Symposium: Shared Reading for People with Dementia
Hosted by the Still Reading project and funded by AHRC Impact Acceleration Award
Date: Thursday 7th May 2026
Location: Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast
Time: 9:15 – 16:00
Aim: to bring together academics, practitioners, library, charity and health and social care staff, as well as those living with dementia, to promote shared reading as a meaningful activity for this group. The event is the culmination of the Still Reading project, which partnered with libraries and dementia charities north and south of the border, producing a co-designed resource pack for those who want to implement the activity. Discussions will benefit from a wide range of professional and personal experiences in the room, as well as international perspectives. Based on our research, we will share the evidence-base for shared reading as an arts-based intervention and discuss the pathways for organisations and policymakers to implement it in our communities.
Register here!: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shared-reading-for-people-with-dementia-tickets-1984043397210?aff=oddtdtcreator
Draft Programme
| Main room: Lanyon Building, Senate room (0G/059) | Reading room: Lanyon Building (0G/054) | |
| 09:15-10:00 | Registration and tea/coffee, Resource pack shared on arrival | Shared Reading taster 1 9:30-10 |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Welcome address from The Reader | |
| 10:15 – 11:15 | Still Reading: the findings from shared reading for PwD in Ireland (Dr Jane Lugea, QUB) | |
| 11:15 – 12:15 | Chaired discussion: Still Reading project partners share experiences | |
| 12:15 – 13:15 | Lunch served Feedback and suggestions board | Shared Reading taster 2 12:30 – 13:00 |
| 13:15 – 14:45 | Presentations from other organisations, local and international: Aake Visser (Leader of shared reading organisation in Netherlands, Culturele Apotheeke)Alison Kirkpatrick (Verbal Arts Centre, Derry, Northern Ireland)Reading with Dementia project (Equal Arts) | |
| 14:45 – 15:15 | Comfort and coffee break | Shared reading taster 3 14:45 – 15:15 |
| 15:15 – 16:00 | Roundtable discussion: the future of shared reading for PwD How do we promote shared reading for PwD in Ireland, north and south, and beyond? What additional resources are needed? How can we work together? |