NEWS
campusreview.com.au
Leader in dementia research
says support for people
looking after loved ones will
become increasingly critical.
U
Ryman
winner
calls for
carer
relief
Henry Brodaty
niversity of New South Wales
professor Henry Brodaty, described
as the father of Alzheimer’s and
dementia research in Australia for his
35 years in the field, has won New Zealand’s
Ryman Prize, worth just under $240,000.
Brodaty is the co-director of UNSW’s
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA).
“Winning a prize is always a team effort
and so it has been for me,” Brodaty said.
“Over the last three decades, I have been
privileged to have worked with wonderful,
talented and committed people dedicated
to research, clinical care and advocacy to
improve the lives of older people with
mental illness and those with dementia and
their families.”
Brodaty said research into new
approaches to supporting people caring for
family members with dementia would be a
USQ takes on climate volatility
Uni science centre joins
government to help Queensland
improve drought preparedness.
Q
ueensland’s climate is often a
double-edged sword. Overall,
it enables the state to develop
a thriving and prosperous agriculture
industry, but climate change and extreme
weather have been known to throw many
regions into chaos. This is why drought
4
preparedness has always been at the top
of the state’s agenda.
Political progress has been made
in recent times, through the state
government’s injection of $3.5 million
to fund the first year of its climate risk
and drought resilience program, and the
University of Southern Queensland will
play a key role.
USQ’s International Centre for Applied
Climate Sciences (ICACS) will work with
the government to improve resilience and
significant part of dealing with the condition
in the future.
There are about 25,100 people in
Australia with younger-onset dementia
– a diagnosis of dementia under the age
of 65 – including people as young
as 30. By 2020, there will be about
400,000 people with dementia, and by
2050, about 900,000.
Brodaty said despite billions of dollars
being spent researching treatments, there
haven’t been breakthroughs and that
budget issues would become “challenging”
in decades to come.
“We can’t just keep building more and
more nursing houses,” he said. “We need to
find better ways to support people at home,
to support the families and to stave off the
symptoms with lifestyle changes.”
His own work has found that training
and support for carers ultimately saves
costs, increases their quality of life and
keeps people out of nursing homes and in
communities longer, he said. ■
By AAP and Patrick Avenell.
potentially deliver benefits for industry,
agribusiness and the wider economy.
ICACS director professor Roger Stone
said preparedness for the state’s volatile
climate was about knowing not just when
the next drought would hit, but also how
to help rural producers and agribusiness
mitigate against seasonal severity.
Stone said the program would look to
develop integrated systems modelling,
broaden understanding of multi-year
droughts, and upgrade tools available on
handheld devices and desktop platforms to
support major decision-making.
“New areas of research will include
further enhancement of drought severity
indices, more innovative crop and farm
insurance systems, and enhanced seasonal
to decadal climate forecasting systems
specifically tailored for Queensland,” he
said. “The main aim of the program is to
help producers adapt to whatever climate
change might deliver.”
Stone added that it would be good
to see further collaboration with the
business community.
“It must be a priority for universities to
work directly with industry and directly with
folks who are benefiting from the research,
or could potentially benefit from the
research,” he said. ■