Dementia Researcher

This week weeks podcast comes from the University of Sydney where Adam Smith spoke to PhD students Michelle Lai and Luisa Krein. We discuss Michelle's research on Young-onset Dementia and how both approach their work and study, as they enter their final year. We also discuss life in Sydney with tips for anyone thinking of studying in a new country, finding a supervisor, pressures to publish and work-life balance. Please remember to subscribe, like, review and share our podcast. If you would like to get involved drop us a line. Visit our website at http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk for daily career posts, blogs, funding opportunities, events and much more - everything an Early Career Dementia Researcher needs, all in one place.

Dementia & risk enablement in NHS and Social Care settings by National Institute for Health Research

Today we are talking about Language and Communication in Dementia – part of a two part of a global special, where we catch up with people from both sides of the globe tackling the same challenges! Lakshini Mendis talks with this passionate group of people from University College London - Anna Volkmer, Professor Rosemary Varley and Dr Vitor Zimmerer. Language is important to humans, it's how we express our feelings and emotions, it impacts our quality of life, and life of those around us. So the ability to understand and produce language both spoken and written is important. Communication is bigger than language, not all is verbal and is integrated with other behaviours, like politeness and expression, and social behaviour. When the brain goes wrong we see language and communication change. Research is looking at ways to measure language, but it's complicated - how can you measure it? Can machine learning help? And how can we support people to continue to communicate and extend use of language when the br

Today we are talking about Language and Communication in Dementia – part of a two part of a global special, where we catch up with people from both sides of the globe tackling the same challenges! Communication impairment will affect people with dementia at some stage of the course of the disease. Such an impairment can have devastating effects on the person with dementia themselves but also on those who care about and for them. And for people with primary progressive aphasia (PPA) gradual and insidious deterioration of the ability to communicate profoundly affects their lives and that of their partners. How are researchers in Australia and the UK working to help patients and their carers improve and deal with these life changes challenges... on top of everything else the disease brings? Adam Smith, is recording on location, from the The University of Sydney Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, talking to Luisa Krein, from University of Sydney and Cathy Taylor-Rubin from Macquarie University, both

This week has seen Alzheimer's Research UK host its 20th annual conference in Harrogate, bigger than ever, and packed with talks from researchers working at all levels and across many areas. This podcast was recorded on location in Harrogate from the conference. Our panel share their highlights, and all they've seen and heard from across the three days, for those who couldn't make it, . Dr Katy Stubbs from Alzheimer's, Research UK is a great host, she is joined by Dr Chris Henstridge, from the University of Edinburgh, Dr Christina Toomey from University College London and Fiona Calvert from the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Please remember to subscribe, like, review and share our podcast. If you would like to get involved drop us a line www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

In this podcast we discuss ‘Join Dementia Research’ the free to use, NIHR service run in the UK which supports Early Career Researchers to find participants both with and without #dementia for theirs studies. Talking about how is helps researchers, and the practicalities of using it. Adam Smith is joined by Clare Shaw, Research Delivery Manager for Join Dementia Research, and two researchers who have used the service. Victoria Shepherd a Research Associate from Cardiff University and Anne-Marie Greenaway, also a research associate but from the University of Reading. A study published in the BMJ last year, showed that 44% of RCTs failed to meet their final volunteer recruitment targets, and at the same time the public is frustrated at not knowing how to get involved in studies. This is where Join Dementia Research helps. To find out more about the service and how you can use it visit: https://www.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk/content/researchers To find out how you could play a part in promoting the ser

In this podcast, Dr Lakshini Mendis speaks with Dr Marina Papoutsi (Research Associate), Dr Akshay Nair (Wolfson Clinical Fellow) and doctoral student Lauren Byrne, who are all based at The Huntington's Disease Centre at University College London. The focus of this podcast is on Huntington's disease (HD) - an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that causes changes in movement, learning, thinking, and emotions. In addition to hearing about the work the panel is doing to understand cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms of HD, including HD-linked dementia, we also learn how their research can be translated to other areas of dementia research and the different career paths that led them to HD research.

