Dementia Researcher Blogs

Dr Connor Richardson - Introductions

Dr Connor Richardson narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
We're delighted to welcome a new blogger to our staff contributor line-up. Welcome to Dr Connor Richardson, Neuro-epidemiology Research Associate in the Newcastle University Population Health Sciences Institute. In this first blog we get a gentle introduction to his background, and a taster of the things to come in his future blogs.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-connor-richardson-introduction/
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Dr Connor Richardson is a Neuro-epidemiology Research Associate in the Newcastle University Population Health Sciences Institute. Connor is the research statistician for the Cognitive Function and Ageing studies (CFAS) multi-centre population cohort. His research interest lies in using advanced statistical modelling and machine learning to measure dementia risk. Connor blogs about his research, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and sometimes his Pomapoo’s.
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Enjoy listening? We're always looking for new bloggers, drop us a line. http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk
This podcast is brought to you in association with Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Research UK, Alzheimer's Society and Race Against Dementia, who we thank for their ongoing support.

Nathan Stephens - Designing and Distributing Questionnaires

Nathan Stephens narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
Questionaries are one of the most common data collection tools in the business along with interviews and focus groups. You’ve probably completed one, or at least been asked to. Yet if you’ve never designed a questionnaire there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. After Nathans recent experience of developing questionnaires, he is using this blog to help others avoid his self-inflicted misfortune.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-designing-and-distributing-questionnaires/
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Nathan Stephens is a PhD Student and unpaid carer, working on his PhD at University of Worcester, studying the Worcestershire Meeting Centres Community Support Programme. Inspired by caring for both grandparents and personal experience of dementia, Nathan has gone from a BSc in Sports & Physical Education, an MSc in Public Health, and now working on his PhD.
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Enjoy listening? We're always looking for new bloggers, drop us a line. http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk
This podcast is brought to you in association with Alzheimer's Research UK and Alzheimer's Society, who we thank for their ongoing support.

Dementia Research Charity #Chatathon - 2nd December

Adam Smith asked us to interupt our usual schedule to bring you some special news...
The 2022 Dementia Research Charity Chatathon LIVE will take place on Friday 2nd December. Adam will host 12+ hours non-stop chat with over 60 researchers and special guests working accross all areas of discovery to beat Alzheimer's disease and all forms of dementia. Raising money for Alzheimer's Research UK, Alzheimer's Society, Race Against Dementia and The Lewy Body Society and providing insights into the latest research taking place across the UK and Worldwide.
Find details on the event and liverstream speakers, schedule and how to make a donation at:
http://www.chatathon.uk
Be sure to also tell all your friends and colleagues.
--Note Dementia Researcher is not officially involved in this event, we're just delighted to support this great work, direct and questions or queries directly to adam.smith@ucl.ac.uk

Dr Yvonne Couch - BIG Data

Dr Yvonne Couch, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog for Tech and Dementia Week, Yvonne talks about the amount of data people are generating, whether we can harness it for good using things like artificial intelligence, and how to approach these big data generating techniques properly without turning them into one epic fishing expedition. As ever, Yvonne brings some sensible opinions to the story (would you expect anything less?) and to quote the blog 'all you snazzy sequencing people are probably going to hate me'.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-big-data/
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Dr Yvonne Couch is an Alzheimer's Research UK Fellow at the University of Oxford. Yvonne studies the role of extracellular vesicles and their role in changing the function of the vasculature after stroke, aiming to discover why the prevalence of dementia after stroke is three times higher than the average. It is her passion for problem solving and love of science that drives her, in advancing our knowledge of disease. Yvonne has joined the team of staff bloggers at Dementia Researcher, and will be writing about her work and life as she takes a new road into independent research.
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Enjoy listening? We're always looking for new bloggers, drop us a line. http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

Danielle Wilson - Technology to Help Care

Danielle Wilson narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.
Works in the UK Dementia Research Institute, Care Research & Technology Group at Imperial College London. In this blog Danielle discusses her passion of tech research and its ability to augment care, and about some of the work being done within the UKDRI to drive this forward, at the cutting edge of support (if you enjoy this you should also check out our blog from Pippa Kirby who works within the DRI).
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-technology-to-help-care/
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Danielle Wilson is a former acting director of a pre-eminent NHS centre conducting clinical trials & observational studies in across dementia & mental health conditions,  and is the current Centre and Research Commercialisation lead at UK Dementia Research Institute, Care Research & Technology at Imperial College London. Danielle has extensive clinical research experience working with the National Institute of Health Research networks, the University of Oxford, the National Health Service (including Oxford University Hospitals NHS FT), Clinical Research Organisations & global pharmaceutical companies. She has experience working across medical specialities in a variety of human clinical trials, tissue, imaging & data studies. Passionate about patient care, participant safety & research excellence. Invested in staff development; most recently developed & implemented a competency framework for clinical researchers.
Danielle is also a Chair & long-standing expert member of a Health Research Authority research ethics committee leading a multidisciplinary group to review & give opinion on a broad range of studies, with particular specialism in applying knowledge of the mental capacity act to review research studies recruiting individuals who lack capacity.
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Enjoy listening? We're always looking for new bloggers, drop us a line. http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk
This podcast is brought to you in association with Alzheimer's Research UK and Alzheimer's Society, who we thank for their ongoing support.

