Research

The Dementia Services Development Centre's dedicated research team consists of multi-disciplinary professionals, conducting research on numerous projects both nationally and internationally. The team also brings together the Dementia Cluster group who are a group of researchers working on dementia-related projects.

The group carries out multidisciplinary, policy and practice relevant social scientific research with particular emphasis on the rights of people with dementia and their unpaid carers who use services. Our research has a strongly applied focus, and is relevant for multiple stakeholders. The perspectives of people with dementia are central, and we seek to understand their everyday lives and find ways of promoting well being and better quality of life. We work with researchers from many disciplines across the University and with international colleagues in Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. Our key interests are: 

• Social and cultural contexts of dementia: including legal and citizenship rights, policies for mental health, older people and adult protection;
   
• Policy and practice in dementia care: including legislative frameworks, care home environments, care at home, the balance of care, self care and care partnerships, telecare, workforce issues, care quality and the organisation of care;
   
• Innovations in care: their costs and benefits, such as cognitive health interventions, palliative care, advance care planning, new therapies including physical activity, recreation, animal assisted activity, and music;
   
• Developing dementia research: through methodological innovation including new outcome measures, ethical aspects, including people with dementia, data curation issues.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss your research interests, opportunities for collaboration or if you have an enquiry about any of our projects.