Funding of £1.25 million committed to dementia research

Seven new research projects have been funded to address key evidence gaps for dementia-related practice through the NIHR Three Schools’ Dementia Research Programme.

The NIHR Schools for Primary Care Research (SPCR), Public Health Research (SPHR) and Social Care Research (SSCR) (“three Schools”) joined together in 2021 in a unique collaboration between leading academic centres in England on a programme of research and related work on dementia funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The Programme aims to develop the evidence base for dementia-related practice in England by commissioning and conducting high-quality research to address key gaps in the evidence base working collaboratively across primary care, public health and social care, and is supporting the NIHR’s commitment to developing the next generation of dementia researchers.

Professor Martin Knapp, Director of NIHR SSCR and the Dementia Research Programme, said:

These seven new studies join the nine studies previously commissioned, spanning the NIHR research school ‘territories’ – social care, primary care and public health. The studies address NIHR priorities in the dementia area, with the potential to have real impact on the health and wellbeing of people living with, or at risk of dementia and of carers.

The full list of projects is as follows:

Examining access to social farms for people living with dementia: a mixed-methods study
Dr Ruth Bartlett, University of Southampton, 15 months

Diverse experiences of end of life care for dementia – establishing consensus and capacity through collaboration and co-production
Drs Felicity Dewhurst, Maria Poole and Louise Tomkov, Universities of Newcastle and Manchester, 12 months

The essential caregiver role in primary and social care of people living with dementia
Dr Caroline Emmer De Albuquerque Green, King’s College London, 15 months

Understanding the role of ‘peer tutors’ in post-diagnostic support for people with dementia: a realist process evaluation of the good life with dementia approach
Kate Gridley and Dr Mark Wilberforce, University of York, 15 months

Towards equality of opportunity for timely and equitable dementia diagnosis
Dr Charles Marshall, Queen Mary University of London, 15 months

Dementia risk prediction in areas of social deprivation: views of key stakeholders
Dr Eugene Tang, University of Newcastle, 15 months

Facilitating the role of social prescribing link workers in providing care for people living with dementia
Dr Jane Wilcock, University College London, 12 months