We are delighted to announce that dietitian Kirandeep (Kiri) Marsh has been awarded the 2025 joint British Geriatrics Society/Vivensa Foundation Doctoral Training Fellowship. These Fellowships aim to support research projects that have the potential to prevent, delay or reduce future health and social care requirements and to improve older people’s quality of life. All applications underwent external peer review and were then assessed by a panel chaired by our CEO, Sarah Mistry.
Kiri’s grant will fund her PhD at Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust. She will investigate a nutritional programme to reduce muscle loss (sarcopenia) in older adults recovering from hip fractures.
Hip fractures are a leading cause of death in older people from accidents. Around 10% of those with a hip fracture do not survive the first month, and 30% do not survive the first year after the injury. During a hospital stay for a hip fracture, older adults often lose muscle. This leads to longer recovery times and reduced ability to perform everyday activities. Muscle loss increases the risk of falling over again and another hospital admission. Over half of hip fracture patients struggle to return to their normal activities. Good nutrition, on its own or with exercise, may help prevent this muscle loss.
In her work to date, Kiri has observed that many patients dislike the taste of the build-up milkshakes they are often given, but enjoy ice cream. As hospital ice cream does not have a lot of nutrients, she and her colleagues made a more nutritious ice cream. Named N-ICE Cream, it contained extra nutrients to help reduce muscle loss and was preferred by patients. Currently, there is not much research about diet and muscle function in older adults with hip fractures. Kiri aims to design nutritional strategies to reduce muscle weakness, with a focus on the early stages, after breaking a hip.
Kiri commented:
I’m delighted to be working with the BGS and Vivensa Foundation and very grateful for their support of my research. A hip fracture is a life-changing event for many older adults, yet we still have limited evidence describing how nutrition changes during recovery, or how patients themselves experience and prioritise nutritional recovery. My research aims to address these gaps, while also being the first to explore acute sarcopenia in this population.
By better understanding both the physiological and lived experience of recovery, I hope this research will contribute to more effective, individualised nutritional care and ultimately support better outcomes for older adults after hip fracture.”
The next round of the Joint BGS/Vivensa Foundation Doctoral Training Fellowship will open on 9th January 2026, so look out for details.
