Conference 2024
13-14 June 2024, Apex Hotel, Dundee
This two day Conference has theme of celebrating Scottish research and collaboration. The programme feature updates from key organisations across Scottish brain health and dementia research. Speakers include researchers from across career stages and research disciplines and people with lived experience. See below for the full programme and list of speakers.
There will be a lot of opportunity for catching up with colleagues, networking and poster presentations.
Spaces for the Conference are now limited so we strongly advise you register as soon as possible.
Celebrating Researcher Awards 2024: Nominations Open
There are a number of awards being presented at this year’s Conference to recognise the achievements and hard work of our community. Nominations are open now.
There are a broad range of award categories, both for researchers and research projects. You can nominate yourself, or a researcher you know, in as many categories as you wish. Click the link below to to view the full list of categories.
Closing date for nominations is Monday 20 May 2024.
Speakers and programme
For this Celebtrating Scottish Research Conference, we have brought together a wonderful range of speakers. These include researchers representing different research institutions, disciplines and disease types. We also have speakers from organisations closely aligned to research and people with lived experience sharing their insights.
See below just some of the speakers from across both days of the Conference. We will add more soon.
You can see the full Conference programme on our Eventbrite page. Alternatively, click the links to download the programme from each day:
Dr Tom Russ
University of Edinburgh
Tom is a consultant psychiatrist in NHS Lothian, working in the memory clinic and two specialist dementia units. He is a Network Champion of the NRS Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network and Director of the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Emma Law
Neuroprogressive & Dementia Network
Emma, as Strategic Manager of NDN, finds strategies to include the under served groups in research. These may include those living with in remote and rural locations, part of marginalised communities such as LGBTQ+, or the oldest old, to name a few.
Prof Susan Shenkin
University of Edinburgh
Prof Shenkin is a clinical academic geriatrician who leads a portfolio of interdisciplinary research in healthcare for older people, particularly those living with the geriatric syndromes of delirium, dementia, frailty, and other multiple long-term conditions. She co-chairs ENRICH Scotland.
Prof Suvankar Pal
University of Edinburgh
Prof Pal is co-lead investigator of MND SMART, the Scottish Motor Neuron Disease Register (CARE-MND), a Deputy Director at the Anne Rowling Clinic, Co-Investigator of the UK Dementia Research Institute, and Clinical Lead for Neurology at NHS Forth Valley.
Dr Catherine Pennington
Brain Health Scotland
Dr Pennington is an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer with the University of Edinburgh, and a Consultant Neurologist with NHS Forth Valley & NHS Lothian. Current academic work is on the development of a novel clinical tool for the evaluation of symptom awareness in neurodegenerative cognitive disorders. She is funded by an NRS Career Researcher Fellowship.
Dr Maura Malpetti
University of Cambridge
Maura is the Race Against Dementia Alzheimer’s Research UK Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Frontotemporal Dementia and Related disorders. She is interested in the study of neuropathology, biomarkers and clinical features of neurodegenerative diseases, with special interest in frontotemporal lobar degeneration and Alzheimer’s.
Prof Paresh Malhotra
Imperial College London
Prof Malhotra is a consultant neurologist. His research focuses on disorders of cognition in neurological diseases. He is lead investigator for an NIHR-funded Alzheimer’s disease trial and runs a number of research studies examining the causes of Alzheimer’s and other causes of dementia. He is an Associate Member of the UK DRI and sits on the Alzheimer’s Society Research Council.
Henry Simmons
Alzheimer Scotland
Henry is Chief Executive of Alzheimer Scotland. He has over thirty years’ experience in the health and social care sector. Henry has spent the majority of his career primarily involved in developing new community-based person-centred services, leading significant campaigns and influencing system redesign and transformation. Henry has worked in both the learning disability and mental health fields.
About our Conference Partners
This Conference is jointly organised between the SDRC, NRS Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network and the Brain Health ARC. Find out more about these organisations below
NHS Research Scotland Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network (NDN)
The NDN supports researchers from across a range of disciplines and deliver this research across Scotland in a wide range of healthcare settings, including primary and community care, mental health services and acute hospitals.
This is because advancing understanding of the diseases and new treatments, inter-disciplinary research is crucial. Supported by the NRS Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network a wide range of research studies are conducted within the NHS and Care Home settings including:
- research into the underlying mechanisms and causes
- prevention
- new symptoms
- disease-modifying treatments
- better care
The Brain Health ARC
Funded by the Scottish Funding Council, the ARC will create and support new cross-sectoral, multidisciplinary collaborations with a shared vision of…
- Improving our nation’s brain health
- Making Scotland the ‘go-to’ destination for brain health research
- Finding solutions to societal challenges associated with brain ageing
The ambition is to make Scotland the world leader for brain health research. The ARC wants to educate the public, develop the workforce, and influence policy, but most importantly, use Scotland’s world leading research to find solutions to the societal challenges associated with poor brain health. The ARC as a vehicle to develop capacity and attract new research talent and funding into Scottish brain health.
Other Events
Past SDRC Conferences
Take a look back at previous years’ SDRC Conferences. We have photos, videos and summaries of the discussions on the day.
Webinar Series
The SDRC webinar series feature world-leaders and contain a wealth of information on a variety of topics, including on brain health and dementia research topics and career advice.