New board member: Emma Wolverson

I am delighted to join the INTERDEM Board. I have been a member of INTERDEM since 2009, and in many ways, I feel I have grown up academically within this network. Early in my career, I had the privilege of working with founding members such as Esme Moniz‑Cook, whose generosity, curiosity, and commitment to psychosocial dementia research shaped so much of my own career. INTERDEM has always been more than a professional network to me—it has been a place of genuine community, friendship, and inspiration.

Emma Wolverson Emma.Wolverson@uwl.ac.uk

Over the years, I have been proud to be an active and committed INTERDEM member, including establishing and co‑leading the Palliative and End‑of‑Life Care Taskforce. This work has shown me first‑hand the strength of INTERDEM’s spirit: a warm and supportive culture that welcomes people at all career stages, values different disciplines, and embraces diverse ways of working. It is this openness and shared sense of purpose that makes INTERDEM special.

As a clinical psychologist and Professor of Ageing and Dementia at the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory, University of West London, my research focuses on moments when people with dementia and their families need increased support—during crises, transitions, and at the end of life. Clinically, I have worked across the dementia care pathway, from memory clinics to spending the past fourteen years supporting people with more advanced dementia. This is a perspective I hope to bring to the Board, ensuring our work continues to include those with the most complex needs.

My Board role will focus on membership—supporting engagement across our growing network, strengthening participation from under‑represented countries, and ensuring that colleagues at every career stage feel connected, represented, and supported. I am excited to contribute to the future of a network that has given me so much, and to help ensure INTERDEM remains a vibrant, inclusive, and energising home for psychosocial dementia research.