Kristina is Dementia Australia Research Foundation (DARF) Post-doctoral Fellow and an early career researcher with an emerging profile in socio-legal dementia research at the UTS Faculty of Law. Kristina’s PhD by publication used inter-disciplinary qualitative approaches to examine how framings of dementia contribute to marginalisation of people living with dementia in legal responses to dementia aged care.

Kristina is also a legal practitioner, who commenced higher degree research studies following her father’s diagnosis with dementia, catalysed by his and our family’s experience of his marginalised status in the Australian aged care system. The under-examination of legal and justice approaches to improve the lives of people living with dementia
served as motivation to pursue socio-legal dementia research.

Kristina’s three-year DARF post-doc project focuses on promoting the voices of people living with dementia in aged care consultation by exploring the use of innovative approaches. Despite the high proportion of dementia in aged care, residents living with dementia are often excluded from feedback and consultation processes due to legal, structural and cultural barriers to direct participation. The project will use participatory action research within residential aged care facilities to explore methods like visual tools, sensory approaches, and alternative communication systems to make participation more accessible. It aims to identify barriers, test new approaches, and develop evidence-based resources to promote inclusion of people living with dementia.