Aging and demographic change do not only raise medical and scientific issues but pose fundamental challenges in the fields of ethics, law, economics, humanities and social science. Their analysis and the quest for solutions require a joint effort of all disciplines involved to ensure truly satisfactory outcomes. In Competence Area I, projects and activities on aging and demographic change of researchers from a variety of different fields and departments are tied together. Thus, CA I ideally supplements the research activities of the University of Cologne’s Key Profile Area I "Aging-associated Diseases" and is well positioned to evolve into an internationally visible center for research on aging that engages in a variety of interdisciplinary research activities. Founded at the University of Cologne in November 2013, the Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics, and Social Sciences of Health (CERES) provides the institutional framework for this cooperation. CERES is supported by five faculties of the University of Cologne and is dedicated to research, teaching, the promotion of young researchers as well as to fostering public discussion and promoting public awareness for pressing health-related issues.