Scottish Dementia Research Consortium

SDRC Executive Committee Nominees

There are 9 nominees in total. Please use the link you will have received by email to cast your vote. You can cast a maximum of three (3) votes. Any ballot which votes more than three times will not be used.

There are three people to be elected:

One for Psychology and Humanities
One for Social and Population
One Open

The Chair is also to be appointed. We only received one nomination for Chair and the announcement will be made in due course.

The election will be conducted by majority vote.

The candidates elected will fill empty vacancies according to category. If a candidate(s) with the most votes are not standing in those categories, the count will continue until someone standing in one of those categories is elected.

The nominees are as follows:

Clinical, Health and Applied Practice

Rhoda Macrae
University of the West of Scotland
Having been a member of the SDRC for several years now I would like to apply to be on the SDRC committee and be situated within the living with dementia research theme. I believe my skills and experience as Reader at the Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice (UWS) will support the work of the SDRC. The ASCPP, which has a strategic partnership with Alzheimer Scotland, undertakes all its policy influencing, research and educational activities in partnership with people affected by dementia. I lead an interdisciplinary innovative project into dementia in prison and an institutional Seedcorn fund to grow interdisciplinary dementia research across UWS. I am committed to supporting PGRs, early and mid-career researchers develop dementia research careers and exploring the ways the SDRC can encourage and assist with this. I am particularly interested in applied dementia care research, research that has an impact on the care and lived experience of those affected by dementia and those who support them. I am an able team player, demonstrating flexibility and a willingness to help as required.

Dr Carrie Stewart
University of Aberdeen

I am a research fellow enthusiastic about promoting and building capacity for dementia research in Scotland. I believe that developing a research infrastructure model that encourages more collaboration between researchers, especially early career researchers, with support from experienced researchers, could lead to more sustainable career trajectories for researchers in this field. I am applying for this position as I believe I would bring a depth of experience and a drive to improve research career pathways that can increase the volume and quality of dementia research in Scotland. I believe SDRC is well placed to achieve this. I have a strong interdisciplinary research background spanning mixed methods, qualitative methods, systematic reviews (including several Cochrane reviews), and dementia clinical trials (Scottish Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network). I have substantial experience conducting research within multidisciplinary teams, including Medicine, Nursing, Statistics, Health Economics, Psychology and Sociology. I have experience working with national and international collaborators, for example working on the EU COST funded study to develop the “Pain Assessment in Impaired cognition (PAIC)” scale. I am currently working with a multi-disciplinary team (Dentistry, Nursing, Psychology and Technology) to explore innovative digital technologies for assessing dental health, including dental pain, in persons living with dementia. I am also building post-doctoral fellowship applications around improving care and services for persons living with dementia and their carers. I have a strong patient and public involvement background. I instigated and facilitated the development of our teams Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group (Ageing Clinical and Experimental Research team) and completed several co-development projects in full collaboration with our PPI members. I am committed to public engagement (PE), facilitated through press releases, local PE events, and encouraging collaborators to conduct PPI/PE in their area. I believe both PPI and PE are imperative for every part of the research process.

Psychology and Humanities

Nancy Brown
University of Edinburgh

Since beginning my PhD program at the University of Edinburgh 4 years ago, I have come to learn more about the prominent position Scotland holds in the dementia field and its strong reputation for high-quality research in a variety of areas. As a practitioner and researcher and a distance learning PhD candidate, I believe I will add a unique voice in SCRC’s goal of expanding its international, interdisciplinary research community. I have conducted trainings in dementia care and presented at a variety of international conferences, including the UK, and developed relationships with researchers and health care practitioners around the world. It would be an honour to represent the interests of Scotland and the SDRC on the national and international scene. I look forward to exploring new funding sources and forging partnerships and collaborations with a variety of stakeholders including families, persons living with dementia, professionals, researchers, and policy makers. My current research interests lie in the importance of community support such as a day centre, its built environment (physical and cultural) and the key roles both play in the areas of agency, social cohesion, social connectivity, engagement, and ageing in place among an immigrant populations living with advanced dementia. My ethnographic research is inspired by my 18-year experiential perspective and personal relationship with my clients, their families, and paid caregivers in an English-speaking memory day centre for older adults living with moderate to advanced cognitive impairment. Since COVID-19, my research and area of interest have expanded to the use of technology and the development of virtual communities to engage persons with dementia in activities to alleviate social isolation.

Science and Technology

Dr Jennifer Macfarlane
SINAPSE & NHS Tayside

Imaging is a crucial tool in dementia research. I joined the SDRC Executive Committee as the Director of SINAPSE, the Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence. We are a Scotland-wide network of imaging researchers, working in both academic and clinical NHS environments to provide high quality, cutting edge imaging that can inform advances in healthcare.

