Media kit

Our experts are happy to talk to the media about the latest developments in dementia research. Find out more below.

Who we are

Dementias Platform UK (DPUK) is one of the key pillars in the UK's efforts to beat dementia.

Funded primarily by the Medical Research Council (MRC), DPUK is a public-private partnership based at the University of Oxford that bridges the gap between fundamental discoveries in the lab and successful trials of new treatments. Our work addresses the human side of dementia research and is focused on three main areas:

• The use of wide-ranging health research data from long-term studies of individuals known as cohort studies to generate new insights into dementia (including dementia risk and the early signs of disease);
• A programme of experimental medicine (ie research undertaken in people, such as brain imaging studies) to plug gaps in our knowledge of the diseases that cause dementia and to lay the groundwork for more efficient drug trials;
• Matching public volunteers to the most appropriate research studies and trials based on their individual characteristics.

Taken together, and by uniting expertise from academia and private industry in a 'pre-competitive' environment, these activities are accelerating dementia research and giving us a better chance of developing effective treatments and prevention strategies within the next few years.

Read about our recent renewal of funding from the MRC.

Interviews and media enquiries

Our director, Professor John Gallacher, is an expert on topics including dementia and Alzheimer's disease, brain health, and the use of big data in medical research. He is happy to speak to media outlets in the UK and internationally about his areas of expertise.

John has been quoted in the Times on alcohol intake, the Sunday Times on puzzles and dementia risk, and the Daily Mail on statin use and a potential blood test for Alzheimer's. He recently appeared on the Economist podcast to discuss the licensing of aducanumab, a new drug for Alzheimer's disease.

For media enquiries about DPUK, or for help in sourcing an expert on a particular aspect of dementia or dementia research, please contact Communications Manager Rod Macrae.

Branding

For logos and a copy of DPUK's branding guidelines, please please contact Communications Manager Rod Macrae.

Fast facts about dementia

1. Dementia and Alzheimer's are not the same thing: dementia is caused by a range of factors and conditions, including Alzheimer's disease (the most common form of dementia).
2. Dementia is a set of symptoms including memory loss and other thinking difficulties that are severe enough to disrupt daily functioning.
3. There are currently an estimated 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK. This is expected to rise to 1 million by 2025 and 2 million by 2050.
4. Dementia is a progressive condition with no cure, although there are treatments that target the symptoms to slow the rate of cognitive decline.
5. 1 in 14 people over the age of 65 have dementia, which rises to 1 in 6 people over the age of 80.
6. In high-income countries like the UK, dementia is the second-leading cause of death after heart disease.
7. If a person is diagnosed with dementia under the age of 65, it is referred to as 'young-onset dementia', the most common type of which is frontotemporal dementia.
8. Dementia is not a normal or inevitable part of ageing: it is caused by diseases of the brain.
9. About 54 million people worldwide have dementia, and someone new is diagnosed with dementia every three seconds.
10. In the UK, the cost of care for people affected by dementia is estimated at £34.7 billion annually.

Dementia charities and support organisations discourage use of phrases such as 'suffering from dementia' or 'dementia sufferers'. Instead, they recommend neutral descriptions like people being 'affected by', 'living with', or 'diagnosed with' dementia.

For more facts about dementia, visit Alzheimer's Research UK's Dementia Statistics Hub.