Lesley Palmer, the Chief Architect at the Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling, has received a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship which she will use her Fellowship to research dementia design and urbanisation in Japan, and how it compares to the UK.
During her research, she will investigate how the urban environment of Fukuoka – Japan's fastest growing city – supports healthy cognitive ageing. After identifying good practice examples and case studies, she will share her findings through the DSDC’s extensive network of partner organisations in the UK, Japan, and around the globe.
Lesley Palmer said: “I’m extremely proud to receive this Fellowship, and believe it will enable me to build on my experience so far to increase my knowledge of innovative methods of design in Japan. I hope that this Fellowship will allow me to help improve awareness of the impact of urban design on healthy ageing. There are initiatives and design precedents in Japan which can make an important contribution to how we design and support healthy ageing in our cities in the UK. The DSDC has an important role to play in that, and this opportunity will allow us to further enhance the range of services we offer.”
The DSDC is an internationally renowned centre of knowledge and expertise, dedicated to improving the lives of people with dementia.
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust runs the Churchill Fellowships, a ‘unique programme of overseas research grants that support UK citizens to travel the world in search of innovative solutions for today’s most pressing problems’.
Every year the Trust awards up to 150 Fellowships, ‘to fund outstanding individuals to travel for 4-8 weeks, anywhere in the world, researching a topic of their choice among global leaders in their field’. On their return, the Trust helps them share their global learning with professions and communities across the UK.