Dementia Researcher

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 at PhD Students and jobbing clinicians working in Speech and Language Pathology. Please remember to like, share, subscribe and review our podcast - available on SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify and on our website: www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

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 service, and helping more people to become involved visit: https://learn.joindementiaresearch.nihr.ac.uk/ Please remember to subscribe, like, review and share our podcast. If you would like to get involved visit our website and drop us a line http://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk

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. 3. Last of all, the third objective is to examine specific research activities and projects for their ethical soundness, looking at issues such as the management of risk, protection of confidentiality and the process of informed consent. To see more topics on ethics from our website visit https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/?s=ethics&submit=Go

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 the centre for dementia studies Ellen Jones, a carer for her mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia 9 years ago. Ellen and her mother were amongst the 1st cohort of families to be involved in Time for Dementia. If you know a family who might be interested in taking part in Time for Dementia, please contact the following number or email address for more information Telephone: 07713 779582 [email protected]

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 based at UCL. Her research focuses on whether repetitive negative thinking increases cognitive debt and so, the risk of dementia. She is a mother of one and has recently returned to work following maternity leave Dr Frances Wiseman – Frances is a senior research fellow based at UCL. She holds an Alzheimer’s Society grant which funds a PhD student and is investigating the cause of Alzheimer’s disease in people who have Down syndrome. She is mum of two and married to a fellow academic. Dr Penny Rapaport - Penny is a clinical psychologist having worked clinically for a number of years with people with dementia in community, hospital and care home settings. Now working in applied health research developing interventions that are fit for purpose in the messy real world.

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 affected by dementia through their award winning Research Network, since 1999. More recently, over the last year Alzheimer’s Society has been considering the evidence surrounding how it involves people affected by dementia in research and moving the conversation about PPI forward from ‘proving’ why it should be done to ‘improving’ how it can do it in partnership with researchers. For more information on Alzheimer's Society work on Patient and Public Involvement and to get involved visit: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/research/play-your-part-research/patient-and-public-involvement To see other content on this topic via our twitter feed #PPIImpact visit: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PPIImpact&src=typd

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 interpretation. Because we learn from our failures as much as we do successes.... can our panellists help?

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.

PhD students today face more challenges than most professors ever did. The supervisor has mentoring responsibilities beyond academic performance, including the student's well-being. But can does your mentoring have to only come from your supervisor or manager? And what if you have finished your PhD, where do you turn? And how can mentoring help, how do you find the right balance between supervision and mentoring, and how can that be applied to you and your career? In this weeks podcast Megan O’Hare talks with Dr Ivan Koychev and Dr Christoph Mueller from the University of Oxford about the challenges, benefits and practicalities of mentoring.

People with dementia face many challenges to their independence as the condition progresses, often increasingly relying on their caregivers for tasks which had previously been simpler, such as managing appointments and shopping lists. Many studies are looking at how technology can help. In this podcast Emma Harding and Dr Nicholas Firth talking to Megan O'Hare, discussing their cutting edge research and how they researched the use of Amazon Echo and new technologies to help people living with Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA).

Hindsight suffuses our working life, perhaps none more so than in research. Being as it is a process of discovery and learning of things we didn’t know. As such in many ways there will always be things we wish we’d known earlier. Today we would like to discuss whether the investigative process brings with it complexities and uncertainties that are universal, and can therefore be shared with others as a means to avoid similar pitfalls - as our panel explore 'Things they wish they had known sooner'. In the chair we have Dr Amy Monaghan from the Alzheimer’s Research Drug Discovery Unit at University College London. Amy is joined by Dr Deborah Oliviera from the University of Nottingham, Hanna Isotalus from University of Bristol and Dr Mark Dallas a Lecturer in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience at the University of Reading.

