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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 online on:
Thursday 9 July 2026 at 2pm.
Our speakers will be Dr Tamara Backhouse and Dr Scarlett Fountain (UEA)
Title: "Co-producing a training intervention for care home staff to improve assistance with personal care for people living with dementia in care homes"
Dr Backhouse and Dr Fountain will present the OPTIMISED DEMCARE programme of work, which is working towards improving personal care assistance for people living with dementia in care homes. As their condition progresses, people living with dementia often require assistance with personal care activities such as washing, dressing, and going to the toilet. Sometimes care interactions are not acceptable to the person and they may refuse assistance with care. This situation can be distressing for both the person living with dementia and their carer/s. This research aims to improve personal care assistance and in doing so, reduce refusals of care. Dr Backhouse and Dr Fountain will present the research underpinning the OPTIMISED DEMCARE training intervention and discuss the process of co-producing the intervention.
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)