Understanding Dementia: Prevention, Playlists and Progress

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By 2025, an estimated one million people in the UK and Ireland will have dementia. Our goal is find ways to detect disease before symptoms appear.

Our aim to predict who is at greatest risk of dementia in later life, and to develop effective interventions to slow or prevent the diseases that cause dementia.

Join the Edinburgh Dementia Prevention research team from the University of Edinburgh alongside dementia charity Playlist for Life for an evening discussion on how we can all improve our brain health, contribute to ongoing research and manage our risk of dementia in later life.

Leading global experts will explore how lifestyle, environment and genes all play their part in the most challenging health conditions of our time. They will provide insights on current research, the power of personalised music for dementia and how anyone interested in joining a brain health study can get involved.

This events series will see the panel visit several locations across Scotland.

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Hear from:

Prof Craig Ritchie, Professor of the Psychiatry of Ageing & Director of Edinburgh Dementia Prevention

Andy Lowndes, Deputy Chair, Playlist for Life Charity

Dr Tom Russ, Director of the Alzheimer’s Scotland Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh

Dr Graciela Muniz-Terrera, Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Edinburgh Dementia Prevention

Dr Emma Law, Network Manager for NHS Research Scotland Neuroprogressive and Dementia Network

We position our events as welcoming, informal, open discussions. Our speakers and researchers will all be available to answer any questions you may have, and to explain how you can get involved in dementia prevention research.

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Dementia Prevention Research at the University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Dementia Prevention combines research in science, medicine and social sciences to lead global efforts in preventing dementia.

At our heart is a vision to bring together researchers, policy makers and members of the public, to achieve three goals:

- To advance understanding of biomarkers in clinical and preclinical human populations - To drive global efforts to deliver new medicines that could act before clinical symptoms of dementia appear - To improve the experience of living with dementia by developing strategies that increase quality of life

We seek to give people the power to understand and protect their brain health, for a future without dementia.

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Playlist for Life

Playlist for Life is a UK music and dementia charity. We use the music of a person’s life to keep them connected to themselves and their loved ones throughout their dementia journey.

Music can:- Bring back feelings, memories and sometimes even abilities thought lost- Reduce the use of heavy drugs and restraints- Manage mood and emotions- Strengthen relationships, reconnect families and support new connections

Personal playlists are a cheap, simple and powerful way to harness the power of music to make living with dementia easier and happier.