I was trained in the phenomenology of health & illness at the University of Wales, Cardiff, where I completed my doctorate in 2006. Since 2012, my work has focused largely on dementia.

Over the past ten years, I have become increasingly inspired by post-structuralist, post-humanist, multi-species and post-qualitative approaches, and how these may enable us to think differently about dementia.

Alongside my colleagues, Dr Anna Jack-Waugh and Dr Louise Ritchie, I convene the Multi-Species Dementia International Research Network (https://multispeciesdementia.org).  Established in 2019, with funding from the Wellcome Trust, the network consists of over 80 academics from across academic disciplines, continents and career stages, who are interested in developing more-than-human approaches to dementia.  The network is currently funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) and is exploring the use of virtual reality to develop the field of multi-species dementia research, practice and scholarship.

Connected to the MSD Network, I am lead editor for a book soon to published by Bristol University Policy Press (in 2023) entitled: Multi-Species Dementia Studies: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach.  

Outside of UWS

I have served as a co-opted member of the Scottish Dementia Working Group and worked with Dementia Alliance International.  I have served as an Academic Editor for Public Library of Science (PLoS) One. as an Associate Editorial Board for Sociological Research Online. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

• (PI) Jenkins N. Developing and Consilidating the Multi-Species Dementia International Research Network.  Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Network Grant. £20,000.

multi-species dementia studies

Canine Concern Scotland (Therapet Programme)

I love teaching-learning about social science research methods, and I have a particular interest in the use of vignettes within qualitative and post-qualitative inquiry.  I am willing to offer course design, consultancy and one-off workshops in several aspects of social research, including research design, data collection and data analysis.  To discuss your requirements, please email: nick.jenkins@uws.ac.uk.