PhD: Co-Producing Dementia Awareness education with Black Communities

University of Bradford offers an ESRC funded PhD to co design and evaluate dementia education with African and Caribbean communities.

Dementia is a pressing global challenge in the context of population ageing and a growing source of health inequality. In the UK, Black African and Caribbean communities remain under-represented in dementia diagnosis, treatment, and post-diagnostic care despite evidence of elevated risk and unmet need. Many families seek help only at crisis points and often turn first to community and faith-based organisations rather than statutory health services. This contributes to missed opportunities for early intervention and widens inequalities across the dementia care pathway.

Recent evidence highlights that these disparities are driven by structural barriers, cultural stigma, and a lack of culturally tailored dementia education. Although some dementia awareness campaigns for ethnic minority communities have shown promise, particularly those using personal storytelling, community languages, and faith-based framing, formal evaluation is limited and no intervention has been specifically designed for African and Caribbean communities in the UK. At the same time, community organisations are well placed to deliver dementia awareness due to the trust and cultural insight they hold, yet they often lack access to evidence-based resources and specialist expertise.

This fully funded PhD studentship, one of several Collaborative Awards from the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership, has been developed collaboratively with Sheffield Memory Hub (SMH) and directly addresses these gaps. The project aims to co-design, develop, and evaluate culturally appropriate dementia educational materials to improve awareness and support earlier help-seeking within African and Caribbean communities.

The PhD will explore three research questions:

1. What is known about perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes toward dementia among African and Caribbean communities?
2. How can people with lived dementia experience and health and social care professionals collaboratively design culturally resonant dementia education resources?
3. How feasible and acceptable are co-produced materials for delivery through community-based organisations?

The project adopts a participatory design across three sequential phases.

Phase 1: Scoping Review

The student will map and synthesise existing literature on dementia perceptions within African and Caribbean communities in the UK and comparable contexts, following JBI and PRISMA-ScR guidance. This phase will identify key knowledge gaps and inform the co-design process.

Phase 2: Co-Design Workshops

Using experience-based co-design principles, the student will work with people living with dementia, carers, professionals, and voluntary and faith-based organisations to develop culturally resonant educational materials. Creative participatory methods such as storytelling will surface lived experiences and cultural understandings. Materials may include videos, leaflets, conversation guides, and community talks. Data will be analysed thematically using the PEN-3 Cultural Model alongside an intersectional lens.

Phase 3: Feasibility and Acceptability Study

The co-produced materials will be piloted with African and Caribbean community members affected by dementia to assess feasibility, acceptability, usability, and sustainability. Qualitative focus groups and staff interviews will be complemented by basic quantitative indicators (e.g., attendance, satisfaction, self-reported learning).

Across phases, findings will be integrated through framework synthesis to generate both theoretical and practice-relevant insights. Close partnership with Sheffield Memory Hub ensures strong real-world impact by embedding the research within trusted community networks and existing service pathways.

This studentship offers an excellent opportunity to conduct meaningful, community-engaged research with clear potential to reduce dementia inequalities and inform culturally competent practice at scale.

Entry requirements

Applicants should have, or be predicted to obtain, a relevant Masters degree. Applicants without a Masters are also welcome to apply; if selected, you would be required to complete and pass our MSc Social Sciences Research for Healthcare degree before progressing to the PhD. This would also be funded as part of the White Rose DTP award.

How to apply

Formal applications can be submitted via the University of Bradford web site; applicants will need to register an account, and should then specify the project title in the ‘Research Proposal’ section.

About the University of Bradford

Bradford is a research-active University supporting the highest-quality research. We excel in applying our research to benefit our stakeholders by working with employers and organisations world-wide across the private, public, voluntary and community sectors and actively encourage and support our postgraduate researchers to engage in research and business development activities.

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At the University of Bradford our vision is a world of inclusion and equality of opportunity, where people want to, and can, make a difference. We place equality and diversity, inclusion, and a commitment to social mobility at the centre of our mission and ethos. In working to make a difference we are committed to addressing systemic inequality and disadvantages experienced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff and students.

Under sections 158-159 of the Equality Act 2010, positive action can be taken where protected group members are under-represented. At Bradford, our data show that people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic groups who are UK nationals are significantly under-represented at the postgraduate researcher level.

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