Print This PostThe majority of research is carried out by early career researchers (ECRs), who provide an invaluable influx of new talent and ideas to the field of dementia research. Alzheimer’s Society is committed to supporting ECRs, recognising them as the future of dementia research. To help the new generation of researchers, Alzheimer’s Society has invested £9 million into 3 Doctoral Training Centres, which will support large cohorts of ECRs to enter, and build a career in the field of dementia research.
Investing in ECRs means investing in the future. Without skilled, bold, and ambitious researchers, we cannot achieve life-changing breakthroughs that are so desperately needed by people living with dementia.
However, dementia research has been chronically underfunded historically, and a career in academia can be tough for many talented researchers. We are at an exciting time for dementia research breakthroughs, and we cannot afford to lose research capacity and research momentum.
“Dementia is the biggest health and social care issue of our time. By 2040, 1.4 million people will be living with the condition in the UK. And yet a worrying number of dementia researchers leave the field after finishing their PhDs.” Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society
This is a significant investment that aims to urgently attract and nurture a new, bold and ambitious generation of researchers so we can ramp up the speed and progress of life-changing breakthroughs.
Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society
Alzheimer’s Society’s commitment to supporting ECRs
Alzheimer’s Society has long been committed to helping ECRs to not only survive a career in dementia research, but to thrive in it. At Alzheimer’s Society, we want to support ECRs’ careers to become dementia research leaders of the future, by committing to supporting and funding ECR projects in our research strategy. We are one of the only funders in the UK to
We actively encourage researchers who have had a career break to return to dementia research, by providing unique research grants in partnership with the Daphne Jackson Trust. Our funding opportunities are some of the most competitive research grants in the UK, and through this funding we want to attract and retain the best and brightest minds in the field of dementia research.
At Alzheimer’s Society, we understand that ECRs represent the critical foundation of the research community, and as such, we all have a responsibility to support ECRs into becoming world-leading scientists and set them up for future successes.
Doctoral Training Centres
Just 21% of PhD students stay in dementia research. To shift this statistic, Alzheimer’s Society has invested £9 million into three Doctoral Training Centres, to support around 85 students to take their first steps into dementia research. Each Centre will focus on a specific research topic taking at least five students per year for five years, with the first round of students starting from September 2024.
The three Doctoral Training Centres are not physical Centres, but instead are networks from a range of institutions, working on the same topic. The Doctoral Training Centres are a transformative model that will allow a new generation of researchers to receive world-class training and support from leading scientists in the field.
“For students, being part of our DTC means joining a vibrant and dynamic academic community where they are not just learners but active contributors to cutting-edge research. They will be immersed in an environment where collaboration with fellow students and world-renowned experts fuels intellectual growth and innovation. Importantly students will work in partnership throughout their doctoral studies with people living with dementia and carers which will help shape their pioneering research. – Professor Claudia Cooper and Professor Nathan Davies, Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Integrated Dementia Care, Queen Mary University of London
Alzheimer’s Society’s approach to funding these Doctoral Training Centres will provide PhD students with unique access to activity across the Centres – widening their options for world leading expertise, peer support, networking, knowledge sharing, specialisms, training, and equipment. These students will have additional security and motivation to embark on a long-term career in dementia research – building much-needed, sustainable capacity across the field to get us closer to life-changing discoveries for people living with dementia.
“These Doctoral Training Centres will give students in the early stages of their dementia research careers fantastic opportunities to collaborate with their peers and build knowledge, as well as access world-class expertise, the latest technology and training. Their research will lead to vital new knowledge where huge gaps remain. Research will beat dementia, but we need to make it a reality sooner. One in three people born today will go on develop dementia in their lifetime, so it’s vital we boost the research field to help people now and give hope to those who will be affected in the future.”– Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society
Professor Stuart Allan
Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Vascular and Immune Contributors to Dementia led by Professor Stuart Allan at University of Manchester.
This Centre aims to address the longstanding lack of research into the vascular and immune changes involved in dementia. It is widely accepted the cardiovascular and immune systems are important in the diseases which cause dementia. It is estimated that at least 70% of people told they have Alzheimer’s disease also have changes to blood vessels in their brains, and more to brain immune cells. Despite knowing these systems are important, the vascular and immune changes involved in dementia have not been extensively studied and are not well understood.
Led by Professor Stuart Allan at University of Manchester, this Doctoral Training Centre aims to tackle the devastation of dementia with innovative methods and a focus on new treatments. Professor Allan said:
“Dementia is one of the most significant healthcare challenges of the 21st Century. A huge number of people are affected by dementia – directly or indirectly – and unfortunately treatment options are extremely limited. Our research will focus on changing this situation to make dementia a treatable condition, improving quality of life for patients.
