Dementia Researcher Blogs
Dementia Researcher blogs are written and then narrated by the authors. Through this podcast channel, we share the narrations, so you can listen back where ever you get your podcasts, as well as on our website - careers, research and your science. Brought to you by www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk - everything you need, all in one place.
Dr ClĂona Farrell - Optimise, troubleshoot, repeat - Beginning a new project
Dr ClĂona Farrell, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
Three months into a new postdoc, ClĂona explores the messy reality of starting fresh in research. From failed experiments to adapting protocols, she reflects on how experience shifts your approach, bringing more planning, patience, and reflection. The blog highlights the importance of controls, collaboration, and industry support, while reminding us that perseverance and small wins are what carry researchers through the early stages of a project.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.ni...
Dr Becky Carlyle - The Motherhood Penalty and Career Progression
Dr Becky Carlyle, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Becky reflects on the lived reality behind the motherhood penalty in academia, blending personal experience with emerging research evidence. She explores how childcare responsibilities, mental load, and structural expectations shape career progression for women, often in ways that are invisible but deeply felt. The piece moves from the day to day realities of balancing work and family life to wider systemic issues, including publication gaps, career progression barriers, and unequal distribution of care. It also offers practical reflections on collaboration, workplace culture...
Emily Spencer - Motherhood, PhDs, and the Funding Gap
Emily Spencer, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Emily shares her experience of balancing a PhD with early motherhood, reflecting on both the encouragement she has felt and the assumptions she made along the way. What begins as a story of managing both roles becomes a sharper look at structural gaps in funding and maternity support for PhD students. She highlights inconsistencies across institutions and funders (in the UK), the lack of transparency around parental leave, and the uncomfortable reality that many researchers must navigate these decisions without clear information. The...
Professor Louise Serpell - From Academia and Beyond
Professor Louise Serpell, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this reflective blog, Louise looks back on more than three decades in academia researching neurodegenerative diseases and supporting students through their scientific journeys. She shares how mentoring young researchers became the most rewarding part of her career, but also describes the pressures that eventually led to burnout and a difficult decision to step away from university life. Now beginning a new chapter building a consultancy, Louise considers what comes next and how academia might better support creativity, wellbeing, and the people who make research...
Dr Emma Law - Managing patient expectations (without overpromising)
Dr Emma Law, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Emma discusses the delicate balance between encouraging participation in dementia research and being realistic about what studies can offer. She explains why people who register interest in research often expect immediate opportunities and how researchers must communicate clearly about eligibility, trial design, and uncertainty. The blog also highlights alternative ways people living with dementia and their carers can contribute to research beyond clinical trials, from public involvement groups to questionnaires and long term studies. At its core, the piece reflects on trust, transparency...Bernie McInally - If Only I Were an ECR Lessons from a Bangkok Park
Bernie McInally narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Bernie describes a striking scene in a Bangkok park where older adults gather every morning to exercise, sing karaoke, and socialise together. Watching this daily routine unfold sparks a research question. Could environments that combine physical activity, social contact, music and routine help support cognitive health in later life. Rather than focusing only on new interventions, Bernie suggests researchers may learn a great deal by studying what communities already do naturally to support active ageing.
Find the original text, and narration here on o...
Dr Yvonne Couch - chatGPT in Academia
Dr Yvonne Couch, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
Artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT are rapidly becoming part of academic life. In this reflective blog, Yvonne considers how these tools are actually being used by researchers, from editing grant applications and shortening abstracts to drafting sections of proposals. She wrestles with the ethical tension between efficiency and learning, particularly for early career researchers who still need to develop strong writing skills. The blog also examines wider consequences, including increased grant submissions, potential growth in fraudulent papers, and the risk that productivity pressures may...
Dr Sam Moxon - Real Food for Thought in the Fight Against Dementia
Dr Sam Moxon, narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Sam reflects on emerging research suggesting that diet and lifestyle interventions may influence the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Inspired by work from Dean Ornish and discussions on the Dementia Researcher Food for Thought podcast, the article explores how a whole food plant based diet combined with exercise, meditation, and support groups produced measurable improvements in cognition and function among patients with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s. The results raise important questions about how lifestyle choices shape brain health and whether simple chan...
