Alzheimer’s Research UK: Inspire Fund

Overview

This scheme is part of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s work to build the understanding of dementia and share the benefits of dementia research.

The information here relates to the seed fund, which is open to new applicants to the Inspire Fund.

Past grant holders are eligible to apply to the follow-on fund, and should contact the Involvement & Engagement team for more information - engage@alzheimersresearchuk.org

Eligibility

The seed funding call is open to new applicants to the Inspire Fund.

They particularly encourage collaborative applications, and those that build relationships between communities and researchers.

Projects can use a range of methods to engage with their audience, and they welcome applications using creative or innovative approaches to explore the topic of brain health and dementia. They encourage applicants to consider their audience when selecting methods of engagement, to ensure people are able to take part.

They are particularly interested in receiving applications from the following regions:

• Devolved nations - Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales
• North West England
• Yorkshire and North East England
• The Midlands
• East Anglia

Location of previously funded grants

The Inspire Fund is focussed on the UK, and lead applicants will need to be based in the UK and delivering projects based in the UK.

Projects can have consultants, collaborators or partners based outside the UK, and they are aware that this may result in additional impacts occurring outside the UK.

Criteria

Inspire Fund projects must meet both core criteria:

1. Projects must engage with underserved audiences on the topic of dementia, such as minority ethnic communities, marginalised or socioeconomically disadvantaged people.
2. Build knowledge and understanding about brain health (in the context of dementia risk reduction) and explore ways to encourage behaviour change.

With the nature of seed funding, they estimate projects will run for up to 12 months. If applicants are establishing new relationships with partners, they know from experience that this important stage can take longer than expected. 

The Inspire Fund was created to engage the public with the topic of dementia, through creating dialogue, sparking action for change, and involving a wider diversity of people in work related to dementia research. As such, projects can produce insight into public attitudes and values, as well as strategies for behaviour change and effective public engagement. Insight and evidence such as this can lead to peer-reviewed research publications, to help share and disseminate the findings and grow the impact of projects. As such, projects in which there are research outputs as a secondary aim of the project are in remit, but there must be a clear involvement of the public or people affected by dementia in the project.

Alzheimer’s Research UK funds biomedical and clinical research to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. There are separate funding schemes to support this type of research and you can find out more on their Grants page. Social or carer-focussed research falls outside of their charitable remit.

Alzheimer’s Research UK funds biomedical and clinical research to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. There are separate funding schemes to support this type of research and you can find out more on their Grants page. Social or carer-focussed research falls outside of their charitable remit.

The Inspire Fund is focussed on the UK, and lead applicants will need to be based in the UK and delivering projects based in the UK.

Projects can have consultants, collaborators or partners based outside the UK, and they are aware that this may result in additional impacts occurring outside the UK.

Funding

Seed fund applicants can apply for up to £5,000 for their project. They expect to fund 4-6 seed fund projects in this round.

They will also be awarding follow on funding to past Inspire Fund grant holders, to grow the scale and impact of their previous projects, with grants of up to £20,000 per project.

• In 2019, they awarded £98,974 across 8 project.
• In 2021, they awarded £149,375.77 across 8 projects.
• In 2022, they awarded £157,049.50 across 10 projects.
• In 2024, they awarded £104,734 across 6 seed fund projects and 4 follow-on fund projects.

Note - they receive high levels of interest in the Inspire Fund. In 2024, they received 90 seed fund applications, and funded 6 projects. As such, the scheme is competitive and applications are carefully reviewed against the judging criteria.  

The grant is intended to cover the following:

• Salaries or fees for people who are essential to the proposal such as project lead, researchers, artists or consultants that aren't already covered by another grant.
• Participant costs if relevant.
• Materials and consumables.
• Equipment that is essential to the project.
• Production costs, including marketing.
• Travel and subsistence relevant to the proposal.
• Room hire.
• Catering.
• Accessibility costs (e.g. BSL translation).
• Evaluation and dissemination of the work.
• Contingency (up to 5% of total cost).

Application Notes

The application is a chance for you to showcase your idea and what you want to achieve. They’ll capture the following in the online form: 

• Your contact details, so that they can follow up with you.
• Your role, where you are based in the UK and whether you are applying on behalf of a group or organisation. 

They will ask you to briefly outline your project idea in 800 words. You should try to briefly cover the following: 

• An outline of what you want to do with the funding.
• An outline of the outcomes you want to achieve with the project.
• Describe who you want to reach (a community you are a part of, or another target audience).
• What is the purpose or need for this project.
• Whether you have existing partners or are looking to meet potential partners to deliver your project. What expertise you may be seeking from partners.
  • They believe that having partners, collaborators or consultants for your project will strengthen it, and help it to have more impact. They would particularly like projects to have dementia research professionals as partners, to be able to link these projects to research relating to brain health and dementia.
    • They can support successful applicants with partnership building, making introductions with their contacts and networks.