Dementia Frontiers Fund
A bold, ambitious initiative empowering researchers to tackle the most urgent and complex questions in dementia.
Research partners:
Made possible by:
Dementia is the biggest global health challenge of our time. And if nothing changes, one in two people will face dementia in their lifetime, either by developing it the condition, caring for someone affected, or both.
We’ve seen huge progress in recent years in dementia research but despite these remarkable advances, there are still big challenges to overcome if we are to find a cure.
The Dementia Frontiers Fund is a bold, multi-million-pound initiative to tackle the most urgent and complex questions in dementia research.
This game-changing initiative will bring together brilliant minds from across the globe - spanning science, technology, medicine, and beyond - to collaborate, innovate, and spark breakthroughs that change lives worldwide.
Explore the Dementia Frontiers Fund questions
Can we better predict when dementia symptoms will begin or how quickly they’ll progress?
Every person’s journey with dementia is different – some people decline quickly, while other live well for many years.
Brain scans and memory tests don’t yet give us the full picture of when symptoms will appear or how fast they’ll progress.
Bringing together experts from different areas of science could help spot hidden patterns and build more accurate predictions for individuals.
A better understanding of disease stages could enable earlier, more accurate diagnosis and make trials faster, cheaper, and more efficient, speeding up the development of effective treatments.
How do the many brain changes involved in dementia interact and which matters most?
For people with dementia and their families, the wide mix of changes that happen in the brain helps explain why symptoms and disease progression can vary so widely — one person might experience memory loss, while another has problems with movement.
Most current treatments focus on just one cause, but people living with dementia often live with several changes in their brains at once.
By better understanding how these processes fit together and contribute to the disease, scientists can develop treatments that address the whole picture, not just one piece.
Why do some people live to an old age without ever developing symptoms, despite having known risk factors for dementia?
Some people have protein build-up and other signs of dementia in their brains but never show symptoms, suggesting hidden protective factors at work.
These factors might include genes, lifestyle choices, or biological processes that help the brain stay healthy for longer.
If researchers can uncover these protective mechanisms, they could be turned into new treatments that keep people well, even when the disease is present.
Find out more about funding available
If you are a researcher that would like to apply for this fund, find out more on our researcher page.
Find out more about funding this initiative
If you would like to find out more about supporting this groundbreaking research, please contact philanthropyandpartnerships@alzheimersresearchuk.org
