Following the exciting announcement in April about a new partnership between the Steve Morgan Foundation, Diabetes UK and JDRF to invest £50m into game-changing type 1 diabetes research, we have opened our first funding round. We’re calling on scientists to submit research proposals that could be transformational for people with type 1 diabetes.

First-class research cannot happen without first class researchers. Diabetes UK and JDRF are committed to nurturing the diabetes research leaders of the future, so for the first research call we have worked together to develop a new senior fellowship programme.

Supporting the best research minds

Fellowships are awards for individual researchers that support them to develop their careers, build their own research teams, and make diabetes research their life’s work.

The new Type 1 Diabetes Senior Research Fellowship will allow exceptional researchers, with a track-record of impactful research, to become world leaders in their field and lead the race for new treatments and a cure for type 1 diabetes.

The fellowship will award scientists up to £1.5 million to research:

• the root causes of type 1 diabetes, and/or
• treatments to replace or rescue insulin-making beta cells in people with type 1 diabetes

These areas, along with novel insulins, were identified as carrying the most potential to improve the lives of people with type 1 diabetes and propel us towards a cure.

The research community will have until September 2022 to shape their ideas and apply for the fellowship. Diabetes UK and JDRF will then work with research experts and people living with or affected by type 1 diabetes to review the applications. They will select those submitted by researchers with exceptional track-records and that involve the highest quality science, with the greatest chance of benefiting people with type 1 diabetes. We expect to announce the final funding decisions in early 2023 and will keep you updated.

This fellowship will be administered by Diabetes UK on behalf of the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge Partnership.

If you’re a diabetes researcher, find out more information about the call and application process.

Following the exciting announcement in April about a new partnership between the Steve Morgan Foundation, Diabetes UK and JDRF to invest £50m into game-changing type 1 diabetes research, we have opened our first funding round. We’re calling on scientists to submit research proposals that could be transformational for people with type 1 diabetes.

First-class research cannot happen without first class researchers. Diabetes UK and JDRF are committed to nurturing the diabetes research leaders of the future, so for the first research call we have worked together to develop a new senior fellowship programme.

Supporting the best research minds

Fellowships are awards for individual researchers that support them to develop their careers, build their own research teams, and make diabetes research their life’s work.

The new Type 1 Diabetes Senior Research Fellowship will allow exceptional researchers, with a track-record of impactful research, to become world leaders in their field and lead the race for new treatments and a cure for type 1 diabetes.

The fellowship will award scientists up to £1.5 million to research:

• the root causes of type 1 diabetes, and/or
• treatments to replace or rescue insulin-making beta cells in people with type 1 diabetes

These areas, along with novel insulins, were identified as carrying the most potential to improve the lives of people with type 1 diabetes and propel us towards a cure.

“We want to help bring about change for the whole type 1 community,” explains Steve. “The community is a tight family made up of those who have type 1 and those who care for them. The Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge aims to find better solutions for everyone.”

Steve and Sally were introduced to the type 1 community and the relentless daily management of the condition when Sally’s son Hugo was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of seven.

“Hugo was diagnosed whilst we were on holiday in Antigua,” says Sally. “Despite having all the tell-tale signs: sudden weight loss, lethargy, excessive drinking etc. we had not comprehended how seriously poorly he was. As with any recent diagnosis understanding how to manage Hugo’s diabetes was a huge learning curve, both practically and mentally.”

Steve adds: “The diagnosis was a shock but we quickly got on the case – we weren’t going to take it lying down! Following his diagnosis in July, he went onto a pump in September. We’re constantly looking at new technologies and asking if we should be looking at smart pens, different sensors and more.”

While technology plays an important part in the management of Hugo’s type 1, Steve and Sally believe in the power of research to bring about better treatments, and eventually a cure.

Steve and Sally were introduced to JDRF and the world of type 1 research when Hugo was being cared for by the Countess of Chester Hospital. Sally explains: “Hugo was given a KIDSAC that contained Rufus the bear. That bear especially helped Hugo, he would frequently use it to practice injections and explain his condition to teachers and classmates. Philanthropy is important to us, so I decided to do some due diligence into JDRF as a charity. We liked what we learned and 12 months after Hugo’s diagnosis we approached the charity about making a meaningful donation.”

Steve and Sally have a long history of philanthropic giving. In 2001 Steve founded the Steve Morgan Foundation to support projects that help children and families, people with physical or learning disabilities, the elderly, or those that are socially disadvantaged in North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire. Since its launch, the Foundation has committed assets of £300 million for charities and supported over 2,000 grants, which have benefitted over 3 million people.

“Four years ago, we donated £3m to JDRF,” says Steve. “We wanted it to go directly into research. We followed through with subsequent grants. We’ve never, ever just sat back and written cheques. We don’t want what we donate to end up being swallowed up by the administration costs, we want it to go directly to where it’s needed. In this case to finding a cure for Type I diabetes.”

The latest donation of £50 million to Diabetes UK and JDRF will be directed into three main avenues of research. Over the next five years the partnership will challenge scientists to come up with pioneering research ideas focusing on new insulins, treatments to stop the immune system’s attack on insulin-making beta cells and treatments to rescue and replace beta cells.

“When we told Hugo about the £50m donation, he just burst into tears and gave Steve a great big hug,” says Sally. “It shows the size of what he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis due to his type 1 diabetes. The donation is for everyone living with type 1, it gives hope.”

The scale of the donation and ambitions of the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge will allow the partnership to make bigger strides forward in the search for more effective treatments and eventually a cure, giving everyone with type 1 hope that in the future type 1 diabetes won’t be the continuous burden that it currently is.

“It would be in our wildest dreams to get a cure at the end of these five years,” says Steve. “If nothing else it will bring forward that day.”