Current research

To 2010, we have funded over 360 research projects on healthy ageing, the specific diseases and disabilities of ageing and the biology of the ageing process. As a result, significant advances have been made in the understanding, prevention, diagnosis, management and treatment of age-related health problems.

We have a history of encouraging research in under-researched areas, including falls, incontinence, mental health, wound healing in relation to age, age-related sensory loss and the ageing immune system.

From 2012, we will make grants through the Research into Ageing Fund for research to improve the health and wellbeing of older people. We continue to encourage research in areas of health and wellbeing that affect large numbers of older people but are under-researched, and to build capacity in ageing research in the UK. Read more about our remit and funding.

At present, we are funding some 45 research projects in the following categories:

Cognitive impairment
Dementia
Other neurodegenerative disorders
Delirium
Stroke
Incontinence
Muscles, exercise and falls
Immune system
Wound healing
Hearing
Vision
Nutrition
The ageing cardiovascular system
Healthy ageing
The ageing process

Thirteen grants were awarded in 2010/11 for the following projects.

Type of award	Host institution	Grant holder	Category	Research project title	Duration
Senior Research Fellowship *	University of Manchester	Dr Matthew Hardman	Wound healing	Selective manipulation of estrogen signalling to accelerate wound healing in older people	3 years
Research Fellowship	University of Surrey	Dr John Young	Incontinence	Inter-cellular communication within the bladder wall of older overactive bladder patients refractory to anti-muscarinics: guiding drug development and clinical practice	2 years
Clinical Research Fellowship	Newcastle University	Dr Claire McDonald	Cardiovascular system	A prospective evaluation of the associations of neurocardiovascular instability in community-dwelling older people	3 years
PhD Studentship	University of Surrey	Professor Jian-Mei Li	Cardiovascular system	Accumulative oxidative stress and cardiovascular dysfunction in ageing: Nox2 as a potential therapeutic target to improve cardiovascular function in older people	3 years
PhD Studentship	University of Edinburgh	Professor Sergio Della Sala	Cognitive impairment	Improving memory in amnestic MCI and Alzheimer’s Disease via minimal interference	3 years
PhD Studentship	King’s College London	Dr Angela Hodges	Dementia	RNA biomarkers of prodromal Alzheimer’s disease	3 years
PhD Studentship	University of Edinburgh	Professor Ian Deary	Healthy ageing	In how many ways can one age successfully?	2 years
PhD Studentship	University of Birmingham	Dr Mark Hollands	Muscles, exercise and falls	The relationship between anxiety, gaze direction and increased falls risk in walking older adults	3 years
PhD Studentship	University of Liverpool	Professor Alan Morgan	Neurodegeneration	Mechanisms of age-dependent neurodegeneration studied using a new C. elegans model	3 years
PhD Studentship	University of East Anglia	Professor Tracey Chapman	The ageing process	The biology of ageing: pro- and anti-ageing signals from the reproductive system	3 years
PhD Studentship	University of Oxford	Dr Lynne Cox	The ageing process	Molecular mechanisms of premature ageing in a worm model of human Werner syndrome	3 years
PhD Studentship	University of Liverpool	Dr Luminita Paraoan	Vision	Cystatin C in age-related macular degeneration: mechanism of action and consequences on cellular processes	3 years
PhD Studentship	Cardiff University	Dr Robert Steadman	Wound healing	Impaired wound healing in older people: identification of mechanisms controlling myofibroblast dysfunction	3 years

* This is the Edmund de Rothschild Senior Fellowship in Ageing Research, made in memory of the late Edmund, who was a founder of Research into Ageing.

For further information or queries on our current research programme and funding, please contact us: research@ageuk.org.uk

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Age UK
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Tel: 020 8765 7451

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Current research

At present, we are funding some 45 research projects in the following categories:

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