Dear colleagues and friends,

We are delighted to welcome you to the 24th Annual Conference of Alzheimer Europe which takes place in Glasgow, Scotland from 20-22 October 2014.

The theme for this year is “Dignity and autonomy in dementia”. The conference will explore how recognising the human rights of people with dementia, their carers, partners and families is key to ensuring dignity and respect, as well as overcoming stigma. The event will also showcase best practice in informing and empowering those affected by dementia to make vital decisions regarding their own support and care needs, as well as supporting their participation at local, national and international level in shaping health and social care policies. The role of peer support and DementiaFriendly Communities will also be addressed.

By putting dignity and autonomy at the heart of this year’s conference, we want to demonstrate the responsibility of national and international policymakers, local decision-makers, health and social care professionals and all of society in making change happen for people with dementia.

The annual Alzheimer Europe conference is, as ever, unique in bringing together a range of participants, including people with dementia and their carers, policy makers and civil servants, care and health professionals, academics and researchers, staff and volunteers of Alzheimer associations and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. In this context, we would also like to thank the European Union for the generous support provided via the health programme for our conference.

We will shortly launch our call for abstracts and are looking forward to receiving as many submissions as in recent years if not more, to ensure yet another thought-provoking and inspirational programme. We hope that you will share your research, projects, initiatives and activities and learn from (and exchange with) other participants to help us in ensuring dignity and autonomy for everyone affected by dementia.

Alzheimer Europe and Alzheimer Scotland have invited key researchers, policy makers and representatives of Alzheimer associations to make this programme a multi-disciplinary and multi-national experience:

• Alistair Burns, English Dementia Strategy, United Kingdom - England
• Carlos de Sola, Council of Europe
• Kate Fearnley, Alzheimer Scotland, United Kingdom - Scotland
• Harriet Finne-Soveri, National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL), Finland
• Marie-Jo Guisset, Fondation Médéric Alzheimer, France
• Geoff Huggins, Scottish Dementia Strategy, United Kingdom – Scotland
• Dorothée Knauf-Hübel, Ministry of Health, Luxembourg
• Ales Kogoj, Slovenian Alzheimer’s Association, Slovenia
• Benoit Lavallart, French Alzheimer’s Plan, France
• Joëlle Long, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
• Hugh Masters, Scottish Government, United Kingdom - Scotland
• Gráinne McGettrick, Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Ireland
• Alan Miller, Scottish Human Rights Commission, United Kingdom - Scotland
• Alex Neil, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Scottish Government, United Kingdom - Scotland
• Representatives of the Scottish Dementia Working Group and the National Dementia Carers Action Network, United Kingdom - Scotland
• Kai Saks, Tartu University Hospital, Estonia
• Henry Simmons, Chief Executive, Alzheimer Scotland, United Kingdom - Scotland
• Debbie Tolson, University of West of Scotland, United Kingdom - Scotland
• Myrra Vernooij-Dassen, UMC St. Radboud, Netherlands
• Heike von Lützau-Hohlbein, Chairperson, Alzheimer Europe, Germany
• Päivi Voutilainen, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Finland

Submission Info

To submit an abstract, please download the abstract template, fill in the form and upload the completed abstract form by choosing the topic that best fits your presentation. Please read the abstract guidelines below carefully before submitting your abstract.

Participants are requested to submit their abstract in English no later than 30 April 2014.

Abstract Guidelines

Guidelines for writing abstracts

Please respect the following guidelines when writing your abstract:

• Only abstracts submitted in English will be considered.
• Abstracts need to be submitted via the online submission system. Abstracts submitted by e-mail, fax or post will be ignored.
• Abstracts should be written in concise form and should not exceed one page (or 300 words).
• Alzheimer Europe and Alzheimer Scotland want to encourage all participants to use a non-discriminatory language when referring to people with dementia. The terms “person with dementia” or “people with dementia “ should therefore be used rather than “victims”, “sufferers”, the “demented” or “dementing” or other stigmatising language.
• As AE Conferences are open to a lay audience, presentations on licensed medicines, whether promotional in nature or not, will not be accepted. The use of trade marked names is similarly not allowed.
• Abstracts should be clearly linked to one of the topics of the call for abstracts. You will be asked to choose a specific topic when submitting your abstract.