Race Against Dementia – Team Award

Teaming Up To Drive Out Dementia – Grant call for applications.

Teaming Up To Drive Out Dementia is an exciting, new initiative, in which two highly innovative charities (Rosetrees and Race Against Dementia) have joined forces to accelerate progress in dementia research.

A £3.75 million fund will be available to fund up to five outstanding research projects for five years (£750k/team).

This grant call aims to attract some of the UK’s best or most promising research leaders who deserve the encouragement and stability of long-term support to take their innovative ideas to the next level. We want to help them build exceptionally talented research teams to get them across the finish line as quickly as possible in the race to beat dementia.

Only submissions from UK institutions are permitted. There are no limits on the number of applications from an institution but only one application per applicant is allowed (whether as the principal applicant or a named co-applicant).

In addition to funding the grant call, Race Against Dementia (RAD), founded by three-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sir Jackie Stewart, will also provide the teams with performance-enhancing training and mentoring used by F1 teams to achieve their goals. The aim is to enhance, if required, existing research skills. Further details can be found here.

Rosetrees, which has funded over 2000 cutting-edge medical research projects and has earned a reputation for providing a speedy and highly personal service to the science community, will manage the application process. Rosetrees will also monitor and support the successful applicants for the duration of each project.

The online preliminary application window is 19th June to 4th September, and full proposals can be submitted from 30th October to 18th December, 2023. Awards to be announced in May 2024. Preliminary and full applications will be assessed by a panel of dementia experts, chaired by Professor John O’Brien from the University of Cambridge.

Submission period opening (preliminary application)

19 June, 2023

Submission period closing (preliminary application)

4 September (5pm) 2023

Submission period opening (full application)

30 October, 2023

Submission period closing (full application)

18 December (5pm), 2023

Notification of funding decision

May 2024

Grant duration

5 years

Funding amount

£750k (£150/annum)

Key Features

We’re looking for either basic science, translational and clinical research projects in the following areas:

  • New diagnostic tests
  • Prevention
  • Mechanisms of diseases
  • Identification and testing of potential new treatments

The Research Team

We believe that PIs should have the freedom to cherry-pick whomever they think will best benefit the team, although it would typically include a combination of exceptional early career post-docs, PhD researchers, clinical fellows and technicians.

Evaluation process

Initial EOI applications (2-3 pages) will be assessed by our panel of dementia experts, headed by John O’Brien (Professor of Old Age Psychiatry, University of Cambridge). Successful applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal (see dates above) that will be externally reviewed.

Contact

For general enquiries regarding eligibility and the application process, please contact  Megan Sealey-Bright  (MBright@rosetreescio.net).

How to apply

To apply, please visit the Rosetrees Flexigrant Portal (search for: Race Against Dementia - Rosetrees Preliminary Application 2023).