Starting in Fall of 2021, we collaborated with Alzheimer Society of BC, a few researchers and advocates living with dementia to develop strategies on how to foster dementia friendly research. The project started out with a set of workshops that brought togethers researchers, designers, people living with dementia and care-givers to discuss how we might make research spaces more collaborative and inclusive of people living with dementia. Through this workshop we hoped to develop a shared understanding about existing practices and challenges of dementia-friendly research.
As a way to share workshop insights we developed a workbook geared for researchers. The workbook, Collaborate, Gather, Share invites researchers to look inwards, find inspiration in their daily experience of being in community and bring those learning to research spaces. The workbook encourages researchers to reflect on existing assumptions and practices and develop paradigms and ways of working that are dementia-friendly and collaborative. We welcome you to read and interact with the workbook here.
In the most recent phase of this project, we organized a set of panel discussions that were hosted and participated by a group of advocates living with dementia. The panelists shed light on the disconnection between researchers and people with dementia interested in collaborating in research. To bridge this disconnection our team in collaboration with our co-designers have designed a research recruitment pamphlet to demystify research concepts. The pamphlet hopes to showcase research collaborations with people living with dementia as co-researchers to suggest that research participation does not have to be intimating. Instead, research participation can be joyful, fulfilling and can foster community.
To share these stories more widely, we are organizing a Research Symposium this May. This event will be an opportunity to foster connections between researchers and those interested in getting involved in research projects. People living with dementia will present four research projects that they have collaborated on. We will reflect on the process and share our insights. This will be followed by a Q/A session and an opportunity to network and share personal stories of research and information about ongoing projects.
Join us to see what meaningful public partnership in research can look like! Check out our Eventbrite link to read more https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/collaborate-gather-share-research-symposium-tickets-292655770287
