BU Research Blog

Report on Meeting of the Higher Education for Dementia Network (HEDN) 17^th March, Worcester

On the 17^th March, BUDI attended the quarterly meeting of the Higher Education for Dementia Network (HEDN). It was held in The Hive, University of Worcester, a building co-owned by the university and the council. The Network is an open forum with a purpose to share information and innovation across UK Higher Education providers and to influence the provision of education for the current and future dementia workforce. The host institution gives a presentation at these meetings and on this occasion the University of Worcester decided to initiate discussion about their intentions of developing training for academics wanting to specialise in dementia, and dementia trainers working outside of higher education who want more training in how to design and deliver educational programmes. We also had discussion about how dementia could be better embedded within existing programmes across university departments / courses. At these meetings members also have opportunity to share about their latest developments and initiatives. BUDI was able to share about their work in developing a new MSc in Applied Dementia Studies, and the four Masterclasses that we are running this calendar year. BUDI is proud to be a member of this network and national networks such as these are great not only for sharing innovation and good practice but for working together to help shape the UK’s education provision. This network’s most recent way of achieving this was to develop a national curriculum that is now in the process of being implemented.