Doctoral Training Centres

Budget:

Up to £3,175,000  

Duration:

5 cohort years 

Programme Objectives: 

Alzheimer’s Society is excited to announce that, in line with our strategy and research mission to support the next generation of dementia research leaders, we will be investing up to £9 million to support doctoral training.  

In addition to generating new knowledge on the dementia theme, the DTCs will bring together diverse areas of expertise to provide exceptional support and training with plenty of opportunities for collaboration.  

Our Doctoral Training Centres will support multi-disciplinary centres of excellence in research training. The DTCs must be multi-institutional across two or more institutions, and we encourage best with best collaboration across as many institutions as appropriate.  

The longer grant will allow the development of high-quality training programmes and for cohorts to truly embed and learn from each other with a critical mass of students and supervisors.

The DTCs should demonstrate how the students will benefit from the cohort approach both within cohort years and across cohort years as well as from interactions with all supervisors and the DTC training programme.  

Key dates and deadlines for research grant applications

Example application form 

Award

Each DTC will have funding for 5 cohorts with a mid-term review in year 3 to assess progress against objectives.

Alzheimer’s Society will fund 4 students per cohort year to conduct a 4-year PhD with a requirement that the DTC match this with a minimum of 1 studentship per year. This would give each DTC a cohort of at least 5 students per year with a total of at least 25 students over the 5 cohort years.  

We expect DTCs to seek significant leverage and be co-developed with relevant non-academic stakeholders and users of research including people affected by dementia. 

One Clinical Training Fellowship per year can be included, please see the applicant guidance details on how to structure a DTC with Clinical Training Fellowships. Funding is provided for three years full-time or four years part-time.  

Per studentship, this includes:   

• Student stipend (in line with our applicant guidance)   
• University PhD fees at UK rates   
• £10,000 per annum to cover research costs   
• £1,000 per annum for career development (including conference attendance, training, lab visits, travel).  

Additional DTC programme funding:  

• Up to £10,000 per cohort annum (£50,000 total) for engagement activities   

See our applicant guidance for more details. All costs must be justified.    

Eligibility  

Applications should be opened and made by one Lead Applicant (primary point of contact) and supported by co-applicants from the other institutions. All institutions involved must be in the UK and the Lead Applicant must have a contract within their institution which covers the duration of the award.   

Each institution involved should highlight a lead who is responsible for the coordination of the students within their institution and sit on the project team across institutions.   

Students do not need to be from the UK, nor resident for any amount of time before the award begins. However, Alzheimer's Society will provide student fees up to the UK rate only.   

Funding is not available for studentships that have already commenced.  

For full eligibility criteria, please check our applicant guidance. 

Remit  

Alzheimer’s Society funds cutting-edge and impactful research into dementia. Applications are accepted for research projects addressing key unanswered questions within the dementia field.    

Each Doctoral Training Centre grant should have programmatic themes and studentships should be linked to a common aim or utilise similar techniques or resources. We are seeking cohesive programmes where there is clear opportunity for students to interact with each other.   

Applicants should consider how their project can contribute to Alzheimer’s Society’s strategy and research mission.