Jack wins backing for Japan research trip

Jack Sardeson, 26, has been awarded a Churchill Fellowship by The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (WCMT), a UK charity set up in 1965 on the death of Sir Winston Churchill in tribute to the former prime minister.

Some 150 Churchill Fellowships are awarded each year to UK citizens aged over 18 who want to research innovative ideas or best practice in a subject of their choice overseas.

Jack, a graduate researcher for the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, where he is currently doing a masters, has received £8,000 for a three-month research trip in Japan.

It is a country, he says, where efforts are being made to design dementia-friendly communities.

“There are quite a few interesting grass-roots schemes that have come up,” he said.

It is a pressing matter, says Jack, who will be jetting off to Japan in August.

He said: “With estimates of dementia prevalence set at 3.1 per cent for 2050 (two million people) in the UK, it is necessary to reconsider our understanding of architecture’s role within urban healthcare.”