Investing ￡9million in the dementia researchers of the future at 14 universities

We’re investing over ￡9million in helping PhD students become the dementia research leaders of the future.

In partnership with 14 universities our three Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centres will support 85 PhD students to both enter and build a career in dementia research.

These Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs) are a manifesto for what we do and what we believe at Alzheimer’s Society.

Too many young dementia researchers feel unable to stay in research. Just 21% of PhD students go on to stay in dementia research after finishing their doctorate.

So much talent and expertise is being lost.

These centres will provide unique support to give the next generation of dementia researchers additional security and motivation to both enter and build a career in research.

Unanswered questions in research

Doctoral Training Centres are the gravitational force which will bring the answers to some of the biggest questions in dementia together.

Our Centres are not physical centres. Rather they represent networks of researchers from four, five or six universities, working on the same research topic.

The centre will generate new knowledge in Lewy body dementia, another will explore how the cardiovascular and immune systems are involved in dementia and the third will provide the evidence needed to fully integrate post-diagnostic care and treatment.

This network of several institutions within a Doctoral Training Centre will give students fantastic opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge with their peers, as well as greater access to infrastructure, including training and equipment.

The three DTCs

Each centre will take on at least five students per year for five years, with the first round of students starting in September 2024 or in 2025.

The Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Vascular and Immune contributors to Dementia. This centre will be led by Professor Stuart Allan at the University of Manchester and bring together expertise from Manchester as well as the University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London and St. George’s London.

It is widely accepted that the cardiovascular system and immune system play a role in the diseases which cause dementia. However, there is a lack of research and so the vascular and immune changes involved in dementia are not well understood.

The Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Lewy Body Dementia. This centre will be led by Professor John-Paul Taylor at the University of Newcastle. This centre will include Newcastle, Exeter, Nottingham, UCL, Southampton and Kings College.

Lewy body dementia is one of the most common forms of dementia and the symptoms can be incredibly distressing. Despite this, there is a lack of research in Lewy body dementia compared with other dementias. This centre will bring together leading experts in Lewy body dementia research to improve the lives of people affected.

The Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Integrated Care will be led by Professor Nathan Davies and Professor Claudia Cooper at University College London. The DTC also includes Leeds Beckett, Queen Mary, LSE, and the University of Plymouth.

After diagnosis, people living with dementia must access a care system which is rarely joined up or easy to navigate. This centre will provide the evidence needed to support local health and social care bodies (such as Integrated Care Systems in England) establish systems which are truly holistic, inclusive and simple to access.

Funding research

Alzheimer’s Society has funded ￡123million of world-class research since 1989 and at present we are actively funding research worth ￡54million.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve come so far in the four years since Covid hit when our research funding was forced to grind to halt.

It fills me with pride that we’ve come so far since then and are making an investment of this scale in dementia researchers at the early stage of their careers.

This isn’t the only way we are investing in Early Career Researchers (ECRs).

Our annual grant rounds will continue to support world-class research while our nine Dementia Research Leaders have been offered some of the most generous funding we have ever awarded - around ￡500,000 each over five years – to give them the opportunity to lead their own labs and fulfil their potential.

Supporting ECRs to become independent researcher leaders is rightly one of our Research team’s top priorities.

There are around 1million people living with dementia in the UK so there’s no time to wait.

Great things need to be achieved in dementia research to help them now and give hope to those who will be affected by dementia in the future.

Read more: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/research/our-research/alzheimers-society-doctoral-training-centres

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