People living with diabetes, whether they have the condition themselves or are a parent or carer of someone with diabetes, are diabetes experts in their own right. Diabetes UK therefore works hard to ensure that their experiences and insights into the day-to-day challenges faced by people with diabetes are taken into consideration throughout the research-funding process.
We do this through the work of the Diabetes UK Grants Advisory Panel (GAP), consisting of 15 people with diabetes, their carers and parents.
The group meets before Diabetes UK Research Committee meetings to discuss and comment on project grant applications. Members of GAP are asked to comment on issues such as whether they feel the research is relevant and important to people living with diabetes.
Three members of the Group then provide feedback at Research Committee meetings, where the views put forward by GAP are discussed further and taken into consideration.
We make sure that people of different ages, backgrounds, ethnic groups and different types of diabetes from across the UK are represented in this group.
Overall, this robust process ensures that we spend our funds in the best possible way - on research that is the highest-quality science and has the most potential to help Diabetes UK in its mission to improve the lives of people with diabetes.
For more detailed information about the research-funding process at Diabetes UK, please visit our For researchers section.