This is our fourth and final podcasts recorded on location at the Alzheimer Association International Conference (AAIC) in Chicago. Each day we have been bringing you news and information from our panellists who are all presenting and attending the world largest dementia conference. Adam Smith the Dementia Researcher website Programme Lead for the NIHR is again hosting and today is joined by Katy Stubbs from Alzheimer’s Research UK, Nicholas Firth from University College London and James Quinn from THE University of Manchester. The panel discuss their work, and today’s highlights, including the news from Biogen and Eisai over the exciting trial results of #BAN2401, how the Gut, sleep and environmental pollutants could be important in #dementia – and James talks about Tau. We hope you enjoyed these podcast, from #AAIC18 – our next podcast will be out on Monday 6th August, when we will resume our usual fortnightly schedule. Please subscribe to our feed and share with your colleagues and friends using #ECRDementia.

This is the third and penultimate of our podcasts recorded on location at the Alzheimer Association International Conference (AAIC) in Chicago. Each day we will be bringing you news and information from our panellists who are all presenting and attending the world largest dementia conference. Adam Smith the Dementia Researcher website Programme Lead for the NIHR is again hosting and today is joined by Oz Ismail (aka Birthday Boy) and Yolanda Ohene both PhD Students at University College London and Isabel Castanho a PhD Student at Exeter University Medical School. The panel discuss their own presentations, and just how much the brain is like a fantastic water park. We also discuss their highlights from the third day here at the AAIC, including sessions on ‘Microbiome and the brain’ and the latest research on the impact of circadian rhythms. Oz and Isabel also share their experiences as ISTAART volunteers, whilst also encouraging others to consider supporting AAIC19. Tune in again tomorrow for day four, and our next panel.

This is the first of our podcasts recorded on location at the Alzheimer Association International Conference (AAIC) in Chicago. Each day we will be bringing you news and information from our panellists who are all presenting and attending the world largest dementia conference. Today’s podcast is hosted by our own programme lead Adam Smith, he is joined by Dr Aoife Kiely from the Alzheimer’s Society, Dr Jack Rivers-Auty from Manchester University and Riona McArdle a PhD student from Newcastle University. The panel discuss their own presentations, the exuberant opening ceremony performance by the Chicago Boyz acrobatic team @ChicagoBoyzTeam, the fantastic research by Lennart Mucke from the Glasdstone institute on ‘Aberent Network Activity in AD, and preclinical investigation to clinical trials’, and other presentations and posters that caught their eye (including some scepticism on beers value in preventing dementia, and ‘Plaque-Out’ a nutraceutical supplement drink claiming to reduce b-amaloid (yes that’s how they spelt it on their sign) plaque in up to 41% of patients. Tune in again tomorrow for day two, and our next panel.

This is the second of our podcasts recorded on location at the Alzheimer Association International Conference (AAIC) in Chicago. Each day we will be bringing you news and information from our panellists who are all presenting and attending the world largest dementia conference. Today’s podcast is again hosted by our own programme lead Adam Smith (he is hosting them all week), he is joined by Sarah Gregory a study coordinator for the EPAD and Prevent studies at the University of Edinburgh, Nika Seblova a PhD student working on the casual effects of education on life-course cognitive ability and dementia at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Ivanna Pavisic who is a PhD student at University College London focusing on different neurocognitive assessments. The panel discuss their own presentations, if Chicago Pizza is real pizza…and their highlights from the second fantastic day here at the AAIC, including sessions on ‘Multimodal strategies for dementia prevention’ and the ‘aging brain and the risk for Alzheimer’s disease’ by Denise C Park at the University of Texas. We also discuss the effects of television on cognition and the fantastic ISTAART breakfast session by the Alliance of Women Alzheimer’s Researchers also known as AWARE discussing mentorship Tune in again tomorrow for day three, and our next panel.

This week we will be looking at ‘Working and studying in the UK. In the chair we have Dr Amy Monaghan from the Alzheimer’s Research Drug Discovery Unit at University College London. Amy is joined by Dr Deborah Oliviera from the University of Nottingham, Hanna Isotalus from University of Bristol and Raysa El Zein from Bournemouth University. All our panellists have made the leap to leave their home countries (Brazil, Lebanon and Finland) to live, study and work in the UK. Making a massive contribution to research here in the UK. Working abroad and travelling can be exciting, if a little scary. It's a big decision, but one which can be exciting and rewarding. But what is a really like? What should I think about? What challenges might you face? These hurdles may be the different infrastructures that provide grants and funding through to overcoming cultural issues a complex set of language barriers. Our panel today are all early career researchers from around the world. In this podcast we discuss their stories and what advice they might have for others thinking of following in the same path (not just to study in the UK but other countries too).

