Brain Awareness Week: 76 organisations call for urgent investment into neurological research

10/03/2025

This Brain Awareness Week (10-16 March) the national Neurological Alliances of England, Scotland and Wales, and the Northern Ireland Neurological Charities Alliance are working together to raise awareness of the critical need for more research on neurological conditions and calling on the UK Government to #InvestInNeuroResearch.

Facts and figures

A shocking study shows that neurological conditions are now the leading cause of ill health worldwide. Conditions such as epilepsy, dementia, Parkinson’s, and Motor Neurone Disease are just some of the 600+ neurological conditions that impact millions of people across the UK. Despite at least 1 in 6 people living with a neurological condition, there is severely limited research on these life altering conditions. Figures show that neurological research received just 8.9% of the UK’s total health research expenditure in 2022. Researchers working on transformative projects face losing their jobs due to insecure funding, clinical trials are limited in their number, and short funding cycles make sustained research challenging. This leaves countless people feeling lost, with little known about what causes their condition or what possible treatments, interventions or methods for managing their condition might be available. This has to change.

Calling for change

Throughout Brain Awareness Week, the Neurological Alliances and their charity members will be showcasing the different voices, lives and work impacted by research. Hearing from people living with neurological conditions and researchers working to understand these conditions, a powerful series of videos will be released illustrating the importance of prioritising research into these complex and life altering conditions.

Sam Mountney, Policy and External Affairs Manager at The Neurological Alliance (England) says: “Despite affecting at least one in six people across the UK, neurological conditions are often not seen by government as a priority area for research. We’re pleased to join with Neurological Alliances across the UK and more than 70 organisations in calling for neurological conditions to receive the research funding and attention they need.

Alongside the letter to the Secretary of State, the powerful testimonies of researchers, clinicians and the neurological community set out why our collective call to #InvestInNeuroResearch is so important.

Brain Awareness Week is a vital opportunity to raise the profile of neurological conditions and we’re proud to champion the #InvestInNeuroReserach campaign to improve outcomes and quality of life for the one in six with a neurological condition now and in the future.”

Hester Lee, Programme Co-ordinator at The Neurological Alliance of Scotland says: “Neurological conditions can affect anyone, at any age, and at any time, yet there is still such a limited understanding of how these conditions impact people. This directly affects the availability and quality of treatment, care and support people with neurological conditions receive.

To raise awareness of the critical need for more research into neurological conditions, we are sharing videos throughout Brain Awareness Week from people who live with neurological conditions, people who participate in research studies, and researchers from across the UK who work in neurological research. We are doing this to demonstrate the huge and often unrealised potential of research to transform lives, and to call on the UK Government to prioritise investment into neurological condition research in their new research initiatives.

We hope that you will join us throughout the week to raise awareness about the critical need for more research on neurological conditions by using the hashtag #InvestInNeuroResearch and following our campaign on our social media channels.”

As part of their campaign, the Neurological Alliances have sent an open letter to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP, endorsed by 76 member organisations, calling for greater investment into research on neurological conditions. With the UK Government’s current plans for research expansion, neurological conditions should be a priority in these developments.

Video: Becci explains why research is so important to her and others with neurological conditions.

Becci Smart, a volunteer content creator for the campaign who lives with epilepsy and functional neurological disorder, explains why research is so important for people living with neurological conditions like herself:

“Every one in six people has a neurological condition or disorder. Look around you, I guarantee you that someone you know will at some point develop a neurological condition. You may already know someone. Right now in the UK, there is no way of knowing who and in some cases why this happens. We just know that it will happen to some of us. We also don’t know when it’s going to happen. We don’t know what medications, if any, will manage the symptoms, and some like me will never live symptom free. And again, some of us will live life navigating more than one neurological condition.

In the UK, every one in 100 people has epilepsy. In the UK the budget for epilepsy is £21 per person with epilepsy. For £21 per person with epilepsy, that money has to go on researching new drugs, including their development and their safety, researching things like genetic mutations, sudden unexplained death in epilepsy, researching seizure activity and patterns, the structure of the brain, and wider determinants of health such as socioeconomic factors like deprivation. That’s £21 per person with epilepsy, for all those things I’ve listed and so much more. £21 is our worth in research.

Right now in the UK, we don’t know why some people develop epilepsy and we don’t know why some people lose their lives to epilepsy. In 2018, epilepsy research amounted to 0.3% of the UK research budget. Epilepsy is a neurological condition that kills without warning, and we don’t know why. And our lives are worth more than £21.

If we invest in research to find less evasive treatments, safer and more effective medications, and genetic biomarkers to help us identify those at risk of developing neurological conditions, and we also invest in the professionals treating those of us with neurological conditions, then we have the potential to improve the outcomes of the lives of people like me. But if that hasn’t been enough to convince you, then listen to what other people with neurological conditions have to say.”