Rahul Sidhu - Imposter Syndrome
Rahul Sidhu, narrating a new blog he wrote for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Rahul reflects on his experience of imposter syndrome throughout his research career, from early lab work to PhD study. He describes the anxiety of feeling less capable than those around you, the pressure of comparisons within research groups, and the fear of asking questions or making mistakes. Rahul explains that these feelings are common in scientific careers and shares strategies that have helped him manage them, including focusing on growth rather than perfection, comparing progress only with your past self, asking for...Dr Ajantha Abey - How I Came To Enjoy Public Speaking As An Introvert
Dr Ajantha Abey narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Ajantha shares how they went from being deeply uncomfortable speaking in front of others to actively enjoying giving talks about their research. Starting with childhood stage fright and a stutter, the story traces a gradual shift through unexpected leadership in university sport, repeated practice presenting research, and years of teaching neuroscience. Along the way, Ajantha explains how confidence grew not only from technical speaking skills but from developing expertise, finding supportive communities, and learning to communicate science clearly. The post offers encouragement for researchers...
Dr Peter Connelly - Two Worlds of Clinical Trials
Dr Peter Connelly narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Peter compares academically led and commercially sponsored clinical trials, outlining how they differ in goals, recruitment expectations, intensity, monitoring and funding. Drawing on personal experience, he highlights unrealistic recruitment projections, contrasts study cultures, and reflects on the professional rewards and pressures associated with each model. The blog offers practical insight for clinicians considering participation in dementia research.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-two-worlds-of-clinical-trials/
--
Dr...
Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali - Supervision vs Mentorship
Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Kam revisits a theme she first explored three years ago: the difference between supervision and mentorship in academia. Drawing on her journey to becoming a primary PhD supervisor, she explores structural barriers facing early career researchers, the funding realities that delay independence, and the risk of blurring mentoring with supervision. She argues that these are distinct roles requiring different skills and boundaries, and that separating them can better protect students and support openness, development, and academic progression.
Find the original text, and...
Dr ClĂona Farrell - Returning to work after a travel-filled career break
Dr ClĂona Farrell, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
After finishing her PhD and a short postdoc extension, ClĂona took a five month career break to travel across Asia before starting a new postdoctoral role at UCL. In this blog, she reflects on the emotional and practical challenges of stepping away from academia, the privilege and uncertainty of taking time out, and what it feels like to return refreshed to a new lab, new techniques, and a genuine fresh start.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
...
Emily Spencer - Learning to Let Good Be Enough
Emily Spencer, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
Emily reflects on a lifelong struggle with perfectionism and how it shapes her learning, work, and wellbeing. Through personal stories spanning school, sport, previous employment, and her PhD, she explores the tension between striving for high standards and recognising when doing less may actually be the wiser and healthier choice. As she approaches the final months of her doctorate, Emily considers how redefining success might allow her to protect her wellbeing while still producing meaningful, high quality research.
Find the original text, and narration...
Dr Gemma Lace - An Introverts Survival Guide to Conferences
Dr Gemma Lace, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Gemma explores the reality of attending academic conferences as an introvert or neurodivergent researcher. She reflects on her own experiences with imposter syndrome, conference anxiety and social overwhelm, while offering practical strategies to help researchers build confidence and gain meaningful professional development from conference attendance. From setting personal goals to using simple networking conversation starters and prioritising wellbeing, the blog encourages readers to approach conferences in ways that feel manageable, authentic and rewarding.Find the original text, and narration here on...
Professor Louise Serpell - A career in Alzheimer’s Research
Professor Louise Serpell, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this opening post, Louise Serpell traces her journey through Alzheimer’s research, beginning as a shy PhD student and moving through decades of scientific discovery, mentorship, and persistence. She reflects on finding her scientific home in protein misfolding and amyloid structure, the beauty of X ray fibre diffraction, and the realities of building a research career shaped as much by people and failures as by results. The piece sets the tone for a new blog series that will explore amyloid biology, success in academia, an...
