Alzheimer’s Society has today announced that it will be investing just under £3.2 million into funding a new Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) at Newcastle University to support and nurture dementia researchers at the start of their career.

The regional DTC will be led by Professor John-Paul Taylor and will focus on Lewy body dementia - a move which is essential to progressing much-needed dementia research.

New ideas and approaches

Professor Taylor, from Newcastle University, said: “The amazing support of the Alzheimer’s Society for our DTC presents a huge opportunity which means that we can develop a critical mass of highly motivated researchers united around our mission to improve the lives of people living with Lewy body dementia and related conditions.

“By bringing together experts from various fields who will work with and support our students, we’ll generate new ideas and diverse approaches that can accelerate discoveries and translate into real-world healthcare improvements for people living with dementia.”

Currently only one in five dementia PhD students go on to stay in dementia research often due to underfunding and the challenging nature of academic careers.

Lewy body dementia is one of the most common forms of dementia with very challenging symptoms of the individual with the condition and their loved one and yet it is not well understood.

The Newcastle centre will focus on understanding underlying causes of the condition, develop technology to track its progression, improve its diagnosis and care as well as support the design of clinical trials into this under researched disease.

Fiona Carragher, Chief Policy and Research Officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “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, so a catastrophic amount of talent and expertise is being lost.

“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 so desperately needed for people living with this devastating condition.”

The recent news of potential new treatments in dementia highlights again that researchers taking their first steps into the field will be the dementia research leaders of the future. They are critical to maintaining the momentum to end the devastation caused by the condition.

Alzheimer’s Society will be investing a total of £9 million into funding three new DTCs around the country and the centres will support nearly 90 students over five years to enter dementia research.

They will focus on building knowledge and understanding in areas that have been particularly underfunded. This includes understanding how changes to blood vessels and our immune systems contribute to dementia, Lewy body dementia and Integrated Care.

Progressing research breakthroughs

The DTCs will represent networks of researchers from a range of institutions working on the same research topic with varying expertise and specialisms.

The new Alzheimer’s Society DTCs will provide PhD students with unique access to activity across the centres – widening their options for peer support, networking, knowledge sharing, training, and equipment. This has previously shown to have a powerful effect in helping to support PhD students to continue their careers in dementia research.

Newcastle University's Centre for Transformative Neuroscience pledged £150,000 from the Newcastle Neuroscience Fund to support an additional studentship for the DTC into Lewy body dementia.

Professor Adrian Rees, Director of the Centre for Transformative Neuroscience at Newcastle University, said: "It is fantastic that Newcastle has been chosen as one of the three new DTCs supported by Alzheimer’s Society. It is vital that we train more young researchers to tackle this devastating condition.

"Congratulations to Professor John-Paul Taylor and the whole DTC team.  The Centre for Transformative Neuroscience is delighted that we could demonstrate our commitment to this exciting initiative and help secure the outcome by giving an additional studentship to the DTC supported by the Newcastle Neuroscience Fund."

One in three people born today will go on develop dementia in their lifetime, so it’s vital to boost the research field to help people now and give hope to those who will be affected in the future.