Funding research

Asthma UK funds a world-class programme of research across the UK. To date, the charity has invested around £50 million in research to understand more about asthma and reduce the impact it has on people’s lives. This includes funding two Asthma UK Professors, four Research Fellows and a wide variety of individual research projects around the UK.

Current research projects in Northern Ireland 

Dr Liam Heaney, Queen's University Belfast

In October 2008, Dr Liam Heaney and colleagues at Queen’s University Belfast started work on an Asthma UK-funded research project to help people take more control of their asthma.

Dr Heaney’s aim is to create a test that distinguishes between people who have treatment-resistant asthma and those who, with greater encouragement and support, could be helped to get their asthma under control using existing medicines.

Dr Heaney said: ‘Identifying the reasons why some people’s asthma is difficult to control is crucial if we are to treat these individuals more effectively in future.’

Find out more about Dr Heaney's work. This work is also supported by the Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke Association.