Launched in 2017, the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the single biggest investment the UK has ever made in dementia thanks to £290 million from founding funders the Medical Research Council (MRC), Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. 

Around 850,000 people in the UK have dementia and the number of people affected will continue to grow as the population ages. There are currently no effective therapeutics for any of the neurodegenerative conditions that give rise to dementia. The Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020 set a target for research to identify treatments for dementia by 2025. The UK DRI is leading the UK’s dementia research efforts and tackling the huge challenge of the condition, which is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales. 

Dementia represents one of the toughest medical and economic challenges facing our society today. The UK DRI is here to change this. The institute will transform treatment and care for people with dementia. We are leading the way in early diagnosis and uncovering how to prevent dementia. With this boost in funding, it’s time to catch up with the knowledge base acquired in other diseases.

We’re revolutionary in scale and scope. The UK DRI breaks new ground by bringing together world-leading expertise in biomedical, care and translational dementia research in a national institute currently made up of over 350 researchers, plus over 150 students and a support team of over 50, all growing rapidly.

The institute carries out research relevant to all dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, Huntington’s disease and beyond.

Our hub is based at UCL, with our centres hosted at: University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London and King’s College London. The Care Research & Technology centre at Imperial joined in 2019.