On 21 April 2026, Alzheimer Europe held a session of its popular online workshop series, the Alzheimer's Association Academy. This was the third Academy of 2026 and focused on the topic of " Supporting and involving carers in policy, advocacy and research".
Soraya Moradi-Bachiller, Public Involvement Officer at Alzheimer Europe, chaired the session, welcoming over 40 participants from 12 countries and five companies, as well as several members of staff from Alzheimer Europe.
Speakers at the session included:
Paddy Crosbie, who shared his experience of supporting his late husband Derek, who lived with early onset Alz-heimer’s disease before his passing in 2021, and his work with the Dementia Carers Campaign Network (DCCN) in Ireland. The DCCN, of which Paddy is a founding member, is an advocacy group for those who have experience caring for a loved one with dementia, formed in 2013 and aiming to represent, raise awareness and campaign on the distinct needs of people who care for someone with dementia.
Find out more about the DCCN: https://alzheimer.ie/creating-change/ways-to-have-your-voice-heard/dementia-carers-campaign-network/
Claire Champeix, Policy & Project Officer at EUROCAR-ERS, who spoke about her organisation’s work empower-ing carers across Europe. EUROCARERS is the Euro-pean network representing informal carers and their or-ganisations, irrespective of their age or the particular health and care need of the person they are caring for. EUROCARERS carries out work in several EU-funded projects, as well as doing policy work, coordinating the European Parliament Informal Carers Interest Group, and supporting research.
Find out more: https://eurocarers.org/
Friederike de Maeyer, Chair of the Dachverband Demenz Selbsthilfe Austria (DDSA), who spoke on behalf of the DDSA - an umbrella organisation of peer support for people with dementia and carers - and also from her own perspective as a carer for her husband who has Lewy Body Dementia.
Find out more about the DDSA: https://www.demenzselbsthilfeaustria.at/
Ana Diaz, Public Involvement Lead at Alzheimer Europe, who shared details about the European Dementia Carers Working Group (EDCWG), launched by Alzheimer Eu-rope and its member associations in 2022 and composed of carers, relatives and supporters of people with demen-tia, working to ensure that our activities, projects and meetings duly reflect the priorities and views of people caring for a person with dementia.
Find out more about the EDCWG: https://www.alzheimer-europe.org/about-us/european-dementia-carers-working-group
Following each of these informative and insightful presenta-tions, there was ample opportunity for questions to the speakers.
We hope everyone enjoyed the session and we would like to say a huge thank you to all speakers and participants at the Academy of 21 April and to our Gold and Silver sponsors, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eisai, Johnson & Johnson, Lilly and Roche as well as to the European Union’s Citizen’s, Equalities, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, without whom our Academy sessions would not be possible.
