Who and what we fund

We believe in the power of research to save lives, prevent stroke and ensure people make the best recovery they can.

Research funded by the Stroke Association has the ultimate aim of making stroke a preventable and treatable disease, and improving the quality of life for people affected by stroke. 

The findings from research are crucial in the search for new ways to:

• prevent a stroke happening 
• find new, or improve existing treatments for those people who have a stroke 
• understand how the brain works and changes after a stroke. 

The evidence about treatments and therapies that comes from research also helps doctors, nurses and other health and social care professionals to convince commissioners to provide appropriate and effective services to help the 150,000 people in the UK who have a stroke each year.

Research into the prevention of stroke enables experts to develop prevention methods that reduce the numbers of people who have a stroke each year.

Our challenge

Every year, over 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke: that’s one every 5 minutes, and almost a million people in the UK are living with the effects.

There are misconceptions that stroke only affects older people and that there is nothing that can be done once it’s happened. Actually 25% of strokes occur in people under the age of 65 and much can be done.

We want to increase our annual spend on research from £2.5 million to £5 million by 2015 but how can we reach this vision.

Our plan for life after stroke

We want to change the world for people affected by stroke. We are the largest charity funder dedicated only to funding stroke research in the UK and so far we have invested over £40 million in groundbreaking research. Read more about what we have achieved with this money so far.

Our 5 year research strategy demonstrates where our vision lies and how we aim to get there.

Our 2010-2015 Research strategy

What are our priorities?

• For the Stroke Association to fund high quality research providing maximum benefit to patients and their carers.
• To increase the spend on stroke research in the UK.
• To increase public engagement and awareness of stroke research.
• For The Stroke Association to facilitate stroke research among other stakeholders.

We need your help

Not all strokes can be prevented, but through our significant investment into recovery and rehabilitation research, we have helped find ways of reducing the lasting effect of stroke on the lives of patients and their families.

But we can’t do it without your help. Research funding for stroke is notoriously low when compared to other conditions like heart disease and cancer. It is only through donations that we are able to provide an essential source of support for stroke and rehabilitation researchers across the UK.

Join us and together we can help win the fight against stroke.