A conference poster can be an effective networking tool, and an effective way to to articulately communicate your research. Sadly, too many posters fail to be really engaging, and turn into a mess of unintelligible data. With our panellists today we hope to offer guidance on how to produce a fantastic award winning conference poster, thinking about the abstract, scripting, concept, design, and logistics. In this podcast we welcome new host Francesa La Frenais, PhD Student from University College London. Frankie is joined by a panel of poster award winning Early Career Researchers, Dr Claire Durrant a Post Doc Researcher from University of Cambridge, Dr Aoife Kiely who works as a Research Communications Officer at Alzheimer’s Society and Physicist and PhD Student Yolanda Ohene also at University College London.

In this podcast Megan Calvert-O'Hare interviews Alys Griffiths, Rachael Kelley and Cara Sass from the Centre for Dementia Research at Leeds Beckett University. Research Fellows Alys and Rachael and PhD student Cara all work on studies aimed Improving Care & Support for People with Dementia. In podcast they talk about their most recent studies, including looking at the impact of sports-based reminiscence for men with dementia, the experiences of people receiving hospital based cancer treatment or residential care whilst living with comorbid cancer and dementia, and evaluating the impact of an 8-week carers training programme on health and well-being. They also discuss recently completed projects include the EPIC trial, which evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Dementia Care Mapping in care homes, the What Works? study, which explored effective ingredients to dementia training and education for the UK health and social care workforce, and an ethnographic study of the involvement of families in the hospital care of people with dementia. In 2013 the James Lind Alliance and Alzheimer’s Society undertook a priority setting partnership. Essentially, this is a big survey to discover what people feel future research priorities should be. You might may or may not be surprised to hear that 9 out of the top 10 were related to care… here are the top three: 1. What are the most effective components of care that keep a person with dementia as independent as they can be at all stages of the disease in all care settings? 2. How can the best ways to care for people with dementia, including results from research findings, be effectively disseminated and implemented into care practice? 3. What is the impact of an early diagnosis of dementia and how can primary care support a more effective route to diagnosis? Highlighting the importance of care research, and the contribution these three Early Career Researchers are having with their work.

This weeks podcast is chaired by Dr Jo Barnes from University College London. Jo is joined by Dr Gemma Lace-Costigan from University of Salford, Dr Tammaryn Lashley from UCL and Dr Angelique Mavrodaris from University of Cambridge. ‘Work life balance’.... When that work is research, it brings with it an added layer of complexity. The way research posts are funded and delivered can make the decision to start a family or even have a 'life' difficult (assuming it’s a conscious decision, rather than a happy curve ball that life threw your way, and assuming you make it through the dreaded PhD years). Keeping the plates spinning is a challenge. Combine family and home life with the demands of the research process itself, and the funding, and it isn’t surprising to hear that career can impinge on family life too. So like all busy mums and dads, we find creative ways to manage, not just our time but the resonance that engaging in research can have on our way of living. And when you get the balance right… its fantastically rewarding. Our panel talk about their experiences, and share some top tips for those working in the field.

Research occurs in a range of arenas, and places not all of which are clinical, or in an NHS setting. Sometimes the research itself may be about the environmental or geographical setting, or the care and impact by that place. Or it may just be the best and easiest way and best to engage with the participants are involved in the study. We know that dementia research is changing. Care, support, activity and environment are finally getting the much needed profile, and being seen as important as new drugs and other areas of science. This means we have to be prepared. An awareness for the context and settings of research and the subsequent application of results is vital. As more ECRs focus on research in these areas, understanding the differences in setting up, delivering and engaging with people in care homes, or in their own sitting rooms is important. We hope the panel in this weeks podcast can help. In the chair we have Megan Calvert-O'Hare from University College London and this week she is joined by Dr Catherine Quinn from the University of Exeter, Suzanne Hill from Bradford University and Charlotte Stoner also from UCL.

