Alzheimer's Disease: Research

The Government’s responsibility for delivering research into Alzheimer’s disease is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The NIHR is delivering a wide range of research initiatives into Alzheimer’s disease. For example, the NIHR is investing nearly £50 million over five years into the Dementia Trials Network, which seeks to significantly expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities for dementia.

The NIHR also invests significantly in building the next generation of dementia researchers, which includes partnering with Alzheimer’s Society to fund and support a cohort of post-doctoral health and care researchers.

UKRI funds research into the causes, prevention, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, across a broad portfolio of investments, including research projects, fellowships, and programmes of work within our institutes. Key recent investments in neurodegeneration research include the Dementia Research Institute, use of the Science Technology and Facilities Council’s facilities in Alzheimer’s research, an Innovate UK contribution to the Longitude Prize on Dementia, and £10 million of funding through the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund for a Neurological and Psychiatric Imaging Research and Therapeutics Hub at Kings College London.