By focussing on how the vascular and immune systems contribute to disease onset and progression we hope to find ways to modify these systems that can be developed into much needed new treatments for dementia.”
Professor John-Paul Taylor
Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Lewy Body Dementia led by Professor John-Paul Taylor at Newcastle University.
Lewy body dementia is one of the most common forms of dementia and causes a wide range of troubling symptoms for people with dementia and their families. Currently, there are only limited treatments for symptoms of the condition, and there is a lack of research in Lewy body dementia compared with other types of dementias.
This Doctoral Training Centre will bring together the leading experts in Lewy body dementia research from around the UK to increase knowledge and understanding of the disease and improve the lives of people affected by it.
The 5 research priorities for this Doctoral Training Centre are:
- To improve understanding of the causes of Lewy body dementia;
- Develop better measures to track how the disease is progressing so the effect of treatments can be accurately monitored
- To improve diagnosis at the early stages of the disease
- Support better design for clinical research trials
- Tackle practical issues, for example, better rehabilitation after falls.
Professor John-Paul Taylor, lead researcher for the Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Lewy Body Dementia, recognises the importance of changing the future of Lewy body dementia research:
“Lewy body dementia, which includes both dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia, is one of the most common causes of degenerative dementia and has huge impacts on people living with these conditions and their families. UK institutions are world leaders in Lewy body dementia research – yet research and funding for this specific disease lag behind other causes of dementia. This unique centre of research will help to bridge this gap and drive the field forward.”
Professor Claudia Cooper and Professor Nathan Davies
Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Integrated Dementia Care led by Professor Claudia Cooper and Professor Nathan Davies at Queen Mary’s University London.
The Centre will focus on truly integrated care where primary care service like GPs, secondary care services including hospital consultants, and health and social care services work together, so people with dementia receive care that is holistic, easy to navigate and supportive. Unfortunately, this is rarely experienced by people with dementia and their families today.
The centre will tackle 3 key research questions:
How can we deliver truly joined up care that:
- supports independence, autonomy, and choice?
- supports people living with dementia and other conditions safely and well?
- ensures high quality dementia care reaches people living with dementia in under-served populations; through to end-of-life?
Students at the Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Integrated Care will be guided and supported by supervisors working across five leading universities, NHS and social care professionals, and work with policy makers and people with personal experience of dementia. They will learn from experts in different research methods to develop projects that will improve care and support.
The centre will be jointly led by experts in the field, Professor Claudia Cooper and Professor Nathan Davies, who said:
“Our unique Doctoral Training Centre will be a cornerstone in shaping the future of dementia care research. We are committed to nurturing the next generation of dementia care researchers, who will pioneer innovative approaches to care delivery and service integration. This will not only address some of the long-standing research questions we have been aspiring to answer but also uncover new areas of enquiry.
Our world-leading DTC brings together five leading universities – Queen Mary University of London, Leeds Beckett University, University of Plymouth, University College London and London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE). Through this partnership we will stimulate fresh new collaborations, forge new research networks, and strengthen the field of dementia care research meaning tangible real-world benefits for all those living with dementia.”
Through investing in these Doctoral Training Centres, Alzheimer’s Society wants to give emerging scientists the opportunity to bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas into the field, which will be essential for breakthroughs.
Equipped with world-class training and guidance from leading experts in the field, they will push boundaries of our understanding of dementia, becoming dementia leaders themselves in the future.
By investing in the potential of ECRs, we not only accelerate the progress in dementia research, but also improve the life for people affected by dementia, offering hope for better treatments and a cure.
Dementia Researcher is supporting Alzheimer’s Society Doctoral Training Centre for Lewy Body Dementia led by Professor John-Paul Taylor at Newcastle University. The service will be delivering training, providing community spaces for PhD Students to support each other and collaborate, and working one-to-one to share their progress through blogs, podcasts and mentoring. The DTC’s will start to advertised funded studentship opportunities from September 2024, keep an eye on Dementia Researcher job listings.
Got a question? Want to learn more? We will be chatting with Katherine Gray, Alzheimer’s Society Head of Research in a livestream today (Wednesday 28th August 2024) join us live or watch the recording.
Dr Martyna Matuszyk
Author
Dr Martyna Matuszyk is a former postdoc from The University of Sheffield where she worked on Alzheimer’s disease and ALS. Martyna is now Research Communications Officer at Alzheimer’s Society. Her main role involves communicating dementia research to the wider public through various outlets. She is also a research spokesperson for the charity, so you might hear her voice on local radios when big dementia stories hit the news!
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