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Research committee and funding panels

Diabetes UK’s Research Committee is composed of diabetes experts, including clinical and scientific experts. The Research Committee meets twice a year to make funding decisions on project grants.   

Throughout the rest of the year, Research Committee members are called upon to make funding recommendations on early-career small grant, fellowship and, studentship applications, along with any applications submitted for strategic calls.  

We occasionally, as needed, also invite people with special expertise onto the Research Committee. 

Diabetes UK Research Committee 

As of January 2024

Chair: 

  • Professor Helen McShane, Professor of Vaccinology and Director of Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University of Oxford

Specialist experts: 

  • Professor Alan Stitt, McCauley Chair of Experimental Ophthalmology, Queen’s University Belfast 

  • Associate Professor Richard Stevens, Associated Professor of Medical Statistics, University of Oxford 

  • Professor Ines Barroso, Professor of Diabetes, University of Exeter 

  • Dr Bo Liu, Lecturer in Physiology, King's College London  

  • Dr Aileen King, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology, King's College London  

  • Professor Kathleen Gillespie, Professor of Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol  

  • Professor Sheila Greenfield, Professor of Medical Sociology, University of Birmingham 

  • Dr Rachel Besser, Consultant in Paediatric in Diabetes & Endocrinology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust  

  • Professor Lucilla Poston, Professor of Maternal & Fetal Health, King's College London 

  • Dr Beverley Shields, Senior Lecturer in Medical Statistics, University of Exeter  

  • Professor Daniel Cuthbertson, Reader and Honorary Consultant Physician, University of Liverpool  

  • Professor Gwyn Gould, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde 

  • Dr Julia Mader, Associate Professor of Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Austria  

  • Professor Nicholas Morton, Personal Chair of Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh 

  • Professor Steve Bain, Assistant Medical Director for Research & Development, Swansea University  

  • Professor Amitava Banerjee, Professor of Clinical Data Science, University College London

  • Professor Francesco Cosentino, Senior Physician and a Professor of Clinical Cardiovascular Research, Karolinska Institute

  • Professor Pamela Dyson, Research Dietitian, University of Oxford

  • Professor Justin Rochford, Senior Lecturer, University of Aberdeen

  • Professor Tunde Peto, Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology, Queen's University Belfast

  • Professor Paul Squires, Professor in Biomedical Science, University of Lincoln

  • Professor Samuel Seidu, Professor in Primary Care Diabetes and Cardio-metabolic Medicine, University of Leicester

  • Dr David Wright, Senior Lecturer in Ophthalmic Data Science, Queen's University Belfast 

  • Ms Petra Martina Baumann, Division of Endocrinology & Diabetology, Medical University of Graz

  • Dr Matthew Campbell, Principal Investigator in Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Sunderland

  • Professor Frances Game, Consultant Diabetologist, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust

  • Professor Ramzi Ajjan, Professor of Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds

  • Dr Astrid Hauge-Evans, Senior Lecturer, University of Roehampton

  • Dr Richard Oram, Diabetes UK Harry Keen Fellow, University of Exeter

  • Dr Hanieh Yaghootkar, Senior Lecturer in Precision Health and Diabetes UK RD Lawrence fellow, University of Lincoln

  • Professor Claire Meek, Professor of Chemical Pathology and Diabetes in Pregnancy, University of Leicester

  • Dr Charlotte Moffett, Lecturer in Pharmacology and Molecular Pathology, University of Ulster

The members of our Research Committee and Funding Panels agree to abide by a conflict-of-interest policy and code of conduct. 

Funding Panels 

RD Lawrence, Sir George Alberti and Harry Keen Research Training Fellowships 

Funding Panels that comprise appropriate members of the Research Committee, and may have co-opted expertise if required, review the RD Lawrence, Sir George Alberti and Harry Keen Research Training Fellowships. 

For each Fellowship round a Funding Panel made up of Research Committee members is assembled. There are times when other researchers will be invited to join the panel if specific expertise not covered by the Research Committee is required. 

Each Panel shortlists applicants based on the criteria outlined in each scheme and on comments from external peer-reviewers. Shortlisted applicants are invited for interview. 

PhD studentship 

The Funding Panel for PhD Studentships is comprised of appropriate members of the Research Committee and may have co-opted expertise if required. 

The Panel makes funding decisions based on the criteria outlined for each scheme. Applicants are not required to be interviewed. 

Grants Advisory Panel (GAP)

We’re committed to involving people living with diabetes in the research funding process. To reflect this, we established our Grants Advisory Panel (GAP), comprised of people with lived experience of diabetes or of caring for those who do, making them experts by experience. Their role is to convey the collective perspective of people living with or at risk of diabetes. 

Members of GAP work with our Research Committee to review grant applications, to ensure the research we fund is relevant and meaningful to people living with or at risk of diabetes. 

Before the Research Committee or Panel meeting, members of the GAP meet in focus groups to come up with an agreed score for each application. A representative from each focus group meeting is selected to attend the Research Committee or Panel meeting and provide feedback on behalf of the group. The GAP comments and score are considered when the final funding decisions are made. 

Their primary role is to review and score the plain English summary section and the patient and public involvement (PPI) section of research grant applications. 

GAP members – as of September 2023 

  • John Turner 

  • Clare Dowling 

  • Robert Lowndes 

  • Rohit Patel 

  • Ron McDowall 

  • Goher Ayman 

  • Jo Slesser 

  • Katerina Zachapourolou 

  • Abhijit Chakrabarti 

  • Dilys Shepherd 

  • Kay Murray  

  • Sophie Maitland Smith  

  • Kumar Varma  

  • Jessica Hibbert  

  • Gareth Price 

  • Lewis Haigh 

  • Emily Ottman 

  • Ashley Ward 

  • Anil Gumber 

  • Julie Piacentini 

  • Hannah Young 

  • Louise Greenway 

  • Carolyn Newbert 

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