Background: This contribution aims at illustrating the perspective of students attending the first International Summer School on Ageing (ISSA), highlighting the midterm impact exerted by this initiative on their own educational career.

Methods: The reported findings are based on a follow-up assessment questionnaire sent out to and filled-in by ISSA participants (n= 20) six months after the Summer School’s conclusion, with the aim of identifying whether participation in the ISSA had brought any advantage to each participant's professional and educational life.

Results: Among the ISSA-related aspects identified as “important” for their future research activity, the main ones were “interacting with established researchers” (100%) and “being part of a research network” (85%), followed by “use of different approaches” and “training environment”. As for the aspects “influenced” by the ISSA, the “development of a professional network” was the most frequently mentioned (100%), followed by “research training” (84%), “research interest” (79%) and “career” (71%). The majority of participants reported that, since their ISSA attendance, had remained in contact with each other for study-related (65%) or work-related (60%) purposes. This networking activity has led to joint scientific collaborations with both mentors (one joint conference presentation and two peer-review publications) and fellow students (preparation of a project proposal in response toa research call and organisation of a scientific event).

Conclusions: The reported findings show that the ISSA has been useful in creating a collaborative multidisciplinary network of younger and older researchers on ageing-related issues, which is likely to bear more fruitin the long-term.