CARE-03 — Reducing low-value care through accessibility, equity, and implementation research

The Accessibility Institute at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) conducts interdisciplinary applied research to improve accessibility, inclusion, and service quality across public systems. We seek to join a HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-CARE-03 consortia as a WP leader/co-leader or partner.

What we offer:

• Equity & accessibility lens on low-value care: Identifying where “standard” pathways fail people with disabilities (inaccessible communications, inadequate accommodations, barriers to follow-up).

• Responsible AI for accessibility: Practical safeguards and decision-support governance to prevent bias and discrimination when services use decision aids or digital tools.

• Participatory methods: Extensive experience with community-engaged co-design with patients, disability communities, and frontline service providers to ensure definitions of 'value' reflect and respect lived realities.

• Implementation research expertise: Co-design of de-implementation and pathway redesign strategies that are feasible in real services (policy, workflows, training, tools).

• Functioning-anchored definition of ‘value’: Ensuring “low-value care” analyses reflect lived impact (access, follow-through, daily life functioning/participation), with disability-inclusive measures and implementation-friendly reporting.

• Knowledge mobilization: Actionable outputs for health and care systems (toolkits, guidance, training resources).

What we are looking for:

• Consortia with access to health/care systems and datasets across multiple EU/Associated countries.

• A clear role leading or co-leading a WP on accessibility/equity, participatory design, implementation, functioning outcomes, or evaluation.

Keywords: low-value care, health systems, de-implementation, accessibility, disability, equity, participatory research, functioning, participation, service redesign, implementation science.