Profile – Dr Ben Hicks

Name: 

Dr Ben Hicks

Job Title:

Research Fellow and DETERMIND Programme Lead

Place of work / study:

Centre for Dementia Studies, Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Area of Research:

Dementia care

How is your work funded:

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

Tell us a little about yourself:

I studied psychology for my undergraduate degree and then moved into ‘real-world’ research that sought to enhance the lives of potentially vulnerable people including those with mental health conditions and/or cancer. Following a number of years working within health research, I undertook a PhD exploring the social inclusion of older men with dementia. I finished this in 2016 and since then I have focussed on dementia care research firstly within the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre at Bournemouth University and now in the Centre for Dementia Studies in Brighton and Sussex Medical School. I seek to use creative initiatives to engage with people with dementia and hear their experiences of living with the condition. I recently finished a project using graffiti arts to explore ‘identity’ in people with dementia and this was made into a short film called ‘Young at Art.’ https://vimeo.com/280562779

Tell us a fun fact about yourself:

I cycled down the world’s most dangerous road in La Paz, Bolivia and lived to tell the tale (and got the T-Shirt)

Why did you choose to work in dementia?

Partly through personal experience as my gran lived with vascular dementia, which made me keen to understand more about the condition and how to support someone living with it.

Twitter name:

Follow @DETERMINDSTUDY