While funded entirely by Race Against Dementia, Alzheimer’s Research UK will handle the application and review processes, administer funds, and lead on impact and progress reporting.

Alzheimer’s Research UK is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities and follows their guidelines for best practice in peer review. Grants are awarded entirely on scientific merit in relation to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s remit and on the basis of open competition. The quality of the application and applicants is the key determinant of outcome, although the strength of the dementia research environment within the institution is also considered.

Triage

Alzheimer’s Research UK Grant Review Board (GRB) members will be asked to read a subset of applications related to their area of expertise and provide a score based on whether an application should proceed to the next stage of review.

External review

Applications requesting funding of over £50,000 per year are sent for external peer review. Applications are sent to three to five researchers worldwide who specialise in the area of the application, but who do not have a conflict of interest and are not a member of the GRB. The comments made by the external reviewers are made available to the GRB members.

Review response

The applicants are provided with anonymised copies of the external peer reviews and given the opportunity to provide a written response.

Lay review

Applications for research studies that involve people require lay review. Applicants are requested to complete a lay summary of their application which is sent to lay review volunteers for comments. The comments made by lay reviewers are made available to the GRB members.

Discussion at GRB meeting

This session of the GRB meeting will be chaired by Professor Siddharthan Chandran (University of Edinburgh). Each application is allocated to two GRB members, based roughly on their areas of expertise. The two members will present the application to the rest of the board, including any relevant information from external reviews or applicant responses. A short discussion will follow before the GRB score the application and decide whether or not to call the prospective Fellow to interview. The GRB meeting will be observed by a representative from Race Against Dementia.

Interview

Ahead of the interviews, candidates will be asked to provide a short video explaining the proposed research to RAD Trustees. Guidelines on format and content will be provided.

Interviews normally take place in the fortnight following the GRB meeting. The interview panel will comprise a subset of the GRB, a representative from Race Against Dementia and representatives from Alzheimer’s Research UK. The interview will be chaired by Professor Siddharthan Chandran (University of Edinburgh). Prospective RAD Fellows will be asked to give a 15-20-minute PowerPoint presentation on their work, followed by questions from the Panel.

Trustees meetings

Those applications recommended for funding by the GRB will be presented to the RAD and Alzheimer's Research UK Boards of Trustees for final approval.

Success rate

In the last funding round Alzheimer's Research UK received 9 applications. 3 of these were awarded funding.