Adam Smith is the Programme Director for ‘Dementia Researcher’ a worldwide early career dementia researcher support service run by University College London and funded by the NIHR, Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society and Race Against Dementia. Adam has a background in healthcare service improvement, having previously worked within the NHS and at the Department of Health and Social Care on topics as varied as reducing waiting times, patient choice and healthcare associated infections. For the past 13 years he has exclusively worked on improving the lives of people living with dementia, undertaking research, and leading initiatives such as Join Dementia Research and Enabling Research in Care Homes. Now his time is focussed on trying to attract more people to the research field, and improving collaborations and support to ensure researchers are retained on this important topic.