In this podcast the panel discusses how we as early stage researchers are not always fully prepared for qualitative research and the ethical procedure. There are many challenges surrounding ethical qualitative work; yet, insights from such research are extremely valuable. What did they learn? Dr Lakshini Mendis talks with first time panellist Sarah Wallcook a Doctoral Student from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, and regular contributor Yvette Vermeer a PhD student and sociologist based at University College London both are part of the Interdisciplinary Network for Dementia Using Current Technology (INDUCT) Programme (something we also discuss).

Megan O’Hare talks with Dr Raffaele Ferrari a Junior Research Fellow from UCL and Dr Claudia Manzoni, Associate Research Fellow at the University of Reading. The panel are discussing their research and the work of the International Frontotemporal Dementia Genomics Consortium (IFGC). This exciting work is making great progress in understanding FTD, and for those listeners who don’t know, genomics is the branch of molecular biology concerned with the structure, function, evolution, and mapping of genomes – an important focus for dementia research, and particularly in FTD.

In this weeks podcast Megan Calvert-O'Hare talks to Emily Oliver and Naomi Gallant who are both Clinical Doctoral Research Fellows at the University of Southampton. Emily and Naomi discuss their research into NHS Dementia Care, which focuses mealtimes and relational care. They also discuss their work with the NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs) in Wessex, and how the organisation supports their work and research. There are around 450,000 people with a diagnosis of dementia, and when we further consider those with some form of cognitive impairment, the numbers are probably more than double that. When you consider that on average people with dementia have two of more co-morbidities, it’s should be no surprise that sadly there is a lot of time spent in and around hospitals, as both in-patients and out-patients.

Research that involves human subjects (also known as people), or even human tissue will often raise unique ethical, legal and social issues. Research ethics is specifically interested in the analysis of ethical issues that are raised when people are involved, and even the most experienced of researchers find the process of getting a favourable ethical opinion, valuable and frustrating! This week Megan O’Hare speaks with Yvette Vermeer a PhD student from UCL, James Fletcher a Teaching Fellow at King’s College and Danielle Wilson a Clinical Research Operational Manager at Oxford University Hospitals and also Vice Chair of your local research ethics panel. Discussing the challenges, benefits and giving tips and advice for Early Career Researchers navigating this process. There are three objectives in research ethics: 1. The first objective is to protect human participants. 2. The second is to ensure that research is conducted in a way that serves interests of individuals, groups and/or society as a whole.

Welcome to our Christmas Special End of Year Roundup - from the crammed Dementia Researcher archive, here are some of the best bits in a 2018 compilation, featuring choice nuggets from this year,

Time for Dementia is an exciting, innovative and award-winning educational programme. Funded by Health Education Kent, Surrey and Sussex it provides undergraduate healthcare professionals with on-going, regular contact with a person with dementia and their carer, designed to create a new generation of healthcare professionals who are more aware and understanding of dementia Due to the success of the programme, Time for Dementia has been embedded as a mandatory part of the curriculum for 1st year nursing and paramedics students at the University of Surrey and 2nd year medical students @ Brighton and Sussex Medical School. In this podcast Dr Lakshini Mendis welcomes three guests to discuss the programme and its success: Dr Stephanie Daley, a clinical research fellow at the centre for dementia studies at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School – Stephanie works at the programme and evaluation lead for Time for Dementia programme Gina Sherlock, a research assistant on the Time for Dementia programme also at th

In this podcast we are discussing gender discrimination and the issues that researchers face, and how to raise what we know is a very challenging issue to talk when researchers face concerns about upsetting current or previous institutes that have employed them. We want to openly acknowledge the hurdles that need to be overcome in the pursuit of gender equality as well as the steps that institutions are putting in place to tackle this issue. We also looking at specific issues around paternal leave and being a parent in research and how this is a gendered issue. Understanding that women are conventionally viewed as the default primary care giver, and does this mean women can be seen as a 'poor investment' as an employee as they might take up to a year of leave, if they do are they perceived as being less committed to the field? In the chair we have Dr Aoife Kiely, Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society and she is joined by: Dr Natalie Marchant – Natalie is an Alzheimer’s Society funded senior fellow base

