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The Dementia Research Collaborative (DRC) at UEA is a group of researchers, educators, clinicians and lay people who are interested in dementia research.
The aims of the group are:
i) to disseminate cutting-edge dementia research findings across UEA, health services and the public, and
ii) to foster research collaborations across UEA, health services and the public.
We run an ongoing series of free bi-monthly dementia open forums at UEA (currently online) which create an exchange of knowledge between researchers, clinicians, the general public, people with dementia and their carers. Anyone with an interest in dementia research is welcome.
Researchers from UEA, and guests, will present their latest innovative research studies and findings, with a different dementia researcher leading each event. There's an opportunity to ask questions of the researcher and to find out how to take part in any upcoming studies at UEA.
You can watch previous Open Forums on our YouTube channel, the UEA Dementia Open Forum.
Our next Dementia Open Forum will take place on Thursday 19 March 2026 at 2pm.
Our speaker will be Dr Olivia Luijnenburg from King's College, London.
Title: Co-developing the SPIRIT in Care guide: spiritual care guidance for care home staff working with people living with dementia
Dr Olivia Luijnenburg is a postdoctoral dementia research fellow at King's College London's NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce (HSCWRU). She is a medical anthropologist and her research interests are residential care for older people, dementia care, spirituality and spiritual care, and qualitative and creative methods in care research
Summary: The spiritual needs of care home residents are often overlooked or misunderstood, yet it is increasingly recognised as an important dimension of holistic care for older people and people living with dementia. Interviews with residents, family members, care home staff and registered managers informed guidance on how to implement spiritual care in care home practice. Subsequently, co-development workshops were organised with care home staff and relatives of care home residents to develop the SPIRIT in Care guide. The guide aims to support care home workers with recognising and implementing spiritual care in day-to-day care practice.
Our Open Forum will be taking place online via Microsoft Teams. If you would like to join the forum please email dementia.research@uea.ac.uk for the joining link.
Previous Open Forums
Thursday 22 January 2026
Our guest speaker from January Dr Sarah Griffith kindly provided her slides to be downloaded.
Thursday 27 November 2026
Featured speaker James Faraday has kindly provided links to a number of resources associated with his talk which are as follows:
A recipe for positive mealtimes (view the video on Vimeo)
Making a difference through dementia research (view the video on Vimeo)