Opportunity status:
Open
Funders:
UK Research and Innovation,
Funding type:
Other
Publication date:
22 April 2026
Opening date:
23 April 2026 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
4 June 2026 4:00pm UK time
The Dementia Challenge is an invitation only opportunity, you must have completed the mandatory Expression of Interest to apply.
Submit an application if you have a clinical intervention or technological innovation that could:
* shorten the time it takes to diagnose dementia in the NHS
* enhance early detection of clinical change following diagnosis
* be deployed in the NHS from 2029
Healthcare professionals, businesses and researchers can take part.
Successful clinical interventions will receive a fully funded real-world evaluation to generate the evidence needed for wider adoption across the NHS.
Who can apply
To be eligible, your business must be a UK based legal entity.
Healthcare practitioners and researchers based at an eligible organisation in the UK can apply. .
Please email the Health Team [email: ] if your application is being supported by a part of your organisation which is based outside the UK.
You can only apply for this opportunity if we have invited you to do so following a successful Expression of Interest.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
* career breaks
* support for people with caring responsibilities
* flexible working
* alternative working patterns
UKRI can during the application and assessment process.
What we're looking for
The R&D MAP Health Mission is seeking applications from researchers, healthcare practitioners and industry.
We are looking for clinical interventions and technological innovations that could support the delivery of the dementia challenge:
The challenge aims to identify, develop, validate and implement innovations and clinical interventions for the NHS that have the potential to ensure that, by 2029, 92% of patients referred for dementia assessment receive a diagnosis within 18 weeks of referral.
We are looking for Interventions and Innovations that:
* shorten time to diagnosis
* enhance early detection of clinical change following diagnosis
* are capable of deployment from 2029
Clinical Interventions
Clinical interventions must have been evaluated in at least a single-site pilot.
They must deliver at least one of the following:
* shortened time from referral to dementia diagnosis
* improved staging of disease state
* improved prognostic data to guide patient and carer support
* reduced resource requirement
* enhanced operational efficiency
* improved patient outcomes
Technological Innovations
Technological innovations must:
* be intended for dementia diagnosis or tracking of disease progression in people already living with a dementia diagnosis
* be medical devices or In Vitro Diagnostics (IVDs) and have or be near to regulatory clearance (UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) or CE (Conformité Européenne) mark. For clarity, if not already cleared for sale in the UK, a technology must have a roadmap and delivery plan for regulatory clearance to be in place no later than the end of March 2029
* have evidence of clinical safety and efficacy, through RCT data or clinically robust real-world evidence
All interventions and innovations must:
* have been tested with user groups
* be scalable for routine use across the NHS
* include a clear roadmap for implementation in the NHS
* have support of a clinical champion to support real-world evaluation and, subject to milestone completion, rollout at scale and pace across the UK
* demonstrated understanding of the resources required to train and support adoption
* articulate the value proposition for stakeholders
Evidence of efficiency gains or health economic benefit is desirable.
Expectations for commercial organisations
Alongside the innovation or intervention commercial organisations should provide:
* training
* clinical support
* technical support
This must be provided for the duration of the evaluation period (up to two years) at zero cost.
Benefits for successful clinical interventions and technological innovations
Successful innovations or interventions will receive a fully funded real-world evaluation tailored to generate the evidence required for widescale adoption across the UK. It is estimated that a real-world evaluation would begin at the start of 2027 and could run for up to two years.
This includes:
* partnership with clinical research lead and clinical infrastructure
* collaborative protocol development
* evaluation monitoring, data collection and analysis support
* write-up and dissemination
* access to the evaluation data generated for analysis and modelling to drive product and service enhancement
* support for fast-track regulatory clearance in the UK
* guidance on commissioning, procurement and the development of a market access strategy for the NHS across the devolved nations
* publication and presentation of evaluation results as part of a national campaign to raise awareness for the dementia challenge
Where two successful technologies or interventions have the potential to complement each other in clinical practice, the panel may recommend that they are evaluated together under a single real world evaluation protocol. An example of this could be the use of a new approach to brain imaging and an AI-based automated image analysis tool.
Project partner
A project partner is a collaborating organisation in the UK, who will have an integral role in the proposed innovation or intervention. Please email the Health Team if your proposal is being supported by a project partner based outside the UK.
You may include project partners that will support your project through cash or in-kind contributions, such as:
* staff time
* access to equipment
* sites or facilities
* the provision of data
* software or materials
* recruitment of people as research participants
* providing samples, such as human tissue, for the project
Each project partner must provide a statement of support.
Who cannot be included as a project partner
Any individual included in your application cannot also be a project partner.
Any organisation that employs a member of the application core team cannot be a project partner organisation. This includes other departments within the same organisation.
If you are collaborating with someone in your organisation, consider including them in the core team as project co-lead, or specialist. They cannot be a project partner.
Supporting skills and talent
We encourage you to follow the principles of the and the .
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See, including where applicants can find additional support.
How to apply
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service, so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
Only the lead organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
If the lead organisation is a business or an NHS organisation, check it is available in the Funding Service. You are encouraged to check this early as there may be additional steps for the organisation to be set up before you can apply.
To apply
You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following an expression of interest. The start application link will be provided via email:
1. Confirm you are the project lead.
2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email
Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any award that might be offered to you.
3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office, if applicable.
5. If applicable send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
6. If applicable your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
If your organisation is a business, or if it does not have a research office, you may submit your application directly and disregard steps four to six.
The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.
When including images, you must:
* provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)
* insert each new image on a new line
* use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format
Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include:
* sentences or paragraphs of text
* tables
* excessive quantities of images
A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
* * *
References
References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:
* references are easily identifiable by the assessors
* references are formatted as appropriate to your research
* persistent identifiers are used where possible
General use of hyperlinks
Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.
For more information see our policy on the .
Deadline
UKRI must receive your application by 4 June 2026 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Following the submission of your application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
Processing personal data
MRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our .
UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with Alzheimer’s Society so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how the Alzheimer’s Society uses personal information, visit .
UKRI will also need to share submitted application data with other bodies in the health space for the purposes of matching the technological innovations and clinical interventions with the organisations that will complete the real-world evaluation.
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
* individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
* declaration of interest
* additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
* conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
* the application is an invited resubmission
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read .
Publication of outcomes
UKRI will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity. Details of where the outcomes will be published will be available in due course.
Summary
Word limit: 10
Please input N/A in the box below.
The summary will be included in the Intended use and clinical need section.
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
* project lead (PL)
* project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
* professional enabling staff
Only list one individual as project lead. If you include more than one project lead your application will fail at the checking stage.
For the purposes of this opportunity the definition of Professional enabling staff will include:
* healthcare professionals
* relevant employees within the lead organisation (for example finance, accounting, marketing research and development and technical or operational)