This is the latest instalment in the long-standing collaboration between the HRB and members of Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI), an umbrella body. The projects have been funded through the HRCI-HRB joint funding scheme and include research on enhancing social connections for people with dementia, tackling visual impairments and sight loss, new treatments for cancers such as gastric and ovarian cancer, and promoting healthy sleep among new parents.  A full list of the awards and the participating charities is available below.

Dr Mairead O’Driscoll, Chief Executive at the HRB said,

“We’re very proud that this is the twelfth round of the HRCI-HRB joint funding scheme that started way back in 2006.  Including the 12 awards in this round, we have now made 163 awards in total and invested over €28 million with members of Health Research Charities Ireland.

“We’re delighted to support research that is of such direct strategic importance to charities, and that can make a real difference to people’s lives.”

Dr Avril Kennan Chief Executive Officer of Health Research Charities Ireland added,

“We are delighted to see the culmination of the tremendous work by our member charities and research teams, leading to the funding of excellent projects focused on improving the lives of people with various health conditions and challenges.

“The active involvement of charities and their communities ensures that this research is meaningful & relevant to the people it aims to support, increasing the likelihood of tangible improvements in quality of life.

We, along with our member charities, deeply value this important partnership with the HRB.”

According to Dr Anne Cody, Head of Investigator Led Grants, Research Careers & Enablers at the HRB,

“This scheme is unique in that the HRB co-funds research that addresses the priorities of each charity partner by contributing either 50 or 75 percent to the direct costs depending on the size of the charity. We are not aware of any similar scheme in the world. Where expertise is not available in Ireland, funding can go to research institutions outside of Ireland which is particularly beneficial for rare disease charities.”

Each charity selected which applications they wanted to short-list, taking into account their own priorities and informed by scientific peer review. Applications from all 11 participating charities were then assessed by a panel. The panel included international scientific experts who assessed the science, and public panel members, who assessed the level of involvement of the public or patients in the decision making around the research. The public voice is central to this scheme with public panel member ratings used to adjust scientific scores and thus influence final project rankings.

A list of the successful awards is available here.

The next round of the HRCI-HRB Joint Funding Scheme is expected to open around August 2025.