On 16 September 2025, Alzheimer Europe hosted a session of its popular online Alzheimer’s Association Academy, dedicated to “Working with parliamentarians and parliamentary interest groups”. The Academy is a series of online capacity-building workshops bringing together representatives of national Alzheimer’s associations with members of the European Working Group of People with Dementia (EWGPWD) and European Dementia Carers Working Group (EDCWG), to learn about dementia advocacy, care, policy, research and treatment from experts in these fields.
The session on 16 September was the fifth Academy session of 2025 and was Moderated by Alzheimer Europe Policy Officer Owen Miller, who welcomed participants from 18 countries across Europe, with four speakers from Denmark, France, Ireland and Poland.
The speakers, who included Lorène Gilly (France Alzheimer), Anja Bihl-Nielsen (Alzheimerforeningen, Denmark), Cormac Cahill (The Alzheimer Society of Ireland), and Edyta Ekwińska (Alzheimer Polska, Poland), detailed the work their national associations are carrying out to bring greater emphasis for dementia on a political level. They highlighted the importance of engaging policymakers to tackle the key areas of dementia impact in their communities and, in light of World Alzheimer’s Month, demonstrated the need to raise awareness and the ongoing challenges in keeping dementia on the political agenda in different countries.
With a diverse group of speakers and attendees, their engaging discussions also raised additional questions regarding how people with dementia and their carers could be better involved in this advocacy work, identifying policymakers closely working with these issues, as well as specific challenges or surprises being met along the way. Policymakers play a crucial role in addressing dementia, and ongoing actions were identified by speakers, to continue in building collaborations and better dialogue across Europe.
A huge thank you to all speakers and participants at the Academy of 16 September and a huge thank you, also, to the European Union’s Citizen’s, Equalities, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, and our Gold and Silver sponsors, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eisai, Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Roche, without whom our educational and healthcare-related activities, including these capacity-building Academy sessions, would not be possible.
The next edition of the Alzheimer’s Association Academy is scheduled for 18 November.