In this latest podcast we hear from a volunteer, researcher and charity working closely together to ensure that people affected by dementia are involved in every stage of research to maximise impact. We discuss the challenges of PPI and provide some practical advice to support you to work with volunteers in a mutually beneficial way. Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research is a philosophy whereby research is carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ people affected by the condition rather than ‘about’, ‘for’ or ‘to’ people. Over the past twenty years an increasing value has been placed on including the lived experience of patients and the public in research covering the full spectrum of basic science through to health services. Our panellists today all work for or are funded by Alzheimer’s Society - Anna-Louise Smith, Research Engagement Manager, Dr Kirsten Moore, UCL Senior Research Fellow and Jane Ward, Research Network Local Area Coordinator. Alzheimer’s Society has pioneered the active involvement of people

Research, the discovery of new knowledge, has been described as an endless frontier. There will certainly be instances during a PhD and beyond when curiosity driven activity can indeed seem vast and relentless. It is critical that researchers at whatever stage in their career develop the capacity and capability to generate an appropriate perspective on what they are facing. Put simply, and starkly, doing research depends on being well. As such, an awareness on health and wellbeing is central, and getting the right support is key. In this podcast Oz Ismail from UCL is joined by Géraldine Garrabet a Student Support and Welfare Officer, from the School of Physics & Astronomy at University of Manchester, Dr Caroline Selai a Senior Lecturer from the UCL Institute of Neurology and finally Kellie Morrissey a Research Fellow working at the Open Lab in Newcastle University.

In this podcast Adam Smith from University College London talks to Chris Roberts, Jayne Goodrick and Hilary Doxford. Three fantastic people who directly and indirectly live with the effects of dementia every days, and have spent many years, campaigning to improve dementia awareness and championing the importance of research. In this two part special filmed on location at University of Exeter Medical School, the panel give advice to early career researchers. Exploring their personal experiences as research participants, and what they would like to see done better.

In this podcast Adam Smith from University College London talks to Chris Roberts, Jayne Goodrick and Hilary Doxford. Three fantastic people who directly and indirectly live with the effects of dementia every days, and have spent many years, campaigning to improve dementia awareness and championing the importance of research. In this two part special filmed on location at University of Exeter Medical School, the panel give advice to early career researchers. Exploring their personal experiences as research participants, and what they would like to see done better.

We all have to deal with failure during our careers. But how do you handle it? In this podcast regular host Chris Hardy is joined by Charlotte Mykura from Swansea University, and Oz Ismail and Anna Volkmer both from University College London. Being a researcher can be incredibly rewarding. The potential to improve the lives of people with dementia, improve care, find new treatments or better understand the disease and its causes is amazing. However, a thick skin is useful. Dealing with rejection, and trying to not feel like an imposter are important things for us to learn. These are issues that come up time and time again, and not just during early careers, but even for the most senior of people. Failed experiments, rejected papers, unsuccessful grant applications are all part of the job, and event when we are successful we have to avoid feeling like impostors, and enjoy the success and the rewards. Finally, of course, we are using the term ‘failure’, however, we are know that failure is open to interpre

This week we have a fantastic panel of speech and language therapists, who came to studio to discuss their research around communication training for people with language led dementia (primary progressive aphasia). This week, we have Dr Lakshini Mendis from the NIHR Office of the National Director for Dementia Research in the chair. Lakshini is joined by Rosemary Townsend, a Specialist Speech and Language Therapist and Chief Executive of Dyscover, Aphasia Support Charity in Leatherhead Surrey. Oliver Sawyer, a Student Speech and Language Therapist, University College London, and finally, regular contributor and blogger for the Dementia Researcher website, Anna Volkmer, who is a NIHR doctoral research fellow and Speech and Language Therapist, also at University College London.