The International Consortium on Dementia and Wayfinding (ICDW) started from a Twitter conversation January 2018 between PhD students Noelannah Neubauer from the University of Alberta [1] and Katie Gambier-Ross from the University of Edinburgh [2]. They had found similar findings in Canada and the UK where there were limited opportunities for international collaboration and areas for knowledge exchange among researchers, police, community organizations, and those with lived experience that focus on tacking the issues associated with persons with dementia at risk of getting lost and going missing. With the help of their supervisors, Drs. Lili Liu and Charlotte Clarke and funding through AGE-WELL NCE and the Edinburgh Centre for Research on the Experience of Dementia, ICDW was born September 2018 to address this significant gap.
Consortium Goal
Our goal is to enable people to live their life of choice through a risk enablement approach, including:
- The prevention of episodes of being missing
- The minimization of harm and stigma through timely and effective search processes in the event of being missing
- Risk assessment following an incident of being missing to ensure proportionate consequences that optimize continuity of living a life of choice
Get Involved
ICDW us currently recruiting volunteers to join [3] their team. ICDW brings together individuals from research, the police, community organisations, health authorities, and people with lived [4] experience. Their aim is to increase awareness and support people living with dementia to go out and about safely in their communities without fear of stigma or harm from getting lost. Volunteers are needed to help with the day-to-day running of ICDW. They are currently looking for people to be involved in administration, event management, communications and design.
Duties will include:
- Organising and promoting their webinar series
- Assisting with event planning
- Monitoring email and social media accounts
- Preparing quarterly member newsletters
- Developing consortium relationships in Asia / Australia / South America / Africa
- Setting up advisory group meetings and taking meeting minutes
- Setting up and updating the consortium website with resources
- Exploring potential research funding opportunities
The volunteer roles are suitable for early career researchers who are tech savvy, have excellent written and oral communication skills, have excellent organisational and planning skills.
Volunteering roles provide an excellent opportunity for individuals to get involved and contribute to the cause of tackling a prevalent issues facing the global ageing society. Moreover, the role holders will get a chance to network and build relationships with individuals from various public sectors, and enhance their CV in the process.
Start the application process by completing the ICDW Volunteer Application Form [5]