Dr Becky Carlyle - Academic overwhelm, you’re not the only one
Dr Becky Carlyle, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this candid blog, Becky reflects on the reality of feeling overwhelmed during a demanding stage of an academic career. She describes the competing pressures of grant writing, teaching, leadership roles, family life and supporting research teams, while still finding joy in discovery and mentoring. Becky shares practical approaches that help her stay organised and protect wellbeing, including structured prioritisation, making space for personal life and recognising that difficult periods should have an end point. The blog offers reassurance that overwhelm is common, temporary and...
Dr Yvonne Couch - Storytelling in Academia
Dr Yvonne Couch, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
This blog explores how storytelling strengthens science communication across papers, presentations, and public engagement. Yvonne reflects on lessons from podcasts, conferences, and outreach work to show how understanding your audience can transform how research is shared. Drawing on personal experiences and examples from academia, the blog highlights how strong narrative flow helps researchers connect ideas, engage listeners, and improve interdisciplinary collaboration.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-storytelling-in-academia/
--<...
Dr Emma Law - How We Ensure Safety in Dementia Drug Trials
Dr Emma Law, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
Clinical trials in dementia rely on carefully designed safeguards to protect participants and ensure treatments are tested responsibly. Emma Law explains how safety is built into every stage of a trial, from ethical recruitment and consent to screening processes, monitoring, and staff training. In this blog Emma highlights how lessons from past trial failures shaped current best practice and emphasises the shared responsibility between researchers, participants, carers, and sponsors to ensure studies run safely while advancing new treatments. ÂFind the original text, and narration here o...
​Rahul Sidhu - My journey to a PhD in neuroscience: the highs & lows
Rahul Sidhu, narrating a new blog he wrote for the Dementia Researcher website.
We're pleased to welcome Rahul as a new regular contributor to the Dementia Researcher blog. In this post Rahul reflects on his route into neuroscience, from early uncertainty and academic setbacks to finding purpose through dementia research. He shares how personal experience, persistence, and discovery in the lab shaped his path to a PhD, alongside honest reflections on confidence, balance, and what comes next.Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk...
Dr Sam Moxon - Never Truly Known, The Reality of Lewy Body Dementia
Dr Sam Moxon, narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Sam reflects on the reality of Lewy body dementia through both his research background and his experience caring for his grandfather. He explores why LBD is so difficult to diagnose, how symptoms fluctuate, and how families are often left without clarity or closure. The piece speaks to the emotional weight of uncertainty and the importance of continuing to talk about LBD, not to find neat answers, but to help future families feel less alone.
Find the original text, and narration here on...
Adam Smith - Living alongside Hallucinations
Adam Smith narrates his post from the Dementia Researcher Community.
In this post Adam reflects on conversations with carers who support people experiencing hallucinations, particularly in Lewy body dementia. Drawing on real encounters, he explores the uncertainty, emotional labour, and isolation that often sit beneath everyday care, and why awareness and shared understanding matter.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://communities.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/c/research-chat/living-alongside-hallucinations-8379e5a8-9929-4b34-b5d5-033969892649
--
Adam Smith was born in the north...
Ajantha Abey - From Alzheimer’s to Lewy Body Disease - Expanding our Research Horizons
Ajantha Abey narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog Ajantha reflects on why Lewy body disease deserves far greater attention within dementia research. Drawing on their journey from Alzheimer’s focused tau research into synuclein pathology, the blog explores co occurring disease, diagnostic challenges, biomarker advances, and why understanding overlap across conditions is essential for better science and better care.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-alzheimers-to-lewy-body-disease-expanding-our-research-horizons/
--
Â
Dr Ajantha Abey is a Postdoctoral Res...
