Talks from the ARUK Thames Valley Public Research Day

On 25th September 2026, Dementia Researcher joined the ARUK Thames Valley Network for its Public Research Day at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. The afternoon put people living with dementia, carers and families in the same room as the scientists and clinicians working on the condition.

The ARUK Thames Valley Network brings together dementia researchers from Oxford, Reading and Oxford Brookes, with support from Alzheimer’s Research UK. Its public event, Dementia Research & Brain Health, shared the latest research from the region. It also kept the people that research is for at the centre of the conversation.

We recorded five sessions from the afternoon, and you can watch each one below. They are not a full record of the day. There were posters, a cream tea where researchers and people with lived experience got talking, and plenty of chats no camera caught. Still, together they give a fair picture of where dementia research stands in 2026. They also show what still has to change before new treatments and tests reach the people who need them.

Hope, progress and partnership: Hilary Evans-Newton in conversation

Hilary Evans-Newton CBE, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, opened the afternoon with a fireside chat. She explains why this is a hopeful moment for dementia research. She covers blood tests for Alzheimer’s, the first licensed treatments and what a cure might actually look like. She also talks about prevention, brain health and the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission. Finally, members of the audience put their own questions to her.

Research driven by lived-experience priorities, with Professor Clare Mackay

Professor Clare Mackay of the University of Oxford introduces the Oxford Brain Health Clinic. The clinic builds research into the memory clinic pathway. As a result, patients get a fuller assessment and the chance to take part in studies. She shows how people with lived experience shape the clinic’s research and why their input matters. She is also honest about what doing it well costs in time and money.

Accessing services and research: the role of a diagnosis, with Helen Sloan

Helen Sloan is a carer and Patient and Public Involvement expert. Drawing on her own family’s experience, she asks what a dementia diagnosis means in practice. It shapes access to care and support, and it shapes the chance to take part in research. She talks about waiting lists, the part GPs play and who ends up in dementia trials. She also shares what carers told the Waiting Well Project about life while waiting for a diagnosis.

Support dementia research via Join Dementia Research, with Kirsty Rogers

Kirsty Rogers is Research Engagement and Inclusion Manager at Join Dementia Research. She explains why dementia research needs more volunteers. Anyone can get involved, with or without a diagnosis. She walks through drug trials, observational studies, and studies for carers and healthy volunteers. Then she shows how to sign up.

From Discovery to Delivery: can our health system keep pace?

The closing panel was chaired by science journalist Tom Whipple. It asks whether the NHS is ready for the new treatments and diagnostic tests coming out of research. Scott Mitchell, Alzheimer’s Research UK ambassador and husband of the late Dame Barbara Windsor, talks about caring for Barbara. Carer and fundraiser David Ensor shares what he wishes he had known. Poet Jane Thomas reads her poem Coracle, written about caring for her father. Professor Emma Mead and Professor Vanessa Raymont bring the research side.

With plenty of input from the audience, the panel covers hope and hype, and the gap between trial populations and real patients. They also discuss cheaper diagnosis through blood tests and whether people actually want a diagnosis. Finally, they tackle NICE’s verdict on the value of lecanemab and donanemab.

More from the ARUK Thames Valley Network

We are grateful to the ARUK Thames Valley Network for inviting Dementia Researcher along. Thanks also to every speaker for letting us share their talks more widely. In June we recorded talks from the network’s annual research conference too, and they make a good companion to this set. You can also find all five films from the Public Research Day in our YouTube playlist.