Working with Dementia Network Plus
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This project aims to explore, with key stakeholder groups what a dementia inclusive university would look and feel like. Working across the five collaborating UK institutions, this project will involve a series of focus groups of university employees, students, human resource staff and managers and people living with dementia who regularly visit university campuses for research, education or other engagement activities. The research will use Nominal Group Technology (NGT), a consensus building method that is appropriate for idea generation and determining priorities on a single issue. NGT generates two forms of data, a ranked list of priorities created and agreed during the group and a qualitative reflection on the priorities. Analysis of qualitative data will be carried out using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) and alongside the ranked priority lists will allow us to identify shared values and areas of good practice, alongside barriers to creating a dementia inclusive university. Combined with the contemporary evidence generated by the WWD Network Plus on creating inclusive workplaces for people with dementia, the findings of these focus groups will inform the development of a dementia inclusive universities charter to influence and inform policy and practice across the higher education sector.
Through the existing networks of the WWD Network Plus Team, the student will recruit, organise and facilitate the nominal group technique focus groups. They will have regular supervision sessions with Professor Louise Ritchie, WWD Network Lead and Dr Eileen Harkess-Murphy who will provide training and support on nominal group technique. They will also be supported by the Network manager Dr Laura Lebec and Impact officer, Dr Rachel Allen with facilitation and recruitment. The expected outputs of the project will be a short report that will be published on the WWD website as well as the charter for Dementia Inclusive Universities that will be shared with institutions to encourage adoption. The student will be invited to present the findings of the project at the WWD Webinar series, and be supported to prepare an article to be submitted for peer-reviewed publication.
The closing date for applications is 30th April 2026. Please see attached.

