The research is to investigate the complex relationship between diabetes, physical and cognitive decline, and ageing which is currently an area understudied. This will involve new, machine learning analytics, that will monitor the key diabetes markers (blood glucose, insulin, carbohydrates), physical activity measures and cognitive assessment to provide individuals with better information about their own health and support service planning and provision for health, social and community care.
The Healthy Aging Catalyst Awards are an international competition, run in the UK by UKRI, that attracted 1,500 bids of which only eleven awards were won by UK based researchers. The awards will start this November and in addition to the funding, the award holders will also benefit from a structured support programme to maximise the reach and impact of their research.
On winning the funding Dr Benaissa says ‘This funding will help us integrate activity and cognitive performance metrics into our diabetes management system to further improve our existing technology platform and bring this a step closer to individuals and their carers. The research going forward will allow us to have a better understanding of the complex relationship between diabetes and ageing”
For more information about this research please contact Dr Benaissa on m.benaissa@sheffield.ac.uk and for more information about UKRI Healthy Aging Catalyst Awards visit https://www.ukri.org/news/uk-innovators-win-grants-in-global-healthy-ageing-competition/.