Thaïs Caprioli - The benefits and drawbacks of accessing post-diagnostic support remotely

Thaïs Caprioli narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.
Within the last two decades, the use of information communication technology (ICT) to deliver health and social care services has received considerable attention. The possible role of ICT to increase the number of people accessing care, whilst aligning with a cost-saving agenda, forms an enticing solution to an underfunded health and social care sector which is faced with an ever-increasing demand. The adoption of ICT in practice has been implemented at quite a leisurely pace, that is, until the COVID-19 pandemic caused a widespread shift from accessing post-diagnostic support in-person, to remotely. Is this a good thing? Thaïs discusses the changing role of support in this special blog for our Tech & Dementia week.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-the-benefits-and-drawbacks-of-accessing-post-diagnostic-support-remotely/
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Thaïs Caprioli is a PhD Student at University of Liverpool, undertaking health service research and exploring health inequalities. A passion that stems from her years working with people living with dementia, and as a physiotherapist and as a programme coordinator within a health programme implementing in lower- and middle-income countries. In her spare time she can mostly be found reading a book with a cup of coffee.
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Enjoy listening? We're always looking for new bloggers, drop us a line. http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk
This podcast is brought to you in association with Alzheimer's Research UK and Alzheimer's Society, who we thank for their ongoing support.

Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali - Advances in digital cognitive assessments for dementia diagnosis

Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.
Historically, cognitive assessments for dementia diagnosis have relied on pencil and paper measures administered by a clinician. These tests are designed to evaluate various cognitive domains, such as memory, visuospatial abilities, and language, and should indicate whether there are potential signs of dementia. However, performance on these tests can be strongly influenced by other factors, such as cultural background or educational level. There are questions relating to whether such tests have the sensitivity to detect early stages of diseases, like Alzheimer’s, which is crucial if this is when treatments are most effective. In this blog Kam discusses how technology is being used to advance cognitive assessments used in dementia diagnosis.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-advances-in-digital-cognitive-assessments-for-dementia-diagnosis/
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Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali is a Lecturer in Biomedical Science at Teesside University & Affiliate Researcher at Glasgow University. In addition to teaching, Kamar is exploring how neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury contributes to the progression of neurodegenerative diseases that lead to dementia. Having first pursued a career as an NHS Psychologist, Kamar went back to University in Durham to look at rodent behavioural tasks to completed her PhD, and then worked as a regional Programme Manager for NC3Rs.
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Enjoy listening? We're always looking for new bloggers, drop us a line. http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk
This podcast is brought to you in association with Alzheimer's Research UK and Alzheimer's Society, who we thank for their ongoing support.

Pippa Kirby - Communicating Smart Technology

Pippa Kirby, narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.
There is no doubt that technology is dramatically changing the landscape of health and social care, and dementia care is no exception. Pippa's research is focused on exploring people with dementia’s perceptions and experiences of smart home technology. ‘Smart homes’ are one of the ways being proposed in which technology may be used to prevent hospitalisations and enable people to remain living in their own homes for longer. An appealing proposition perhaps, but a concept which can be divisive: will these systems promote independence and greater freedom, or is this Big Brother? It is important that we learn more about what people with dementia think of this type of home technology, and that their voices are central to the design and development of these systems so that the resulting services are ethical, engaging and effective. In this blog speech and language therapist Pippa discusses her research exploring how we can support the communication of people with speech, language and cognitive difficulties to engage with new innovative technology, and ensure they have as much of a place at the table as those without communication difficulties when it comes to design and delivery.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-communicating-smart-technology/
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Pippa Kirby is a Speech and Language Therapist and Pre-doctoral Clinical Research Fellow based within the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London. As a clinician Pippa became interested in how we empower and involve patients with communication difficulties in conversations and in decision making, this led to her current research within the UKDRI Care & Technology Centre, developing smart homes for people with dementia, and how to best explore and understand the perspectives of people with dementia, and involve them in the research.
Enjoy listening and reading our blogs? We're always on the look out for new contributors, drop us a line and share your own research and careers advice dementiaresearcher@nihr.ac.uk

Dr Sam Moxon - Nanomedicine in Dementia Research

Dr Sam Moxon, narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
Nanoparticles are small sized (1-100 nm) particles derived from transition metals, silver, copper, aluminum, silicon, carbon and metal oxides that can easily cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and/or produce damage to the barrier integrity by altering endothelial cell membrane permeability. Could this new innovation be the key to targetting new drug therapies to treat Alzheimer's Diseease? Sam explores in this blog for our Tech and Dementia special focus week.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/guest-blog-techniques-blog-nanomedicine-in-dementia-research/
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Dr Sam Moxon is a biomaterials scientist at the University of Manchester. His expertise falls on the interface between biology and engineering. His PhD focussed on regenerative medicine and he now works on trying to develop 3D bioprinting techniques with human stem cells, so that we better understand and treat degenerative diseases. Outside of the lab he hikes through the Lake District and is an expert on all things Disney.
Enjoy listening and reading our blogs? We're always on the look out for new contributors, drop us a line and share your own research and careers advice dementiaresearcher@nihr.ac.uk