UK Dementia Research Institute

Working in the lab

Seven centres.

One vision

As a founding charity partner for the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI), Alzheimer’s Society has pledged £50 million towards the single biggest investment in dementia research the UK has ever seen.

UK Dementia Research Institute 

The UK DRI is a landmark initiative. It unites seven centres to transform dementia discovery science, speeding up the global search for preventions, treatments and technologies that change lives. 

Alzheimer's Society is supporting the UK DRI alongside the Medical Research Council and Alzheimer's Research UK.

The best brains in dementia research

The UK DRI is already proving to be a magnet for the best of the best. 

700 of the world’s leading dementia scientists are uniting like never before to catalyse progress towards improved care, treatment and, ultimately, a cure. 

Led from the UK DRI headquarters at University College London and based across the UK at:

  • University of Cambridge
  • Cardiff University
  • University of Edinburgh
  • Imperial College London
  • King’s College London
Will you stand with us?

Dementia research is on the brink of a eureka moment. We will be standing with the research community when that moment comes. Help us bring change for everyone affected by dementia.

Donate now

Bringing us closer to a cure 

Within the next five to ten years, we are confident that these brilliant individuals – working together – will deliver tangible innovations in dementia treatment, prevention, diagnosis and support that enable millions of people to go on living fulfilling lives for longer. 

At the same time, by filling critical knowledge gaps about the causes of dementia, they will lay the foundations for a cure: encouraging the global research community, as well as leading pharmaceutical companies, to massively increase investment in dementia science – confident of where the ultimate solution is likely to be found.

UK DRI Care and Technology centre

Alzheimer’s Society has championed a state-of-the-art new £20 million Care Research and Technology centre led by Professor David Sharp at Imperial College London in collaboration with the University of Surrey.

Here, researchers will develop new devices to monitor and support people to live well with dementia and allow them to live at home for longer. The goal is to combine UK DRI innovations into a model healthy home and achieve full integration with care pathways.

'Any of the 50 programmes in the UK DRI has the potential to reveal the eureka moment a scientist longs for – a discovery that fundamentally changes how we approach or treat a disease.'
- Professor Bart De Strooper, Director of the UK DRI

Keep up to date

Find out about the latest news from the UK DRI, and sign up for Alzheimer's Society's monthly email update about dementia research.

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