The groundbreaking Maintain Your Brain trial will be expanded nationally following a $3 million grant from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).

Led by Professor Henry Brodaty AO and a multidisciplinary team of leading researchers, clinicians, primary care experts and consumer advocates from across Australia, the new initiative – Maintain Your Brain Plus (MYB+) – will deliver a large-scale digital brain health and healthy ageing program to Australians aged 45–79, with a particular focus on rural and regional communities.

The project builds on the internationally recognised success of the original Maintain Your Brain trial, the world’s largest online dementia prevention study, involving more than 6,000 Australians. The study demonstrated that personalised online lifestyle coaching could improve cognition, physical activity, nutrition, and mental wellbeing – outcomes associated with delaying cognitive decline and reducing dementia risk.

Professor Henry Brodaty AO, Scientia Professor and Co-Director of UNSW Sydney’s Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), said the new funding marks a major step toward transforming dementia prevention in Australia.

“Dementia is one of the greatest health, social and economic challenges facing Australia, yet nearly half of dementia risk is linked to modifiable lifestyle factors,” Professor Brodaty said.

“This funding allows us to move from successful clinical trial evidence to real-world national implementation. Our vision is to make brain health promotion as widely recognised and accessible as campaigns like ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’.”

AI-driven personalisation

MYB+ will expand the original program through advanced digital technology, AI-driven personalisation, smartphone accessibility, and new modules targeting additional dementia risk factors including social isolation, cardiovascular health, hearing and vision loss, diabetes and mental health.

The initiative will work in partnership with Primary Health Networks (PHNs), general practitioners, consumer organisations and community groups across urban, regional and rural Australia to embed brain health into everyday preventive healthcare.

Importantly, consumers and people with lived experience of dementia have been involved in the co-design of the program from the outset and will continue to guide implementation throughout the project.

Professor Perminder Sachdev AM, Co-Director of CHeBA and Chief Investigator, said the program has the potential to significantly improve quality of life as Australians age.

“There is currently no cure for dementia, which makes prevention critically important. MYB+ represents a scalable, evidence-based approach that could help Australians stay healthier, more independent and socially connected for longer,” Professor Sachdev said.

The project aligns with Australia’s National Preventive Health Strategy and National Dementia Action Plan and aims to demonstrate how digital health innovation can improve equity in access to preventive healthcare, particularly for underserved rural and regional populations.

participants recruited

Over the next five years, MYB+ will recruit approximately 5,000 participants across multiple PHN regions nationwide and evaluate impacts on cognition, quality of life, physical and mental health, healthcare utilisation and cost-effectiveness.

The research team brings together experts from UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney, Western Sydney University, University of Wollongong, Macquarie University and major health and consumer organisations including Dementia Australia, COTA NSW, Life. Be In It, PHNs and international digital partner NeuroNation.

The team hopes MYB+ will lay the foundation for a future nationwide brain health program that empowers Australians to take proactive steps toward healthier ageing.