The Dutch Research Council (NWO)’s “Communication Initiative Award” honours outstanding science communication initiatives that successfully engage and inspire the public. One initiative receives EUR 50,000 supporting activities that promote scientific understanding and outreach. The winning initiative of 2025, announced on 26 November, was the “Rolling for Dementia” campaign led by dementia researcher Golnaz Atefi. Rolling for Dementia is an initiative led by Dr Atefi, in which she travelled more than 1,000 kilometres on roller blades, to draw attention to inclusivity and diversity in dementia research. According to the committee, the initiative was “an excellent example of an inspiring initiative by a passionate researcher”.
The committee was impressed by the amount of work that has gone into the initiative, sending thousands of emails, visiting countless locations and talking to a large number of different people. Dr Atefi demonstrated perseverance and dedication to her idea and Rolling for Dementia was able to reach a broad audience and, more importantly, start a dialogue with people who might not otherwise have been involved in this type of scientific research. The committee hopes that the initiative will go beyond its original goal of raising awareness and expand into a sustainable dialogue between science and society. Read the announcement on NOW’s website:
https://www.nwo.nl/en/winner-2025-rolling-for-dementia-rumc Watch the video of award-winner
Dr Atefi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVsDyq0Bc7c
Among her visits to various locations (from churches and local events to patient organisations and companies), was a visit to Luxembourg on World Alzheimer’s Day 2024, meeting with Alzheimer Europe and participating in our Luxembourg member association’s Memory Walk, together with members of the Alzheimer Europe team. She also joined us for the 34th Alzheimer Europe Conference in Geneva (Switzerland), just two weeks after her visit to Luxembourg, with the conference being the final destination of her record-breaking in-line skating journey. Alzheimer Europe was delighted to be an official supporter of her campaign and we warmly congratulate Golnaz Atefi on this well-deserved award!