Eating, drinking and swallowing (EDS) difficulty is common in dementia and earlier identification could reduce morbidity, mortality, healthcare costs and improve quality of care. A proactive and condition-specific strategy for identifying EDS difficulty at an early stage for people living with dementia has yet to be developed. Before this can be achieved, holistic person-centred early indicators of EDS difficulty in early-stage dementia are needed and more understanding of barriers to early identification is required.

Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia can be a very positive and rewarding experience, but it can also leave the carer feeling stressed and isolated. This module is designed to advise carers how the stressful aspects of caring can be minimised and the positive experiences maximised by looking after their social and emotional needs and by managing how they respond to challenging behaviours. 

Adopting a three pronged multidisciplinary research approach the programme is organised in three specific and interlinked work packages relating to Amyotrophic Lateral Scerosis, spanning clinical, epidemiological and health services research including health economics. The research aims to generate a framework for optimal management of ALS and explore its relevance for other neurological conditions.

NEIL is an umbrella programme, comprised of several large-scale research initiatives that look for new ways to enhance cognitive function in older adults and to delay or prevent dementia in at risk populations. Research projects include RelAte: A relationship-based mealtime intervention for older adults living alone, CST, the development of a Caregiver Support Tool and the development of a range of educational resources for academics, health practitioners and members of the general public.

IN-MIND is a four country FP7 European funded project which seeks to develop and validate online tools to help doctors assess if an individual’s lifestyle supports long term brain health. The project also generate personal strategies for adopting a brain healthy lifestyle and provide on-line supports to help people in midlife implement and adhere to positive change.

The Dementia Services Information and Development Centre (DSIDC) is a National Centre for excellence in dementia. It provides educational courses and training days to staff providing services to people with dementia in many different care settings around the country. Their research activities focus on the development of timely, responsive and accessible interventions for people with dementia.

Dementia Elevator is an education and empowerment programme developed by DCU and the HSE (with the support of Atlantic Philanthropies) to help individuals, communities and health professionals to engage appropriately with people with dementia. Among its objectives are dementia awareness training and the delivery of training/information programmes to the general public, health professionals, individuals and family caregivers.

The Living with Dementia (LiD) supports and promote post-graduate research in dementia care. Its research programme is designed to tackle the stigma and marginalisation of people with dementia, enhance practice and service provision and ultimately improve quality of life for people with dementia.

IDS-TILDA is a longitudinal study researching ageing in Ireland among people with an intellectual disability aged 40 and over (n=approximately 750 people). Individuals with an intellectual disability, particularly those with Down Syndrome are at an increased risk of developing an Alzheimer’s related dementia. The IDS-TILDA collects information on Intellectual Disability and Dementia.

The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is a large-scale (n= approximately 8000 people), nationally representative study of people aged 50 and over in Ireland. It collects information on cognitive function in older adults in Ireland, based on objective measures of cognitive function and self-rated memory. It also provides important information on utilisation of health and social care services and on physical and behavioural health.