COGWORKS - The Cognitive Health and Wellbeing Hub.

If your health is your wealth; your cognitive health (memory and related faculties) must represent a significant portion of that fortune! COGWORKS, a network of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise, have come together to exploit the possibilities offered by developments in technology. Can your mobile phone detect signs of dementia? Might web blogs or YouTube ease carer strain? Can the internal environment of your home be improved to ensure that you can remain there? The members of COGWORKS will pool their knowledge and skills, in an attempt to answer these and other questions, to find ways to help people maintain maximum levels of cognitive health and independence throughout their life. The Network includes: researchers based in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Ireland and the USA; representatives from groups for older people, children, carers, and people involved in making policy decisions and service delivery. Working together the members of the COGWORKS Network provide a rich fountain of knowledge and expertise in a range of areas that impact on our health and quality of life, including: architecture, education, ICT, law, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology, public health and sociology. The members of the Network will work together to formulate a research strategy focused on discovering things that could be done, at various stages in a person s life to help ensure that when they reach old age they will be as sharp and as cognitively healthy as possible. COGWORKS focuses on four key areas: (1) identification of the factors which influence cognitive health from conception to old age, these may include things such as nutrition, education, trauma and stress or isolation; (2) an examination of the impact of caring and disability; (3) an exploration of the influence of the built environment and (4) identification of opportunities to discretely promote cognitive health through widely available technologies such as mobile phones and computers to help older people, including those with dementia, retain their independence. COGWORKS activities are directed towards creating strong collaborative working relationships and engagement with the public in particular. They will include the creation of a web-space; a monthly electronic newsletter; open meetings; research; attending conferences and hosting regular meetings to identify research priorities. The work to be produced by COGWORKS will emphasize the economic and social gains of good cognitive functioning and will be highly relevant to the lives of older people.

COGWORKS: The Cognitive Health and Wellbeing Hub, is an eclectic international and multidisciplinary research Network, whose goal is the identification of ubiquitous interventions that promote healthy cognitive ageing and independence in later life. The aim of the COGWORKS Network application is to reflect the multi-factorial nature of the determinants of health, in the development of a strategy that will maximise research capacity to identify new strategies that are effective in the promotion of cognitive health and well being. COGWORKS will focus on four research themes: maximising capacity to benefit across the life span; the impact of caring and disability on cognitive and related areas of mental health; the influence of the built environment on cognitive decline and wellbeing and the provision of new cognitive technologies that support and monitor middle aged and older adults. By highlighting the economic and social gains of healthy cognitive ageing and exploiting embedded technologies, the emergent research strategy will be highly relevant to policy and practice. COGWORKS is committed to partnership working across disciplines, with policy makers, practitioners and with representatives of civil society, including traditionally excluded groups such as people with learning disability; people with dementia and carers. The Network reflects the focus on long term health and wellbeing and includes people with interests across the life course from pregnancy to old age. The focus on the broad determinants means that the Network will also act as a catalyst to bring together an exceptional mix of people from various institutions and disciplines including built environment, education, law, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology, public health, healthcare technologies, computing and sociology. These people are currently working on ageing related issues ranging from education in childhood to assistive technology and dementia. COGWORKS will capitalise on this synergy by creating a platform for cross-fertilisation of ideas, knowledge and skills. The activities of COGWORKS will be focused on building strong collaborative relationships and the generation of a robust research strategy. Key activities include the creation of a web-space to facilitate networking; a monthly electronic newsletter; literature reviews; focus group interviews with key stakeholders; participation in key conferences/workshops; monthly research seminars and a research colloquium in November to generate a draft research strategy, which will be refined and finalised in time for the LLHW3 research call. COGWORKS will maximise research capacity to develop effective interventions, responsive policy and service delivery, the ultimate beneficiaries are older people.