Dr Diane Rasmussen Pennington
University of Strathclyde
I am a Senior Lecturer in Information Science with the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Strathclyde, where I lead the Information Engagement Group and belong to the Digital Health and Wellness Group. As a data scientist, I am interested in what people do with online information as well as what online information does to people, and how these interactions impact health and wellbeing. I work primarily in youth mental health and in dementia care. I hope to advance SDRC’s Informatics & Technology Theme. Just as members’ clinical research is vital to preventing and curing dementia, so is research on informed Internet use. When my father was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia in 2005 and my mother asked me to print ‘everything on the Internet’ about FTD, I realised there was a need for helping people with dementia and their carers to manage, filter, and use the vast amount of dementia-related information online. Also, data scientists can partner with clinical researchers to identify impactful insights and patterns within their results. I served on the committee for the 2020 SDRC conference, ‘Unlocking the mysteries of data’, where I presented with Prof Craig Ritchie about the use of social media data analytics to improve brain health. Additionally, SDRC partially funded my PhD student Fatima Alhayan’s thesis: ‘Investigating social media information credibility in the context of dementia’. She passed her viva in September; her outputs include: Twitter use by the dementia community during Covid-19: a user classification and social network analysis https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/80068/ “She seems more human”: understanding Twitter users’ credibility assessments of dementia-related information https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/79617/ Twitter as health information source: exploring the parameters affecting dementia-related tweets https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/71818/ Please view my CV (https://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/diane.pennington/) and follow me @infogamerist. It would be my pleasure to serve on the Executive Committee in honour of my late father.

Social and Population

Dr Leah Macaden
University of Edinburgh

I am a Senior Lecturer in Nursing with a rich and diverse range of academic, clinical, management and research expertise in India and the UK for over 30 years. Since moving to Scotland in 2011, I have successfully navigated two unchartered territories: nurse education for the care of older people and online / blended approaches to dementia education for workforce development. Over the past decade, I have harnessed technology, innovation and developed a community of dementia practice to co design educational resources and research integrated teaching in key areas of Gerontological Nursing: Dementia; Dignity, Technology Enabled Dementia Care / Education and Sensory impairments. National / international recognition for my innovative approaches and leadership in dementia education for workforce development include the following awards: Churchill Fellow [2019], National Teaching Fellow [202] and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing [2022]. I developed the first comprehensive undergraduate dementia curriculum [Being Dementia Smart at the University of Stirling (BDS, 2014) and a blended approach to Dementia Enhanced Education to Promote Excellence (DEEPE, 2017)] at UHI underpinned by Scottish policy and aligned to the national framework for dementia workforce development. Over 1400 nursing graduates have been trained with dementia care competencies five years ahead of this being mandated by the Nursing & Midwifery Council, [NMC] UK in 2019. During the recent pandemic, I designed the first comprehensive dementia education resource for blended learning for staff working in care homes as a Churchill Fellow which has had international reach across four continents. Visionary leadership, embracing change, stewardship, mentoring, collaboration and networking are some of my key strengths. As an Executive Committee member, I would be very committed to support and advance the SDRC’s theme on Living well with Dementia, enhance the research profile and visibility of the SDRC through high quality research and active international engagement.

Professor Louise McCabe
University of Stirling

I am a Professor in Dementia Studies at the University of Stirling, working within the Faculty of Social Sciences. I have over 20 years of experience in social research and teaching in dementia studies. I am part of the team that deliver our long-established online MSc programme, supporting students from across disciplines and around the world to become leaders in dementia care. My research is focused on the everyday experiences of older people and people with dementia and on how services can support people to live well. Recent projects include research about older people’s experiences during the pandemic, the use of technology in care homes and an evaluation of community-based dementia services across Scotland. Social sciences bring a vital perspective in understanding the experiences of people with dementia, their families and communities and in enabling practitioners and services to respond in a way that supports people to live well. Much of my research is undertaken using co-production approaches, working closely with people with dementia and unpaid carers to shape, conduct and share research findings. I would like to become a committee member of SDRC to share findings and experiences from social science research about the lives of people with dementia and through this contribute to multi-disciplinary research, education and most importantly impact that improves people’s lives.

Martin Robertson
Ecredibles; part of ECRED.

I am a co researcher with Lived Experience of dementia, heavily involved In Scottish NHS; on national treatment guidelines council; SIGN
I believe the Council needs someone with Lived Experience to assist in keeping the research grounded. I have been, and still am, involved in many co research projects through ECRED and Partners In Research. My dementia (PCA) allows me subconsciously to close off my ears so I can concentrate on Academic Papers. I am an IT geek and am involved in VR research with Alzheimer’s Scotland. Somehow when I use it on a foggy day, it is like a light switch and I visibly and mentally become focused. I was not sure what box to tick as I am involved in all the areas, I started by refusing to be a Guinea Pig, I wanted to take control of my Research. It has now got to the point where I have Co written successful funding applications and am now on the Steering Groups ensuring the research is undertaken properly and I help write the final Papers.

Dr Golam Rabbani

Institute of Social Welfare and Research, University of Dhaka

I have keen interest to work with dementia in Bangladesh. I have some research experiences on dementia in Bangladesh. It will be pleasure for me if I get the opportunity to work with Scottish Dementia Research consortium.