“A very big thank you for supporting Race Against Dementia. I am facing the biggest challenge of my life but, together with the Race Against Dementia team, we are determined to beat dementia. We couldn’t do this without the support of organisations like the International 7 Network, which are invaluable in raising awareness and much-needed funds for research into beating this dreadful condition, which has such a devastating impact on millions of families worldwide.”
Latest News from the Race Against Dementia Team
Memories with Sir Jackie Stewart, by Race Against Dementia During lockdown, the RAD team, led by entrepreneur and RAD volunteer Jon Knight, has created a new digital content. We are capturing interviews with Sir Jackie, chronicling his memories and thoughts from a lifetime in motorsports. Interviews will be interlinked with discussion about the dementia crisis, and how F1 thinking drives Race Against Dementia, with the addition of some exciting guest appearances. Find out more here.
Injecting ‘F1 attitude’ into dementia research
The RAD Fellows form a virtual team, with a common goal of contributing to the prevention or treatment of the diseases that cause dementia. We are creating a Leadership Development Programme for the Fellows with two goals:
1) To fast-track the development of the RAD Fellows to become leaders in their fields
2) To catalysing a culture change in dementia research that will speed up progress.
The content of this programme is inspired by and drawn from high performance commercial research, including F1 teams. The programme itself will be experimental, trialling and building new ways of working in dementia research, over the 5-year fellowships. The key elements will follow three themes:
Personal presence and impact Teamwork and communication Leadership and management
Creating a high performance Culture. In 2020, we now have the additional challenge of delivering this programme virtually. This started in May with a further session with Prof Mark Jenkins (Cranfield Business School) on lessons from Formula One motor racing, to create high performance culture.
From June, the Fellows will be undertaking Hinsta’s Better Life programme. Each Fellow will be working with a Hintsa Performance Coach, using the same tools and techniques that Hinsta use with nearly all the F1 drivers, to build and sustain peak performance.
Race Against Dementia Fellows
In these unprecedented times, one might be forgiven for thinking that dementia research is taking a back seat to the fight to develop treatment or vaccines for COVID-19. Not for dementia researchers - who realise that dementia is as big a health crisis as COVID-19, and one that is even more difficult to solve. Despite lock-down, the Race Against Dementia Fellows are continuing their work, even from home. You can keep in touch with their progress here.
New investments and new Race Against Dementia (RAD) Fellows
Our mission is to channel the funds that we raise into dementia research. To this end, we are very excited to announce two extensions to the RAD Fellowship programme.
We have ring-fenced an additional £1 million to extend our collaboration with Alzheimer’s Research UK, and will be shortly opening applications for the appointment of new RAD Fellows in that 5-year research programme.
We are also delighted to announce a new collaboration with Dementia Australia with the appointment of two Australian fellowships, jointly funded by RAD and Dementia Australia – drawing on the funds raised in previous years in Australia.
In March 2020, Sir Jackie was appointed as Honorary International Dementia Australia Ambassador. We had planned a gala dinner for over 550 people, in Melbourne at the time of the Australian Grand Prix, to jointly raise funds with Dementia Australia. Sadly, that event was postponed at the last minute due to COVID-19. Brilliantly nearly all our event sponsors are allowing us to hold their sponsorship in trust for a 2021 event, during which we will be targeting additional funds to build on this programme with Dementia Australia.
Building the Race Against Dementia team
In our development as a charity, we have recently formalised the roles of two trusted Scientific Advisors. We are delighted to welcome Prof Siddharthan Chandran (University of Edinburgh) and Prof Philip Scheltens (VU University of Amsterdam) to the Race Against Dementia Team. You can read more about their appointment here.
Want to know more?
For the latest news and updates please follow RAD on the website and on social media @racingdementia.
If you would like to make a donation, please go to here
If your club or group of friends want to get together and run a fundraising event please email Christine clubs@raceagainstdementia.com.
