Inspiring young minds: LGC’s GMG hosts future brain health champions

Welcoming the next generation of brain health advocates

In August 2026, our Grant Management Group (GMG) colleagues hosted seven students from the Lewisham Youth Brain Health Project, funded by the Alzheimer’s Research UK Inspire Fund.

Run in conjunction with the Youth Involvement and Engagement Lab, this two-week programme supports young people aged 13-18, enabling them to lead school and community engagement using innovative, accessible resources on dementia prevention.

As well as LGC, the programme was supported by lived experience partners Dementia Sphere, King’s College London, Lewisham Dementia Support Service (Alzheimer’s Society), Lewisham Young Mayor and Young Advisors, Radio Lewisham and the SPIN Dementia Network Plus.

Day one

Stuart Haylock, Senior Research Manager, GMG Business Services, tells us more about the programme and what it involved.

“We gave an initial introduction to LGC, GMG and the work that we do with the UK Government. Then GMG Managing Director, Ben Patient, gave the young people a talk through his winding career path, encouraging the students to not think of their career paths as linear, and talked about how his passion for rugby ultimately led him to the position he is in today.

GMG Training Lead, Lucy Knight, talked them through how we view employability skills, and how to better to present their hidden skills and talents during interviews. She also encouraged participants to interview one another, giving them the opportunity to practise new techniques she taught them and receive peer feedback.

To end the day, we taught the students about our work with the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) and how grant applications are reviewed by experts, patients and members of the public to decide which applications get funding.

They were then given ten plain English summaries of research applications – five from the field of dementia and five from mental health – and given the task of reviewing each application against their own criteria for success. This culminated in an in-depth discussion about how we prioritise and commission research against the health and care targets.”

Day two

“External Affairs Manager, Ashna Pillai, spent the morning talking through how we work with the UK Government, and how to write briefs that address their priorities. The young people then had their own chance to plan out a research brief, describing how they would include all the key information needed whilst also using accessible language.

For the second half of the day, we were joined by visual effects artist Drew Sinclair for a spirited discussion on how to make research plain English summaries more appropriate for young people. We let them lead the discussion by talking about their experiences over the last couple of days, and how they would want research to be presented to them.

Drew was using his skills to visualise the young people’s discussion points and turn them into a piece of art, which we hope to publish to make people more aware of how to engage young people in research.”

Positive feedback

“The students said that they really enjoyed getting to hear from senior leaders about how they got to the position they are in, and they appreciated learning about the different sectors and career opportunities within LGC.

The sessions were inspiring. These young people are driven in their capacity as young brain health champions, and they put their all into each session, absorbing information, thinking creatively and discussing topics with an open mind.

It’s clear to see that they are going to succeed, and we talked to them about their futures, including encouraging them to think about careers at LGC when they’ve finished their degrees.”