Strengthening Education in Dementia-Inclusive Design: The ADEPT Study
Why dementia-inclusive design is essential
As populations age, the environments in which we live, work, and receive care increasingly determine wellbeing and independence. Thoughtful design can support orientation, autonomy, and dignity for people living with a dementia - yet these insights still struggle to reach mainstream professional education.
The World Alzheimer Report 2020 called for a global step change in training on dementia-inclusive design. Despite decades of research evidence, most architecture, housing, planning, and occupational-therapy programmes offer little or no formal teaching in this area. The result is a patchwork of knowledge dependent on individual champions rather than consistent professional standards.
Embedding dementia-inclusive design within education is therefore not simply desirable; it is a public-health and human-rights imperative.
DSDC’s contribution to advancing practice
For more than thirty years, the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at the University of Stirling has been at the forefront of translating research evidence into real-world design, policy, and training. Through consultancy, enterprise projects, and education, DSDC works with architects, care providers, policymakers, and people living with dementia, across the UK and internationally to promote environments that enable rather than disable.
The ADEPT study - Architecture for Dementia in Education, Practice, and Training - is led by Dr Martin Quirke, Senior Architect at the DSDC, and Lecturer in Design for Ageing and Dementia at University of Stirling. The study emerged from a collaboration between an international group of people living with a dementia alongside professionals, researchers, and educators, who form part of the Dementia Alliance International’s Environmental Design Special Interest Group (DAI).
The project is being delivered in partnership between the DAI and the University of Stirling, ensuring the study’s robustness through formal ethical approval, and wider international reach, and a commitment to lived-experience leadership and co-production.
The ADEPT study: a collaborative global snapshot
The ADEPT study seeks to provide the first international snapshot of how dementia-inclusive design is taught, understood, and applied.
Key questions include:
· How and where are professionals currently learning about dementia-inclusive design?
· Which forms of education or continuing professional development have the most impact?
· What challenges do practitioners face in applying principles on cost, aesthetics, or regulation?
· Where are the gaps that future education and curricula need to address?
By answering these questions, ADEPT will help identify practical steps to embed inclusive design education in both undergraduate and professional-development pathways.
Why your input matters
The value of ADEPT lies in the diversity of its contributors. We are seeking perspectives from:
· architects and planners,
· housing and estates professionals,
· occupational therapists and health-care designers,
· educators and researchers in ageing and design.
Your participation will help to:
· Inform curricula - supporting universities and professional bodies to integrate dementia-inclusive design as core content.
· Influence policy and standards - providing evidence for regulators and accreditation bodies.
· Shape continuing education - highlighting priority areas for CPD and training programmes
Every response helps strengthen the global case for education that prepares professionals to design environments supportive of cognitive change.
How to take part
The online survey takes around 15-20 minutes, and all questions are optional.
Please share this invitation with collages and networks. Responses from a wide range of disciplines and countries will make the findings more representative and useful.
If you’d like to receive the final report or news of future collaboration opportunities, you can register separately here. (This sign-up is independent of the survey to maintain anonymity.)
Looking ahead
Findings from ADEPT will be shared through DSDC, DAI, and partner networks later this year. The results will inform future teaching materials, professional guidance, and policy discussions aimed at embedding dementia-inclusive design into mainstream education and practice.
At DSDC, we see ADEPT as part of a wider programme of work translating research into real-world impact - ensuring that environments for people living with a dementia are not the result of chance or goodwill, but of knowledge, evidence, and design excellence.
Closing
We are grateful to everyone - people living with a dementia, educators, researchers, and practitioners - who has contributed to shaping the ADEPT study so far.
Together, we can ensure that dementia-inclusive design education moves from the margins to the mainstream.
Complete the ADEPT survey today and help advance this vital work.
