Recipients of Awards

2025

Clinical projects up to £5000

Education Awards

Research Grants up to £12,000

2024

Dr Matthew Anson
2024 Joint JDRF – NNUKRF Research Fellowship Award
Hybrid Closed Loop Pump Initiation and Early Worsening of Diabetic Retinopathy

Matthew completed his BSc in Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology at King’s College London and graduated from Medical School with distinction from St George’s University of London in 2021. Matthew has type 1 diabetes himself and currently works as a resident doctor within the North West of England, following completion of the Academic Foundation Programme. He has a research interest in diabetes and its complications. Matthew was awarded the 2024 JDRF – Novo Nordisk UK Research Foundation Joint Fellowship to fund his research and pursue his PhD, part-time. He will be primarily supervised by Dr Uazman Alam, Reader and Honorary Consultant Physician in Diabetes and Endocrinology. Matthew’s research will focus on people with type 1 diabetes who are initialised on hybrid closed loop (HCL) technologies. It is already known that rapid reduction in HbA1c over a short period of time is associated with early worsening of diabetic retinopathy (EWDR). He will investigate the rates of EWDR in people who are newly started on HCL systems by conducting a detailed assessment of participants eyes using fundal, OCT and OCT-A imaging techniques. He will investigate the risk factors and mechanisms underpinning EWDR and collaborate with artificial intelligence (AI) scientists at the University of Liverpool to develop a predictive AI model of EWDR. He will additionally harness a large international database of patients and explore what factors are associated with EWDR

2023

Dr Sophie Mackay
2023 NNUKRF Research Fellowship Award
Optimising gestational diabetes care pathways: towards a personalised approach.

“My project aims to improve the way gestational diabetes is managed by personalising the care that patients receive. It involves developing a medical app which can be used to predict pregnancy outcomes and which can help doctors and patients make decisions about care. Using the app as a decision support tool, I will investigate a new care pathway for patients identified as being at lower risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. This project will put the views of patients at its centre throughout and will involve other key stakeholders including health professionals. I am grateful to Novo Nordisk UK Research Foundation for sponsoring this fellowship which will be the basis for my PhD.”

2022

Dr Rabbi Swaby
2022 NNUKRF Research Fellowship
Redesigning the pathway to diagnosis in childhood type 1 diabetes

“I am grateful to Novo Nordisk UK Research Foundation for sponsoring this fellowship as part of my DPhil at the University of Oxford, which aims to optimise the pathway to diagnosis in children with early type 1 diabetes as part of my DPhil at the University of Oxford. A mixed method approach will be used to; synthesise evidence on tests used to predict progression to clinical type 1 diabetes, assess a capillary alternative to the standard venous oral glucose tolerance test, explore the experience of children, parents and healthcare professionals involved in follow-up, and test the feasibility of follow-up of children in the UK with early type 1 diabetes.”

2021

Elena Tsompanaki
2021 NNUKRF Research Fellowship Award
The impact of total diet replacement for remission of type 2 diabetes (on disordered eating; for better or for worse?)

Elena is an HCPC registered dietitian with research interests in type 2 diabetes, behavioural interventions and the impact of weight loss programmes on mental health and disordered eating.

Elena was awarded the 2021 Novo Nordisk Research Foundation Fellowship in Clinical Diabetes to fund her research and pursue her DPhil (PhD). She is supervised by Professor Paul Aveyard, Dr Dimitrios Koutoukidis and Professor Rebecca Park. During my DPhil, Elena aims to investigate the impact of total diet replacement for type 2 diabetes remission on disorder eating, by conducting a clinical trial to monitor the changes in disordered eating symptoms during the programme. She will also collect qualitative data on the experiences of participants during the programme.

Elena has previously worked as a senior Specialist dietitian in two hospitals in London (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust), where she had the opportunity to conduct service evaluations in various specialities to improve patient care, in addition to her clinical role. She was also the Research Champion for Dietetics, as she aspires to encourage more Allied Healthcare Professionals to be involved in research. Her first post in the NHS was a dietetic research assistant role, investigating the gastrointestinal tolerance of pre-digested feeds in critically ill patients.

Prior to working as a clinical dietitian, Elena completed my MSc in Clinical and Public Health Nutrition at UCL with distinction. Elena’s MSc thesis focused on the impact of diet on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Prior to her MSc, she completed her undergraduate training on Nutritional Science and Dietetics in Harokopio University of Athens.

The NHS has started a trial-run of a weight loss programme replacing food  with  shakes and soups providing ~ 860 kcal/day for  3  months,  offered  to people with  newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes to  lose  weight and put their diabetes into remission. Some healthcare professionals and charities are sceptical about the programme’s effect on people’s mental health. They fear it may trigger people to have a negative relationship with food (disordered eating). Some studies show indirectly that these programmes are somewhat safe; however we do not know for sure if it could affect people’s relationship with food for the worse. 154 people with type 2 diabetes and disordered eating will be invited (picked up by questionnaires they will fill in) to participate in a trial. Of these people, 77 will get TDR and the rest will get their standard care. Scores of disordered eating and changes will be measured at 1, 3, 4, 6 and 12 months. Elena also plans to explore and understand their experiences using TDR and their thoughts about eating and body image. This study will help shed light on how safe this type of diet is for people with disordered eating. It may lead to screening for eating disorders if TDR becomes standard care. If concerns are unfounded, it can reassure people with type 2 diabetes and healthcare professionals.

Elena also is currently doing a systematic review of the impact of different weight loss programmes on disordered eating. This work will help identify potential alternatives for people with T2D who still wish to pursue weight loss as a way of putting their diabetes in remission, without worsening of their disordered eating, if found that this is the case with TDR.

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