Scientific conferences are an important venue where researchers share results from current studies and discuss next steps. Research participants, people living with a diagnosis, and support partners are eager to be included in these conversations. However, attending a conference in person requires a major commitment, often requiring attendees to travel, pay attendance fees, and find others to help provide caregiving. Some conferences like the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) are opening their doors virtually to make the events more accessible to research participants, care partners, and the general public.
Sarah Walter, MSc, program administrator, Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium, ATRI joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center "Dementia Matters" podcast to discuss her article on how virtual scientific conferences impact research participant engagement and why it’s important for participants to hear about the research they’re involved in.
"What I'm hearing from our participants is they really want the opportunity to engage with other participants like them and they also want the ability to meet other researchers. They want to build those relationships so we're trying to do that through this program that I have with these small group discussions." - Sarah Walter
Listen to the full conversation.