Living with dementia
People living with dementia are partners in this network. The network embeds the experience of people living with dementia across all activities, to help create and shape the research agenda.
If you are someone living with dementia, or are caring for someone who is living with dementia, we have opportunities for you to take part in BRIDGES activities, and help guide the research agenda
What to expect
We will ensure that everything we do will be co-designed with people with lived experience of dementia. They will help shape, test, and improve ideas from start to finish. Workshops and creative labs will lead to new collaborations, innovation funding, and tangible tools or services co-produced with the dementia community.
BRIDGES Co-Design Leads
Dr. Roger Whitham
Lecturer in Interaction Design, Lancaster University
Roger is a designer and researcher specialising in digital, physical and collaborative interaction, with recent work focusing on community-co-designed tools.
Dr. Joseph Lindley
Senior Research Fellow, Lancaster University
Joseph’s UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship explores leadership in Design Research, with a focus on how people, society and technology evolve together.
Each year of the network has a specific focus:
Year 1 Discover: Bring together people with dementia, carers, researchers, and community partners to identify real-life challenges and opportunities for technology.
Year 2 Create: Co-develop detailed design briefs for new ideas and projects, ensuring every proposal reflects lived experience.
Year 3 Shape the Future: Use what we’ve learned to build a national research agenda on independent living with dementia, influencing future funding and policy.
What to expect
We believe that everyone’s voice matters. Dementia affects people from all backgrounds differently and is shaped by culture, language, and life experience.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Leads
Prof. Li Su
Co-Director, BRIDGES Network+
School of Medicine and Population Health, University of Sheffield
Su Li’s research combines innovative and original computational methods with the state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to develop treatments and care for neurological and psychiatric conditions.
Dr. Daniel J Blackburn
Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Neurologist, SITraN, University of Sheffield
Daniel develops scalable, non-invasive diagnostic tests for early dementia, including automated language assessment and EEG-based tools.
Our EDI activities ensure the network is inclusive and representative by:
- Working directly with people living with dementia from diverse ethnic and social backgrounds.
- Partnering with groups like The Lewy Body Society, Innovations in Dementia, and Dementia UK to reach underrepresented communities.
- Holding public and community events to raise awareness of inequalities in dementia care and technology use.
- Following gold-standard involvement guidelines (NIHR and Dementia Enquirers ethics) to make sure people with lived experience are paid, trained, and supported to contribute meaningfully.