In this Podcast, Chris Hardy from University College London chats to panellists Professor Simon Mead, Dr Adeel Razi also from UCL, and Dr David Llewellyn from Exeter University Medical School. Finding funding and grant writing is a much needed skill, and one that will be useful throughout your research career. There will be highs and lows. The need for insight, compelling argument and the hope of a novel outcome forms the basis for such applications. Finding the write funding call, and crafting a perfect application can be challenging, our panellists, have been on both sides of the process - writing applications, and as members of a grant review board. In this podcast our panel chat around the subject, sharing advice that will help any Early Career Researcher.

In this weeks podcast we will look at how research has evolved quite considerably from the days of single author papers to exciting collaborations between researchers in different institutions bringing their own skills to the table. The discussion is chaired by Dr Megan O'Hare and on the panel we have Dr James Dachtler from Durham University, Dr Eleftheria Pervolaraki from the University of Leeds and Dr Stephen Hall from the University of York. You can find a transcript of this podcast on our website - https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/collaborative-work-in-non-cognitive-aspects-of-alzheimers-disease/

It's a big decision isn't it? In this podcast we hope our panel can help you decide. Identifying an area of interest in working life, requires not only an awareness of where our own curiosity resides, but also an appreciation of the reality in which we can explore it. As such there is a certain degree of pragmatism in matching imaginative possibilities with practical actualities - and that includes finding funding, appropriate supervision, and location. In this weeks podcast our panel is chaired by Dr Charlotte Stoner, Research Associate from University College London. On the panel we have Christopher Madan from University of Nottingham, Angelique Mavrodaris a Clinical Research Fellow and Consultant in Public Health Medicine in Cambridge and Suzanne Hill a PhD student at University of Bradford. You can find a transcript of this podcast on our website - https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/how-to-choose-a-postdoc-and-phd/

For many years people with dementia have been prescribed anti-psychotic drugs to manage challenging behaviours and agitation. Even today the reliance on this medication is too high, however, attitudes have changed, and over the past 5 years or more there had been a drive to reduce the use of these medications. However, that left the question of ‘what’s the alternative’ this is where studies like MARQUE are so vitally important. In this podcast Francesca La Frenais, and Dr Penny Rapaport from the Division of Psychiatry at UCL talk about the MARQUE Study, and how their work is helping us to understand what causes agitation and how the interventions tested in this study are improving quality of life for those living with dementia, and helping carers. You can find a transcript of this podcast on our website - https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/discussing-the-marque-study/

Working life is inherently relational and in the case of doing a PhD, a specific and unique relation is that with your mentor or supervisor. Mutually nurturing this relationship, is key to success, or is it? In this weeks podcast, our panel explore how they have worked with, and managed their relationships with supervisors. How this develops over time, how you ensure your research is your own and their tips for success. This weeks host is Chris Hardy a Clinical neuroscience and Postdoc from University College London and the panellists are Jacki Stansfield a PhD working also at UCL, Robyn Dowlen, PhD Student at The University of Manchester and finally Lisa Thorpe a PhD Student, University of Chester. (Needless to say, they all have perfect relationships with their supervisors) Please share our podcasts using #ECRDementia and visit our website www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk where you will find lots of information and support for Early Career Dementia Researchers. You can find a transcript of this podcast on our website - https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/managing-and-fostering-good-relations-with-phd-supervisors/

In podcast #2 from dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk we have a great panel line up, talking about 'Working with people with dementia and their carers'. The people behind the disease are at the centre of what we do as dementia researchers. Biomedical research often involves directly working with patients and carers. This offers a fantastic opportunity and some unique challenges. In this recording Amy Monaghan talks to Timothy Rittman from University of Cambridge and Addenbrookes Hospital, Kellie Morrissey from the Open Lab at Newcastle University and Yvette Vermee from the Department of Psychiatry at University College London. We hear how these three individuals work with people with dementia, how this benefits their work, how to prepare, and how to approach working with individuals challenged by their symptoms. You can find a transcript of this podcast on our website - https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/working-with-people-with-dementia-and-their-careers/