Martha, dementia and lockdown

Martha Pollard, a PhD student in Alzheimer and Dementia Research at the University of Edinburgh tells us about the challenges of lockdown for those living with dementia and for their carers, especially now that they are unable to get the company and respite of meeting in groups, or of receiving specialist care in their homes. Martha also talks about the interruption that lockdown brings to her doctoral research, now that she cannot access dementia wards. We don’t hear much about research being interrupted by lockdown, but this is the case for many people doing field research, lab work, or reliant on library collections. Nonetheless, Martha is finding that the confinement is leading to discoveries of new ways of working, and so brings with it a new kind of freedom.