A UCA research programme
Music, applied rigorously, changes how dementia is cared for.
Music-Centred Dementia Care builds the clinical, observational, and algorithmic infrastructure to make that change measurable — from a weekly therapy session to the carer’s daily record.
Impact summary
REF impact case study
Research at the University for the Creative Arts has developed music-centred digital tools that enable earlier detection of deterioration and improved care for people living with dementia. Since 2020 the work has produced sustained practice change in care settings, wider access to evidence-based therapy, and earlier health interventions.
ACT, co-designed with care organisations, has enabled early identification of decline in trial participants and triggered timely GP referrals. The COGS app has removed training barriers to Cognitive Stimulation Therapy, reaching an estimated 200+ carers nationwide. The work improves continuity of care and supports prevention of avoidable hospital admissions.
What MCDC is
A research programme spanning framework, clinical practice, observation, algorithm, and integration. Each layer feeds the next.
The programme is hosted at the University for the Creative Arts. ACT — its analytics engine — was developed under a £60,000 UKRI Zinc Catalyst (Healthy Ageing) award, with the lineage traceable back to the 2019 Memory Tracks pilot at Pendine Park.
Pilot, trial, and co-design work runs with Pendine Park (North Wales, since 2019), Memory Matters (Plymouth), Lifecare (Edinburgh), and NHS Highland. ACT-API integration with care-record systems — Birdie is one example — is currently in development.
Strands
MCDC
Music-Centred Dementia Care
The overarching framework. Music as clinical instrument, not adjunct: a defensible theory of why music-led interventions work in dementia care.
M-CST
Music Cognitive Stimulation Therapy
Clinical and therapeutic practice, derived from cognitive stimulation therapy and extended with music-centred methods.
M-CST-ob
Observational layer
Structured observation of participants during M-CST sessions. Produces the data stream that the Anticipatory Care Tool consumes.
ACT
Anticipatory Care Tool
Algorithm that detects change in people living with dementia from M-CST-ob observations, so that care can adapt before crisis.
ACT-API
Integration layer
Exposes the ACT algorithm to care-record systems such as Birdie, so anticipatory insight reaches the point of care.
Evidence
6 years
200+
380
Further figures on reach and clinical impact are developed in the case studies.
Ethics & consent
Working with people living with dementia requires ongoing consent, specific capacity protocols, and careful data governance. These are not an appendix to this research — they are part of its argument.