Oonagh Thompson-Bradley

HammondCare

An experienced researcher and project manager, since 2007, Oonagh has worked on ageing and dementia projects, primarily in Northern Ireland. Recent projects include HammondCare Dementia Support, the Dementia Assistance Dog Evaluation in Scotland and an Evaluation of Life Changes Trust-funded Dementia Friendly Communities in Scotland.

Before joining the Dementia Centre, HammondCare, as a Project Officer and then as a Team Leader based in Belfast, Oonagh led the Northern Ireland Hospice’s Dementia Collaboration to develop an innovative, collaborative model of dementia care and support, aimed at improving the lives of people with dementia, their families and carers in the community. From 2007-2010, she worked to establish and develop the Northern Ireland office of the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC), University of Stirling. This programme, backed by a unique joint funding agreement between the Northern Ireland Executive and international charitable foundation Atlantic Philanthropies, aimed to transform the experience of people with dementia in Northern Ireland through maximising funding opportunities and targeting resources to best effect.

Oonagh holds a Master of Philosophy from Queen’s University Belfast, a prestigious Russell Group UK university and a leader in innovation and impact, through which she explored the scope of smartphone-based puzzle games to maintain cognitive health in ageing. In 2011, she spent six months as a Marie Curie early stage researcher with a home care provider in Athens, Greece on a European Commission project (Value Ageing, www.valueageing.eu), researching issues around consent of older people living with support and the ethical implications of eHealth/telemedicine. Oonagh has presented locally and overseas, and has authored publications in Psychology - Examining the Neurocognitive Validity of Commercially Available, Mobile Phone-Based Puzzle Games, and in Clinical Ethics - The Ethical and Policy Implications of E-Health and Telemedicine: An Ageing-Focused Review.

Outside of the ageing sector, Oonagh has conducted and managed research within primary and secondary education and on advocacy and resilience within the victims and survivor sector in Northern Ireland.