Current* plans for 2021 (*all plans are subject to change!!)

So here we are in 2021 and back in lockdown. Instead of dwelling on things, we’re going to try and be a bit positive and look at some of our plans for the coming months – although as the blog title suggests, who knows whether our plans will end up matching reality! When we tried a similar post back in February last year hardly anything we wrote about actually happened, but hey, let’s see how we go. This isn’t a full list, just a few examples of what’s going to be keeping us busy over the next few months.

First off, we’re hoping that at some point Professor Dawn Brooker might be able to receive her MBE in person. Posh frocks at the ready! (Ok, we know that we won’t be going with her, but any excuse to get dressed up, right?)

January

We’ve got four online modules starting in the next couple of weeks as part of our Postgraduate Certificate in Dementia Studies, which hopefully won’t be affected by the pandemic:

• MDEM4002 – Applying the Admiral Nurse Competency Framework
• MDEM4003 – Expert Practice in Delivering Person-Centred Dementia Care
• MDEM4006 – Engagement and Empowerment in Dementia Studies
• MDEM4007 – Dementia in the Family Context

We’re presenting as part of an online University of Worcester Research Seminar Series, looking at ‘Enhancing the evidence base for person-centred dementia care’.

We’re hosting an online HDRC webinar on ‘Best practice in intergenerational programmes for people living with dementia in extra care housing’.

A new project called ‘Get Real With Meeting Centres’ will be starting, which builds on the work carried out within our SCI-Dem project. You can find out more about this in the latest SCI-Dem blog post.

We’ll be kicking off a new series of monthly Meeting Centres lunchtime online webinars with some interesting topics in the pipeline, so keep an eye open for more details in due course.

February

Our first Meeting Centre training course will be run online, aimed at staff and volunteers looking to open a Meeting Centre. There’s still a bit of time to sign up for this, but we are planning to repeat the course in May and August (plus future dates to be confirmed) if you’re interested.

A new PhD student will be starting with us to explore ‘Regional approaches to the implementation of Meeting Centres within the UK’. Starting during the current situation and not being able to meet the ADS team in person could make this a bit of a challenge, but we’ll do our best to make them feel welcome. Hmm, maybe they could write a blog post to introduce themselves…

Not strictly just in February, but we’ve got several journal articles underway at the moment, so hopefully they will start to be published soon. We’ll keep you updated.

March

The second round of applications to access funding to support opening a new Meeting Centre in Worcestershire will close at the end of March, so don’t miss out. More information is available here.

April

We’ve submitted an abstract on Meeting Centres to the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry, European Psychiatric Association in Florence, but who knows what format this conference will end up following.

July

We’re also looking forward to the BSG conference, but it’s probably a bit too early to be planning for this.

So, that’s what we ‘think’ may be on the cards over the next few months, but if the past year has taught us anything it’s that we need to be flexible and adaptable, and take each day as it comes. We hope you can join us for the ride, but in the meantime look after yourselves and each other.

Connect with ADS on twitter @DementiaStudies and on Facebook @adsuow