The Alzheimer's Research UK Conference, the UK’s largest dementia research conference, took place at the ACC Liverpool on Wednesday 20 March and Thursday 21 March 2024. An Early Careers Day took place on Tuesday 19 March which was designed specifically to support those starting their careers in dementia research. Dr Aoife Sweeney served as a member of the Early Careers Day Programme Committee. Dr Sweeney chaired an engaging session featuring a series of flash presentations covering various aspects of basic, translational and clinical dementia research.

Dr Claire Potter presented a poster on her work titled, “Midlife exposures to civilian conflict associated with accelerated biological ageing but better cognitive performance in older age”. A summary of the work presented by Dr Potter is provided below:

We all know that stress is bad for our health, and it can increase our chances of developing memory problems in later life. NI experienced a long period of civil conflict from the 1960s known as “the Troubles” and we wanted to know what impact it had on people and their memory in later life. Using data collected in the NICOLA study we found that most people reported that the Troubles had significant impact on their life. The potential impact of this stress can be seen in that those most affected by the Troubles are biologically older than their actual age would suggest. However, despite this the most traumatised individuals have better memory performance than those less traumatised. Our next steps are to look to see if this is due to unique individual or societal factors.

Alzheimer’s Research UK Conference 2024 - Claire Potter - Poster