University of Tasmania, Australia

PhD Candidate

BPsych(Hons)(UTAS)

Biography

Born in England, Mr Ward's family moved to Tasmania in 1990. Educated in Hobart, his interest in the field of psychology grew suddenly, and unexpectedly, after undertaking a pre-tertiary psychology unit in high school. He completed his Bachelor of Psychology with Honours at UTAS in 2009 and, while the writing of assignments, essays, and exams was not to his liking, he very much enjoyed the scientific process associated with conducting and writing up research. To ensure that he was not horribly mistaken, Mr Ward worked as a research assistant for Prof James Vickers during the initial year of the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project and found the work rewarding. He began his PhD with the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre in mid-2011, supervised by Prof James Vickers and Dr Mathew Summers, and aims to complete it within 2-3 years.

Research Interests

Mr Ward's key interest lies in aged-related disorders and processes that affect cognitive function, mainly Alzheimer’s disease and normal neurological ageing. For the ageing Australian population, research and subsequent interventions targeting methods that allow higher cognitive function, for longer, is of vital importance. While interest in the development of therapeutic drugs is continuing, a recent booming area of research examines behavioural strategies that allow the brain to cope better with, and compensate for, the negative neuronal and structural changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease pathology and normal ageing. The Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project, of which his PhD lies within, aims to increase the cognitive reserve of our sample through participation in later-life tertiary education. Increased cognitive reserve may allow more efficient neurological function and promote compensatory neural mechanisms to allow suppression of clinical AD symptoms for longer, leading to higher quality of life and a later diagnosis of the disease.

Research Projects and Roles

• Cognitive reserve and age-related cognitive decline: Lifetime and genetic contributions – 1st year PhD candidate

Project Funding

• NHMRC Grant

Web Access Research Portal (WARP) for Mr David Ward