Dementia Action Week is all about making a difference for people in your community. But behind the scenes, there's lots of work being done to find possible treatments at the UK's first Dementia Research Institute.

Dementia is now the UK's biggest killer and of the top 10 causes of death, it is the only one we can't cure, prevent or even slow down.

More than a quarter of a billion pounds has been pledged in partnership towards the UK's first ever Dementia Research Institute (DRI) – £190m from Medical Research Council, £50m from Alzheimer's Society and £50m Alzheimer's Research UK.

Money will help build a new DRI Hub at University College London, headquarters for the institute, which is due to open in 2023.

There are six universities that make up the DRI – University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, the University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London, King's College London and University College London – all of which began research last year, with researchers either already in or in the process of moving into newly renovated, state-of-the-art facilities. The institute is structured in such a way that the researchers are connected wherever their labs are based, allowing ideas, tools, technologies and research data to be shared across the teams.

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive at Alzheimer's Society, says: 'With no new treatments in 15 years, the pressure is on to find ways to help the 850,000 people in the UK currently living with dementia. The UK is a global leader in dementia research – but greater investment is desperately needed.'

Alzheimer's Society's £50m investment in the DRI will accelerate discoveries to prevent, treat and care for people with all types of dementia, as well as helping to understand how to keep the brain healthy.