Explore our grantees and awardees

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

Grant category: Education and Awareness Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Denmark

The project aims to create a free educational board game for 2nd-3rd grade STEM classes. The goal is to strengthen the pupils’ curiosity, motivation to learn, and understanding of scientific methods through play, collaboration, and inquiry-based missions. The project targets STEM primary school teachers at large, with an added focus on also enabling qualified STEM teaching for non-specialist teachers. The game may be played in four different thematic variations which are aligned with the curriculum – 1) the human body, 2) technology and resources, 3) organisms, and 4) water, air, and climate. The goal is to distribute class sets of five games each to 400 schools, thereby reaching up to 21,000 pupils annually.

Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: United Kingdom

The ESDR Future Leaders Academy (FLA) is an annual three-day meeting held for invited young research leaders (below 40 years) which includes scientific sessions both by external speakers and the participants themselves. It also includes mentoring and networking sessions. This year’s event is held in Edinburgh from 5-7 October 2026.

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Grant category: Research Networking

Year: 2026

Geography: Japan

To strengthen the interactions between young scientists a collegiality night and a symposium are arranged in conjunction with the 51st annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (JSID).

The mission of JSID  is to advance the position of dermatology in the interdisciplinary world and to enhance the quality of science and research presentations in dermatology for the purposes of maintaining healthy skin and further advancing the treatment of skin diseases.

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Grant category: Research Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Germany

Acute urticaria (hives) is a common skin disease affecting up to 1 in 5 people during their lifetime. In many patients the condition disappears within weeks, but in some it develops into chronic spontaneous urticaria, which can persist for years and significantly reduce quality of life. At present, it is unclear why some patients recover while others develop a chronic disease. The CHAPEAU GLOBAL study aims to better understand the biological processes behind this transition. Researchers will analyze blood samples from patients with acute urticaria at two time points and compare those who recover with those who later develop chronic urticaria. Using advanced laboratory methods, thousands of proteins and immune markers will be examined to identify early warning signs of chronic disease. The goal of this international study is to identify patients at risk earlier and improve prevention and treatment strategies for chronic urticaria.

Grant category: Research Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: USA

Vitiligo is a skin condition caused by the progressive loss of pigment cells, leading to white patches on the skin. The condition becomes active and detectable at a cellular level long before visible skin changes are observed. However, current methods to detect such cellular-level damage require invasive biopsies. Our project will enable preventative treatments and monitoring using a noninvasive imaging tool. By combining optical imaging with spatial omics, we will develop the first cellular-level map of vitiligo without the need for biopsies. This innovative tool will use artificial intelligence to identify specific cell types and monitor disease progression in real time. This approach promises to enhance early detection and treatment of vitiligo and has potential applications for various other skin conditions, such as inflammation and cancer. Ultimately, this could lead to more personalized and effective treatments, improving patient outcomes and accelerating drug development.

Grant category: Research Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: USA

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a skin disease in which sunlight, instead of calming the immune system, triggers painful and damaging inflammation. This unusual reaction is poorly understood, making it difficult to prevent disease flares.
Our research has identified a group of immune cells in the skin that become highly inflammatory after sun exposure and drive tissue damage. However, the signal that activates these cells remains unknown.
We propose that a stress-related protein released by skin cells after UV exposure acts as a trigger that turns these immune cells into harmful inflammatory cells. To test this, we will study human skin samples and examine how blocking or adding this signal affects immune activation.
Understanding this mechanism could lead to new strategies to prevent sun-induced flares in lupus and related diseases.

Grant category: Research Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: USA

Demodex mites usually live harmlessly and at low levels in facial hair follicles and sebaceous glands. Still, in some people, they become overabundant and are linked to chronic inflammatory skin diseases such as rosacea. The key problem is understanding why the immune system sometimes tolerates these mites and other times triggers persistent inflammation. Our research aims to identify the molecular “switch” that determines this outcome. Using a mouse model of Demodex infection and novel Demodex-keratinocyte co-culture systems, we discovered that a signaling pathway involving IL-36 and gasdermin proteins activates protective type 2 immune cells that control mites. However, when dysregulated, this same pathway may drive excessive inflammation. By defining how skin cells sense Demodex and regulate immune responses, we aim to uncover new, targeted treatments for rosacea and other inflammatory skin conditions linked to microbial imbalance.

Grant category: Research Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Australia

The skin constantly decides when to defend the body and when to avoid unnecessary inflammation. CD4 T cells help make these decisions, but they rely on other cells to show them “danger signals” through a molecule called MHC-II. Until recently, only specialised immune cells were thought to use this pathway. New evidence, including our own, shows that ordinary skin cells such as keratinocytes and fibroblasts can also switch on MHC-II and directly influence T cell behaviour, representing a major shift in how skin immunity is understood. This project will uncover when these non-immune cells use MHC-II, whether they can guide T cell responses, and how this affects vaccines delivered into the skin. Understanding this newly recognised pathway will help explain why some skin conditions become chronic, why others resolve, and how we can design better treatments and vaccines that work with the skin’s built-in immune machinery.

Grant category: Research Grants

Year: 2026

Geography: Ghana

Buruli ulcer is a severe skin disease common in rural West Africa, caused by flesh-destroying bacteria. While antibiotics kill the bacteria, many patients suffer from extremely slow wound healing, leading to long hospital stays and disability. We have found that patients with this disease often lack essential nutrients like zinc and vitamin C, which are crucial for the body to heal and fight off infections.
This project will investigate how the human body processes nutrients (metabolism) and how gut health affects a patient’s ability to heal. We will study the wound itself, blood and stool of 80 participants to look for specific chemical markers linked to fast or slow healing. We will also investigate how changing weather patterns and poor sanitation affect food availability and gut health, putting people at higher risk. Ultimately, we aim to develop targeted nutritional treatments that can be given alongside antibiotics to help thousands of patients heal faster across West Africa.