Research PhD bursaries 2025: Peer support for alopecia areata Because of an extraordinary legacy donation for research on alopecia areata (AA), Alopecia UK has been able to provide funding for important research projects in recent years. In 2022, we awarded our first ever PhD bursary to the 'Alopecia Areata Rapid Access Clinic': a 3-year project investigating if early access to dermatology services can improve outcomes in people with recent-onset AA. This project started in 2023 and is now recruiting participants. In 2025, we are excited to announce we have awarded a further two PhD bursaries to projects addressing key priorities of people affected by AA. Set to start in October 2025, one of these is a 3-year project led by Dr Fabio Zucchelli at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Their research team have been awarded £91,780 for a project which aims to: ‘develop a framework to facilitate effective, psychologically safe, equitable and inclusive peer support for individuals affected by alopecia areata.’ Alopecia areata is a condition that causes unpredictable hair loss, and it can affect how people feel about themselves. Peer support groups, where people with similar experiences help each other, seem to be helpful for many affected by AA. These can be in the form of online forums or face-to-face groups (whether in-person or virtual) and can include emotional, informational and practical support. However, there isn't much guidance based on evidence on how to make these support groups as helpful as possible. The main goal of this project is to create a guide for setting up, running and testing peer support groups for people with AA. Specific aims are to: •Decide what kind of help the support groups should offer •Understand the needs of different ‘hardly reached’ groups of people through peer support, like people from Asian and black ethnic backgrounds, teenagers, and men •Explore different ways to run the support groups, such as in-person or online, and highly or loosely structured •Make sure the support groups are safe in terms of attendees’ mental health •Train the people who lead the support groups •Find ways to measure how helpful the support groups are The project has been informed by input from people affected by alopecia from the start, including through previous research and discussions with members of the Alopecia UK Lay Research Panel. Throughout the project, the PhD candidate will work with people affected by alopecia to help shape the research itself and the guidance that is created. They will also work with the people that run support groups and online forums to improve the guide, to make sure it meets their needs. Ultimately, the team at CAR want the findings from the project to help create better support groups for people with AA, improving their emotional well-being and helping them manage their condition better. We caught up with Dr Zucchelli to get his thoughts on the project: Dr Fabio Zucchelli Why did you propose research on this particular topic? “We know that many people with alopecia – including AA – use peer support in some form of another. We also hear anecdotally that many people find it incredibly helpful. But there are a lot of outstanding questions to answer. Like how to manage potential psychological risks of peer support. For example, some people have talked about feeling worse about themselves when they hear from others in a group who seem to be doing so much better than them. Or hearing traumatic stories, or feeling hopeless after hearing from people who still struggle years or decades into life with AA. We also know very little about what people from Asian and black ethnicities want from peer support. And moreover, in research as well as real-world support organisations like Alopecia UK, these groups are underrepresented. So this will be a central focus of the PhD program.” And how do you feel about the project now that your application has been succesful? “We’re very excited as a team of supervisors to get going! I’ll be flanked by Dr Kerry Montgomery, who I’m lucky enough to count as a colleague at CAR now. Kerry was formerly Psychological Wellbeing Lead at Alopecia UK so brings a wealth of experience from the real world of implementing psychological help – including peer support – for people with AA. And Dr Pippa Tollow is a highly experienced researcher in the field of visible differences, with a really close understanding of NHS health provision. So I’m personally highly confident we’ve got the right team – along with some NHS collaborators and people with alopecia – to answer the above questions and create a tangible tool for designing and implementing high quality peer support.” We look forward to seeing the project start in October 2025. Recruitment for a student to lead this project is open until 13 July - further information on the studentship can be found on the UWE website. This project was one of two PhD bursaries funded by Alopecia UK in 2025. Please see the announcement of the other project here. Manage Cookie Preferences