{"id":11190,"date":"2026-05-13T15:05:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T14:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazines.soton.ac.uk\/template\/?p=11190"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:03:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:03:33","slug":"in-conversation-with-professor-diana-eccles-our-universitys-largest-fundraising-campaign-to-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazines.soton.ac.uk\/template\/2026\/05\/13\/in-conversation-with-professor-diana-eccles-our-universitys-largest-fundraising-campaign-to-date\/","title":{"rendered":"In conversation with Professor Diana Eccles: Our University’s largest fundraising campaign to date"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In conversation with Professor Diana Eccles: Our University’s largest fundraising campaign to date<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The University has launched its largest fundraising campaign to date: to raise \u00a350m to help build the pioneering Institute for Medical Innovation (IMI).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Situated at the heart of University Hospital Southampton (UHS), the IMI will bring together engineers, mathematicians and scientists across different disciplines to tackle devastating diseases such as cancer, dementia, sight loss, infection and respiratory and allergic conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dean of Medicine, Professor Diana Eccles has been instrumental in driving the IMI forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she prepares to step away from the role she\u2019s held for eight years, Diana speaks to Template Magazine about the ambitious fundraising campaign, how the IMI will change the way we carry out research, and her own family\u2019s personal experience with dementia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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How will the IMI push our research forward that we’re not already doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe power of the IMI lies in bringing people together from disciplines right across the University; it offers a physical hub where a real melting and melding of ideas and novel approaches will bring new insights and solutions to tackle several major diseases. Through advancing AI technology, the IMI will drive innovative approaches forward, and we will be able to analyse and apply the data to gain clinical insights and advance therapies and diagnostics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the hospital\u2019s point of view, the future position of the IMI at the front of the UHS site will be a symbol of the importance of research for modern healthcare, and hope for advancing better outcomes for some of the big health challenges that patients face day to day. It’s going to be a very powerful mix.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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How does the IMI fit into the University\u2019s broader research and education ambitions?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“The triple helix of research, education and enterprise is central to the University’s strategy, but these academic strands of the helix don’t happen in isolation. Those different pathways must be interwoven, which requires great communication and sharing of their respective strengths and interdependencies, where the whole is stronger than the parts. This will be true in the IMI. The IMI\u2019s physical space is intentionally being designed around how people interact, creating far more opportunities for ideas and collaborations to flow than in the siloed research environments that have shaped the past 50 years.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The IMI will boost our education ambitions. It’ll help us attract the best PhD students; they will have the facilities and the ability to draw on different disciplinary areas for supervision. The Medical Innovation Fund is already funding interdisciplinary PhD students who benefit from shared supervision across disciplinary divides. Those young ideas are the lifeblood of research at the University. Master\u2019s students from all faculties will benefit from access to IMI facilities for research projects and we\u2019re hoping it will increase the number of undergraduate medical students choosing to undertake an intercalated master’s degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It will also help us attract the best staff. People come to Southampton because it’s a welcoming and supportive place to work, but if you’ve got cutting-edge facilities in a collaborative space, you can attract today\u2019s top talent, as well as develop the superstars of the future. “<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The IMI will focus on five areas: cancer, dementia, respiratory disease, infectious diseases and vision loss. Why these five areas?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe technology within the IMI (AI, data science, spatial transcriptomics, and genomics) is disease agnostic, but the key disease areas that will be the IMI’s focus are all major health challenges where we already have very credible world-class research.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInterdisciplinary research will be transformational for the global population. All of us will have some personal experience of one or more of those diseases, no question about it. It is about delivering something impactful that is relevant to everybody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is also striking is how connected these five areas are at a biological level and the immune system is at the centre. In each area, our body\u2019s immune system can be part of the problem: it can attack healthy tissue, or prevent cells from working, or it can fail to clear damaged cells. So the positive is that a discovery in one area can open doors in another. The tools we are bringing together in the IMI (AI, genomics, and new ways of studying tissue in fine detail) will enable us to spot those connections across all five diseases earlier. What we learn fighting cancer could help us tackle dementia, and what we discover about infection could transform how we treat vision loss.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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What impact will the IMI have on patients?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe emphasis over the last few decades has been about increasing longevity, but that\u2019s now shifting to not just quantity, but quality of life. That\u2019s why a big focus of the IMI will be on early detection and prevention. If we can detect things earlier and intervene to stop or at least slow progression, we will be able to improve the quality of the years lived.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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How will it change the ambitions for the Faculty of Medicine?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cFor Medicine, the IMI is essential for our long-term future and ambition to climb, particularly in the global rankings. \u00a0Using space within the building to forge strong, productive partnerships will amplify our research impact, expand collaborations \u2013 particularly within industry \u2013 and open up new opportunities in an increasingly competitive funding landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The fundraising target is the highest the University has attempted. This marks an exciting moment for us!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAbsolutely. We\u2019ve got a fantastic, experienced team in ODAR working on the campaign, which is gaining positive momentum, with significant lead gifts already contributing \u00a311m to the target.\u00a0The vision for the IMI, not just the practicalities, is very compelling for potential donors, and with proof-of-concept from our last campaign (\u00a327m raised for the Centre for Cancer Immunology), we are in a very strong position.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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You\u2019ve given to the campaign personally both through donations and by being an advocate: why are you involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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“I know from first-hand experience how important research is in shaping best clinical practice. \u00a0As a clinical academic, I manage patients with a high-risk of cancer through genetic predisposition. Clinical services for genetic predisposition to cancer didn\u2019t exist when I first qualified \u2013 research has been vital to the safe development of clinical services. I know that my own research has contributed to changing the way we use genetic information to promote early cancer diagnosis and better treatment; it has been a privilege to have the opportunities that I have enjoyed here in Southampton, not just as a clinical academic, but also as former Director of the Clinical Trials Unit and Dean of Medicine, and I feel it\u2019s important to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Why and how can staff support the campaign?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe IMI belongs to the whole University, so whatever someone\u2019s affiliation, it\u2019s a worthwhile campaign to support and get involved with. Staff can feel proud to have helped, whether that\u2019s donating, contributing time, sharing a story or holding a fundraising event. It can be big or small.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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