Dr Peter Connelly - Recognising Dementia with Lewy Bodies in Clinical Practice
Dr Peter Connelly narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog Peter explores how dementia with Lewy bodies can present very differently from other dementias, particularly in its early stages. Drawing on clinical experience, he outlines key features including sleep disturbance, hallucinations, movement changes, and fluctuating attention, and explains how careful observation during assessment can support earlier recognition. The piece also reflects on current treatment limitations and highlights opportunities for environmental and non drug interventions to inform future research and care practice.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
<...Rebecca Williams - Why you should Start Writing Blogs
Rebecca Williams, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Rebecca reflects on nearly three years of blogging during her PhD and how writing regularly changed her confidence, communication skills, and sense of voice as a researcher. She shares early doubts about not being a good writer, the gradual development of her writing process, and the unexpected impact her blogs had on others. As she steps into her postdoctoral career, Rebecca looks back on blogging as one of the most meaningful parts of her PhD and encourages early career researchers to start writing, even...Dr Lindsey Sinclair - What Changing Institution Taught Me
Dr Lindsey Sinclair narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Lindsey reflects on what stepping outside a long held academic home taught her about confidence, career identity, and progression. Drawing on her move from Bristol to Southampton after time in Brisbane, she explores the emotional, practical, and professional realities of changing institution, and how the shift helped her see her own expertise more clearly while still recognising that staying put must remain a valid and inclusive career path.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.d...
Dr Sam Moxon - Why the Business Side of Dementia Research Matters
Dr Sam Moxon, narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog Sam reflects on his move from academia into running a university spinout and what that shift has taught him about the role of business in dementia research. He explains why funding decisions, investor confidence, and commercial risk shape which ideas progress and which fall away. Using recent industry examples, he explores how failed trials affect not only companies but the wider research ecosystem, and why understanding these pressures matters for everyone working towards better treatments.
Find the original text, and narration here...
Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali - Protecting your Intellectual Property
Dr Kamar Ameen-Ali narrates her blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Kam shares a personal account of discovering that content from one of her grant applications had been accessed and reused without permission. She explains the emotional and professional impact of the experience, the steps she took to establish what had happened, and the wider issues this raises about intellectual property, copyright, data protection, and trust in academic research. The blog offers practical reflections for researchers on understanding their rights and being more deliberate about how unpublished work is shared.
Find the original...
Adam Smith - What I thought I would be doing at 18
Adam Smith narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
On UCAS deadline day, Adam reflects on how careers are often imagined as fixed destinations rather than evolving journeys. Drawing on his own experience, he explores how sideways moves, pauses, and apparent detours are usually acts of persistence rather than failure. The blog challenges the myth of linear progress in academia and research, offering reassurance to students and early career researchers who feel out of step with an imagined timeline.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://communities.dementiaresearcher.nihr...
Emily Spencer - Battling Disconnection
Emily Spencer, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Emily reflects on the quieter strain of doing a PhD while juggling work, parenting, and limited support. She writes openly about feeling overwhelmed, isolated, and out of step with peers, and how those feelings began to shape her confidence. Through a small but meaningful moment of connection with another PhD student, Emily explores how disconnection can deepen pressure, and how shared experiences can soften it.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr...
Dr Tom Russ - Which medical specialty should treat and research dementia?
Dr Tom Russ narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Tom reflects on how dementia has traditionally been treated and researched within different medical specialties. Drawing on his experience in old age psychiatry, he considers the strengths and limits of neurology, geriatrics, and psychiatry, and argues that dementia care works best when these disciplines collaborate rather than compete.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-which-medical-specialty-should-treat-and-research-dementia/
--
Dr Tom Russ is Reader in Old Age Psychiatry at...
Dr Sam Moxon - Working on the Move
Dr Sam Moxon, narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog, Sam Moxon reflects on the discomfort many people feel when working in public spaces like trains or coffee shops. Drawing on British social norms and his own experience, he challenges the idea that working on the move is performative or attention seeking. Instead, he argues that flexible working can support focus, creativity, and better use of time. The blog encourages readers to let go of worries about how they are perceived and to take ownership of when and where they work.
Find...
