NEIL (Neuro-Enhancement for Independent Lives)
NEIL (Neuro-Enhancement for Independent Lives) was established, with funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies, to create a research infrastructure to accelerate the development of methods to delay dementia. The NIEL programme for cognitive enhancement and dementia prevention comprises both research and intervention initiatives and aims for a broad integration between basic science mechanisms of cognitive decline and scalable interventions to delay dementia.
Key short-term objectives include: the establishment of a series of research trials to identify the optimum methods for enhancing brain function in the elderly, the development of low-cost technologies for delivering optimal brain stimulation methods and the development of optimal arrangements for engaging at-risk elderly people in an educational-preventive context.
The NIEL programme coordinates research in a way that would not be possible through the more traditional funding of individual research projects or teams. NEIL brings coherence and focus to dementia and cognitive ageing research by adopting an approach that is interdisciplinary (e.g. neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, medicine, bioengineering, social), collaborative (researchers, clinicians and industry) and international.
Neuroscience and Ageing & Independent Living are major research programmes identified in Trinity’s strategic plan. NEIL straddles both programmes and operates out of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, a recognised centre of excellence in ageing research, which conducts research into brain ageing, neurodegeneration, and cognition. The NEIL programme needs funding on an ongoing basis for specific initiatives like its memory research unit and more generally for the focussed coordination of international research and the delivery of interventions in the face of the challenge of dementia.
Visit the NEIL website for more information about NEIL research and intervention initiatives. Or to find out more about the Neurology projects going on in Trinity email Zhanna O'Clery or contact her by phone on +353 1 896 2088.
