From Maastricht University –> To University of Eastern Finland
My visit to UEF allowed me to first, collaborate with a top research group in the field of dementia prevention/epidemiology and thereby further strengthen my research network; secondly, to work with the largest and the most state-of-the-art dementia prevention trial worldwide: the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER).
Additionally, together with the UEF team, we were able to work on our joint ongoing publication within the Finnish Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) study. I really can recommend young researcher to apply for the YERUNResearch Mobility Award in order to learn from experienced researcher in their particular area of study.
Kay Deckers was born in Brunssum (the Netherlands) on November 10 1988. After studying Neuropsychology, he started working as a PhD candidate at the Alzheimer Centre Limburg (Maastricht University) in 2013. His PhD research focused on primary prevention of dementia and therole of lifestyle factors. As part of his PhD research, he developed the ‘LIfestyle for BRAin health’ (LIBRA) score, a practical tool to assess someone’s potential for dementia prevention. The impact ofhis PhD’s results is demonstrated by publications in several high-impact journals, various invited lectures, high media-attention and the implementation/valorisation of the findings in a societal project(the ‘MijnBreincoach’ project). As part of his PhD project he worked for two months at the Cambridge Institute of Public Health (University of Cambridge) and two months at the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care (Department of Epidemiology and Public Health; University College London).
Currently, Kay is working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Alzheimer Centre Limburg. His personal passion is to raise more substantial awareness in the general public that people can really do something about their own dementia risk and improve their brain health. In the future, he pursues a long-term academic career with an expertise in neuro-epidemiology.
Kay Deckers was awarded one of the 26 Research Mobility Awards of the 1st call for applications that YERUN offered in 2018.
Photo credit Kay deckers with the Nordic Brain Group at UEF.
