qualifications and study periods abroad recognized.

The HeLiCa programme is based on the teaching and research experience of international universities and institutions based in countries such as Germany, Norway, Israel, Portugal, France and USA, building on long standing experience of training in Education, Health Promotion, Health Education, Disease Prevention, Medicine and Public Health. It offers the structural conditions needed for such international training under the auspices of the University of Education Freiburg, Germany, with partners including University of Minho (UMinho), University of Madeira (UMa), Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa), ESTeSC Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Coimbra, Faculty of Medicine of Algarve (UAlg), Portugal, School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Israel (C&H), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UH), USA.

Applications are sought from those working or training in a community setting providing education & health related counselling, practitioners, health educators/community health workers or university graduates in Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences, Educational Sciences, Engineering, Economic and Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, among others, which are directly or indirectly involved in research, intervention, decision-making, management or communication in the fields of Human Health, Environmental Health or Education.

Please register here if you are interested in getting involved in any of the HeLiCA components and get informed of their specific conditions and calendar!

Please follow these links to register  and to the progamme of the Chair Academy on Healthy Lifestyles & Health Literacy for all. Registrations for HeliCA 2025 are open now, and you are welcome to to pre-register to our HeLiCA 2025 edition here. 

For your questions please contact us by:
e-mail:  helica(at)ph-freiburg.de   (alternative:  helica.info(at)gmail.com)
whatsapp app: (+ 351) 914747066

HeLiCA director: Luis Saboga-Nunes (luis.saboga-nunes(at)ph-freiburg.de)

The Chair Academy on Healthy Lifestyles & Health Literacy for all is a joint project as part of the collaboration between the University of Education Freiburg and other universities and institutions.

The HeLiCA Consortium includes regional, national and international organizations committed to be stakeholders in the domain of sustainability in order to meet citizen’s expectations. Therefore the HeLiCA programme is an example of how relevant it is today to move from our traditional perspectives to embrace a new ethos and praxis regarding human experience.

The HeLiCA programme consists of 3 components designed to contribute to a sustainable life in the midst of an ecosystem challenge:

A) The HeLiCA  programme starts with the Chair Academy on Healthy Lifestyles and Health Literacy (Post-graduation University Program, 10 ECTS) where participants are introduced to the fields of public health, health literacy, health promotion, health education, lifelong learning and sustainability from a global perspective. The Chair Academy is available on-line (but for those who wish to have a face to face experience with tutors, an hybrid format is also available for the intensive week).

B) The second component consists of the Post-graduation course (50 ECTS) where fundamental questions raised in the Chair Academy are amplified and participants have the opportunity to continue their journey;

C) The third component consists of the HeLiCA PhD Program (180 ECTS). This includes a fully online structured and interdisciplinary PhD program in Public Health with a focus on Healthy Lifestyles and Health Literacy, on issues such as health promotion and healthy lifestyles, disease prevention and risk management, lifestyles medicine & sustainability, health inequalities, health and education. It allows participants to meet and foster their creativity and innovation towards the HeLiCA programme.

Please indicate your interest in getting involved in any of HeLiCA three components and you’ll receive information on their specific prerequisites and calendar: follow this link to register and further information.

Welcome!

HEalthy LIfestyles & Health Literacy Chair Academy (HeLiCA)

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Tel.: (0761) 682-0
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