Launch of Step Up for Dementia Research in Australia

We have been working with colleagues at the University of Sydney in Australia to support the launch a public engagement and recruitment platform, similar to Join Dementia Research in the UK.  The collaboration was initiated by Professor Yun-Hee Jeon from Sydney’s School of Nursing after hearing a presentation about our work in the UK to increase public engagement and participation in research at the Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) Conference in April 2017 in Kyoto, Japan – rather appropriately titled, as it turned out in this case, “Together towards a new era”. 

In June 2017 we secured a UCL Knowledge Exchange and Innovation grant to support team members to visit Australia to work with Prof Jeon to meet stakeholders across the Australian dementia research environment and assess the feasibility of setting up something similar to Join Dementia Research in Australia. In December 2017 Prof Jeon was awarded a Dementia and Aged Care Services (DACS) grant by the Australian Department of Health to support the implementation and piloting of a public engagement and research recruitment platform in New South Wales, with a goal of national roll-out if successful.

We have since been collaborating with colleagues in Sydney, and at University of Exeter here in the UK, to support the development of the new service.  We are delighted to see Step Up for Dementia Research now launched and on its way to making it easier for Australians to get involved in dementia research studies. We look forward to continuing the collaboration with University of Sydney to share learning between the two initiatives, and work as part of a growing group of researchers internationally who are working towards a new era in which many more people and engaged in, and involved in, dementia research.

To find enquire about collaborating with our team to support initiatives in other countries, please contact p.kotting@ucl.ac.uk