Dr Gemma Lace - Pursuing Your Passion: Finding Purpose in Chaos
Gemma Lace, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
Gemma joins our lineup of regular bloggers, and in this first post Gemma explores the moments that shaped her journey from a first in family student to Associate Dean and dementia researcher. She describes the triggers that guided her choices, from a desire to help others to a commitment to equity, inspiration, mentoring and finding her own path. Through personal stories and reflections on work, family and purpose, she encourages early career researchers to notice what brings them energy and joy and to use those clues to...Rebecca Williams - The Rocky Road to PhD Submission
Rebecca Williams, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Rebecca Williams reflects on the final stretch toward submitting her PhD thesis and offers a candid account of the pressure, doubt and exhaustion that shape the closing weeks. She shares how expectations about perfection created unnecessary obstacles, how imposter feelings surfaced at the moment she most hoped for clarity, and how the support of others proved essential when her own energy ran low. Her story highlights the value of community, perspective and acceptance during an emotionally intense period that many researchers will recognise.<...
Dr Becky Carlyle - A Scientific Christmas Message of Hope
Dr Becky Carlyle, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog Becky reflects on what recent work in molecular neurodegeneration reveals about progress in dementia research. Drawing on developments in early diagnosis, cerebrospinal fluid staging, high throughput proteomics and large scale single cell data, she explains why the past five years have transformed what we can measure and understand. These advances give researchers new ways to define disease stages, identify meaningful sub groups and uncover cell specific vulnerabilities. She describes why this creates genuine momentum for targeted treatments and why the tools needed...
Dr Emma Law -The Cognitive Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale: The future is coming!
Dr Emma Law, narrating her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
Emma reflects on a presentation at the European Alzheimer Disease Consortium that described a fully automated conversational agent to deliver the Cognitive Dementia Rating Scale in clinical trials. She explains how the CDR works, the domains it assesses, and the way scores are used to stage dementia. Emma then weighs the potential benefits of an automated AI version, such as standardisation and reduced subjectivity, against serious concerns about the loss of clinical skill, empathy, and responsiveness to emotion, especially when interviews are distressing for caregivers. She...Dr Peter Connelly - Cognitive Testing
Dr Peter Connelly narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
Cognitive tests are central to dementia assessment, but Peter argues we rely on them far more than we should. He traces the history from early intellectual testing through tools such as CAPE and MMSE to modern complex batteries and laboratory measures supported by artificial intelligence. Across clinic and research, he highlights how scores can be misleading when training is poor, scoring is inconsistent, or guessing alters results, especially when small changes are treated as evidence that treatments work or fail. Throughout, he stresses that cognitive scores often...
Adam Smith - Finding Your First Research Assistant Role
Adam Smith narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher.
In this blog Adam offers clear guidance for people seeking their first research assistant role. It explains how building a visible online presence, following authors whose work you admire, reaching out for short conversations, and engaging with communities can help you stand out. It also covers job alerts, broadening the types of roles you consider, attending webinars and conferences, volunteering for small tasks, and preparing strong applications by matching the person specification.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://communities...
Dr Yvonne Couch - Competition in Science
Dr Yvonne Couch, narrates her blog written for the Dementia Researcher website.
In this blog, Yvonne examines how competition influences scientific work, using research on tenure, prestige, field evolution, and the pressures created by short funding cycles. She outlines how incentives in academia shape behaviour at every career stage and explains how systems geared toward rapid output and visible productivity can reshape what counts as valuable or creative work.
Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-competition-in-science/
--
Dr Yvonne...
Dr Jodi Watt - This Is Not a Goodbye Post (Except It Is, Sort Of)
Dr Jodi Watt, narrating a new blog they wrote for the Dementia Researcher website.
In Jodi's final post for Dementia Researcher, they share reflections on moving to a new role after years of writing about the realities of academic life. Jodi looks back on the value of open conversations about uncertainty and community, and offers words of encouragement to others navigating job precarity. With honesty and warmth, Jodi closes this chapter while celebrating the generosity and shared humanity that make research worth doing.Find the original text, and narration here on our website.
...
