Our blogs cover a whole range of topics, to help early career dementia researchers (ECRs). Our contributors share information about their research, from social care to basic science, share advice from their own experiences, careers tips, what they learned from recent training events and conferences and much more. We have a small team of ECR staff bloggers who write each month, on a whole range of topics and every year we add more people who discuss their experiences of studying at particular places or on different topics. In addition to our staff bloggers, we welcome one-off contributions, and curate and link to content from other great sources, including our charity partners, the LSE Impact Blog, Nature Careers and where ever great support can be found.
To help find what you're looking for, you can browse through the articles, or use the filters on the right to find blogs by a particular person, or on a particular topic.
We are always on the lookout for new contributors, so if you would like to write for us, just head to the forum to drop us a line, or email dementiaresearcher@ucl.ac.uk
All of our blogs (since April 2020) come with narrations from the writer. You can listen while you read along on our website, or enjoy our blogs on the move via your podcast app. Look for Dementia Researcher Blogs, or visit one of these platforms, Podbean, iTunes, Spotify and Goodpods.
Blog – Alzheimer Europe 2018 – a conference for all
Dr Timothy Rittman shares news from the Alzheimer's Europe Conference in Barcelona
Blog – Co-producing young onset dementia research together
Blog from Dr Clarissa Giebel, discussing her patient and public involvement in reviewing YOD memory clinic services
Blog – Posterior Cortical Atrophy Public Engagement
Blog from Dr Aida Suarez-Gonzalez discussing her patient and public involvement with people living with Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA)
Blog – Doing PPI on my PhD project
PPI with people with language led dementia: the barriers & the facilitators
Blog – Inside the DClinPsy: Snippets From An Assistant Psychologist’s Group
New blog contributor Nadine Mirza with advice for new psychologists
Blog – My experience of being a nice committee member
Dr Anna Volkmer shares her experience working with NICE to develop new guidelines on decision making and mental capacity.
Blog – The Start of PhD Year Two
Blog from Katie Gambier-Ross reflecting on the last few months and life as she embarks on her 2nd year Dementia PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh
Blog – Let’s not forget care over cure
Blog from Dr Clarissa Giebel, discussing her work and the importance of dementia care research and helping people with dementia to remain independent for longer
Blog – Support for people with language led dementia
Blog from Anna Volkmer, sharing exciting news on her work and publication on support for people with language led dementia
Blog – UCL ARUK Network Scientific Meeting
Did you miss the Alzheimer’s Research UK North-West Network early-careers research event? No worries, we have you covered.
Blog – Pencils at the ready: exploring the arts and health archives at the Wellcome Library
Blog from Siobhan O’Connor exploring co-designing technology with people with dementia
Blog – Feel the Fear…
Dr Deborah Morgan blogs about her experience of being invited to present a TED talk on her research into loneliness.
Blog – Life in the Doldrums (getting the wind back in your sails).
Allyson Rogers writes about how she found her research stagnating in the doldrums and how she got the wind back into her sails.
Blog – Things I wish I had known before I became a clinician and an academic
Blog from Anna Volkmer, sharing her experiences with the benefit of hindsight and sharing tips for early career researchers
Blog – Working and studying in the UK as a clinical academic
Sharing experiences of one person who made the leap to working and studying the UK - Could the UK be your next move?
Blog – Creating a Dementia Friendly Society – Get them young
In this blog Dr Nicolas Farina explores what it means to be 'dementia' friendly, and looks to the future and a dementia friendly society
Blog – Using co-design methods to co-create technology with people with dementia and their carers
Over the last few years there has been an explosion of technology in healthcare. Ever since personal computing evolved in the 1980’s, followed by the Internet (or World Wide Web), patients and families can access health information faster than ever before and connect with others worldwide for advice and support. Mobile devices and later on...
Blog – Inside the ARUK grant review board
Three guest blogs from Early Career Researchers, on their visit as an observer at the recent ARUK Grant Review Board
Blog – Four takes on observing the ARUK grant review board – Take Four by Dr Nazira Albargothy
This is the third of three guest blogs from Early Career Researchers who observed the recent ARUK Grant Review Board
Blog – Four takes on observing the ARUK grant review board – Take Three by Dr Barbara Kramarz
This is the third of three guest blogs from Early Career Researchers who observed the recent ARUK Grant Review Board
Blog – Four takes on observing the ARUK grant review board – Take Two by Dr Hannah Scott
This is the second of three guest blogs from Early Career Researchers who observed the recent ARUK Grant Review Board
Blog – Four takes on observing the ARUK grant review board – Take One by Dr Kira Shaw
This is the first of three guest blogs from Early Career Researchers who observed the recent ARUK Grant Review Board
Blog – Manchester and North West Network Early-Career Researcher Conference
Did you miss the Alzheimer’s Research UK North-West Network early-careers research event? No worries, we have you covered.
Blog – Doing it for the girls: juggling academic and family life
Blog from Dr Anna Volkmer, exploring life as a researcher and mother and how to balance the two sides of life in academia
Blog – Forging New Frontiers in Dementia Research
A blog from Naomi Gallant an Occupational Therapist with Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, living in Bournemouth and currently undertaking a Clinical Academic PhD in Dementia Care at the University of Southampton.
Blog – Public Engagement and Academia – Some Things to Consider
Blog by Dr Stephen Gordon* *completed PhD in 2013 and now words as an Adviser at the University of Manchester.
Blog – Why Every Researcher Should Have a Science Blog
Blog by Maya Gosztyla discussing the rising demand for scientists to step up and take the lead on communicating their own research to the public.
Blog – Better Conversations for people with Primary Progressive Aphasia
Anna Volkmer is a NIHR Doctoral Fellow at University College London, in her blog she discusses her work to develop a new speech and language therapy intervention for people with language led dementia.
Blog – Caring for people who have dementia in Community Hospitals
Paul Brownbill, is from the University of South Wales, in his blog he talks about ‘Quality of Life and the Role of Communal Space in Sheltered Housing'

