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The European Commission's Academic Network of European Disability experts (ANED)

ANED was created under the European Commission's PROGRESS programme in 2007. The purpose of the project is to establish and maintain an academic research network throughout the countries of the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) to inform disability policy making at the European level.

The academic network provides the European Commission with expertise and support to describe and analyse the situation of disabled people in the European Union and EFTA countries, and will develop the concept and methodology of mainstreaming in the main policies and strategies of the Community that are relevant for disabled people.

The project is co-ordinated in partnership between the University of Leeds and Human European Consultancy (Netherlands). The core research team includes Mark Priestley and Anna Lawson (Leeds), Anne Waldschmidt (Koln), Lisa Waddington (Maastricht) and Jean-Francois Ravaud (INSERM) supported by rapportuers in each country and a high level advisory group, including the European Disability Forum.

The Network will promote and encourage active participation from members of the research community in all European countries.