Race Against Dementia Fellow shares TV screen with motor racing legend

Last month our own Dr Clare Durrant (Race Against Dementia - Dyson Fellow, Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences) appeared on the BBC programme 'Good Morning Britain’ with Formula One motor racing and Scottish legend Sir Jackie Stewart. In the interview they discussed the impact of dementia on patient and family, the importance of speeding up research into the condition, advances over the past decade, and Clare's research.

Sir Jackie established the Race Against Dementia Dyson Fellowship scheme in 2018 to try and bring the rapid innovation ‘Formula 1 attitude’ to dementia research by working with companies such as Red Bull and Dyson. Clare was awarded the first Race Against Dementia - Dyson Fellowship and moved to Edinburgh in 2018 to start her work. There are now six RAD Fellows worldwide.

Race Against Dementia also recently hosted a 'Dementia Research Meets Motorsport Innovation Accelerator' day with Cranfield University where five teams (comprising of dementia scientists and motorsport experts) were asked to generate ideas on “What one thing could dramatically accelerate dementia research?”. They then presented their proposals in a Dragons Den style pitch. Edinburgh Neuroscience Director, Prof Siddharhtan Chandran was one of the judges.