Research Awards on Ageing
Projects Awarded Funding in 2015
The HSE has awarded funding to five projects under the first call of the HSE Research Awards on Ageing. The research awards are part the Healthy and Positive Ageing Initiative - a joint national programme of research, data translation, health promotion and dissemination led by the Department of Health with the HSE, The Atlantic Philanthropies and Age Friendly Ireland as key partners.
Jointly funded by the HSE Health and Wellbeing Division and the Atlantic Philanthropies, the five research projects are framed around the themes of Participation, Health and Wellbeing, and Security and were chosen following an All Island open call for proposals and best practice peer review to determine the successful projects. The projects will deliver innovative research findings relevant to policy and practice in ageing and will build upon existing data on ageing in Ireland.
The HSE Research Awards on Ageing support rigorous and high quality research on positive and healthy ageing that:
- Promote original and innovative ideas in the area of healthy and active ageing.
- Provide evidence that is of direct relevance to policy makers/service providers/service users and key decision makers in the field of ageing.
- Support capacity building for career researchers who have the potential to develop as future independent researchers in the area of ageing and encourage research institutions across Ireland to access research funding, expand their research agenda and impact in the area of ageing research.
- Encourage and promote multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary/cross-sectoral research teams to work in collaboration to build upon existing, and develop new, research in ageing.
- Engage and value the contribution of older people in delivering research ideas and outputs relevant to policy and practice.
A total of 43 applications were received under the first call of the HSE Research Awards on Ageing in 2015. Applications were assessed based on a best practice peer review process. Conflict of interest and confidentiality were applied rigorously throughout the peer review process to ensure integrity and fairness. The success rate for applications was 11.6% (or 1:8.6).
Peer Review Process | Outcome |
Step 1: Review of submitted applications by the HSE Research Awards on Ageing project team to assess adherence to the specified awards criteria. | 43 applications were received by the deadline date. Two applications were deemed not to adhere to the specified awards criteria. 41 applications were progressed to Step 2. |
Step 2: Assessment and scoring of applications by two independent international evaluators. | 62 independent international evaluators assessed and scored the 41 applications. |
Step 3 Short-listing of applications by the HSE Research Awards on Ageing project team. | 12 applications were short-listed based on the independent evaluators’ scores. |
Step 4: Review and final ranking of short-listed applications by an Awards Selection Panel. | The 12 short-listed applications were reviewed by an independent Awards Selection Panel, and two were deemed ‘Not Fundable’. The Awards Selection Panel agreed to fund the top five ranked applications. |
Ranging from an assessment of the impact of austerity and policy change on older people to establishing how best to maintain social participation when people age, the projects are diverse but all aim to ultimately support the Irish population as we age. The awardees will share up to €500,000 allocated under the first funding call to support high quality, innovative and multidisciplinary research on ageing.
The HSE would like to thank everyone who participated in the first funding call, either as an applicant or external evaluator, and to extend our congratulations to the five projects that have been awarded funding in 2015.
Details of the five research projects awarded funding in 2015 are provided below.
“What are the important determinants for maintaining social participation in over 50s in Ireland? Evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)”
Grant Reference | Project Title | Project Summary | |
HaPAI/2015/RAK | “What are the important determinants for maintaining social participation in over 50s in Ireland? Evidence from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA)” | The aim of this study is to identify the important determinants for maintaining social participation in both social networking and informal caring in over 50s in Ireland. The objectives of the project are:
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Principal Investigator | Host Institution | Theme | Funding Awarded |
Prof. Rose Anne Kenny | Trinity College Dublin | Participation | €98,250 |
Grant Reference | Project Title | Project Summary | |
HaPAI/2015/CN | “Frailty-related Outcomes and health Care Use (FOCUS): Supporting Older Adults to Age in Place in Ireland” | The aim of this project is to understand how frail older adults use the Irish public health and social care system, and to determine how these patterns of use impact on a range of physical health outcomes and social indicators over a five year interval.
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Principal Investigator | Host Institution | Theme | Funding Awarded |
Prof. Charles Normand | Trinity College Dublin | Health and Wellbeing | €100,000 |
Grant Reference | Project Title | Project Summary | |
HaPAI/2015/GC | “Caregiver Stress and the Host-Microbe Interface: The Microbial Toll of a Challenging Societal Problem”+ | The hypothesis of this project is that family dementia caregiving is associated with dysregulated microbiota, as well as adverse mental health and cognitive outcomes, mediated by alterations in the metabolism of tryptophan, immune and HPA axis activation. The researchers propose that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) might act to counteract the deleterious consequences of caregiving stress across multiple domains. The researchers will interrogate the hypothesis by assessing the gut microbiome in family dementia caregivers. They will also assess psychological well-being, cognitive performance, endocrine and immune system function within these caregivers to determine how these factors may interact with microbial change. A caregiver training programme and MBSR programme will be used to ameliorate caregiver stress, and the resultant effects of these interventions on the gut microbiome will be examined. Furthermore, the research team will examine the mechanistic effects of caregivers’ microbial profile by using a faecal transplantation approach in germ-free animals. | |
Principal Investigator | Host Institution | Theme | Funding Awarded |
Dr. Gerard Clarke | University College Cork | Health and Wellbeing | €90,087.40 |
Grant Reference | Project Title | Project Summary | |
HaPAI/2015/GM | “The impact of a tailored dietary intervention coupled with oral rehabilitation on the nutritional status of older patients” | The primary aim of this study is to develop and pilot-test a habit-based tailored dietary intervention, in conjunction with oral rehabilitation, and to examine its impact on positive dietary habit-formation amongst partially dentate older adults. The secondary aims of this study are:
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Principal Investigator | Host Institution | Theme | Funding Awarded |
Dr. Gerald McKenna | Queens’ University of Belfast | Health and Wellbeing | €99,868.60 |
Grant Reference | Project Title | Project Summary | |
HaPAI/2015/AN | "Financial Security in the Older Population in Ireland: Assessing the Impact of Austerity and Policy Change” | The aim of this research is to provide new evidence for policymakers and practitioners on the financial security of the older population in Ireland. The objectives of the research project are:
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Principal Investigator | Host Institution | Theme | Funding Awarded |
Dr. Anne Nolan | Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) | Security | €95,950 |
+ This project is part-funded by the Health Research Board
The HSE will be announcing the second funding call of the HSE Research Awards on Ageing in Q1 2017. The successful projects will be awarded in 2017.
Please contact the HSE Research Awards on Ageing project team if you would like further information on the second funding call: hapai@hse.ie.