Joanna Ward’s appearance at DoNotAge Conference 2026 connects two parts of the same research story: conference discussion of inflammaging and a separately documented 2026 British Society for Research on Ageing small-grant award.
What the conference highlights establish
The official DoNotAge Conference 2026 highlights connect Ward’s presentation with inflammaging, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and NLRP3-related inflammatory biology.
Those conference-specific mechanistic points remain conference-stage unless tied to a specific paper, abstract or published dataset. The funding relationship, however, is independently documented by BSRA.
The DoNotAge-funded BSRA project
The British Society for Research on Ageing lists Joanna Ward, a PhD student at the University of Lincoln, among its 2026 small-grant awardees. BSRA says DoNotAge.org funded 15 of the 18 awards in that round and describes Ward’s project as investigating how cardiovascular disease affects inflammation as people age, with the aim of improving understanding of persistent cardiovascular risk.
The precise relationship is research funding through BSRA. DoNotAge is not presented as the university sponsor, investigator or owner of the eventual results.
Why this research question matters
Chronic low-grade inflammation is a major theme across ageing research, while cardiovascular disease remains one of the most consequential clinical outcomes associated with age. Work examining the overlap between vascular disease and age-related inflammatory signalling therefore sits directly at the intersection of geroscience and cardiovascular medicine.
Evidence status
A grant award establishes funding and a research objective; it is not a study result. Any later abstract, preprint or peer-reviewed publication should be evaluated on its own design and findings.
Sources
Official DoNotAge Conference 2026 highlights
British Society for Research on Ageing — 2026 small research grants
Open the DoNotAge research tracker.
Linked entities and research
DoNotAge Conference 2026
DoNotAge Conference 2026 was held in London on September 26–27, 2026. The official highlights archive presents 12 2026 conversations spanning human trials, DNA repair, inflammation, muscle and exercise, replication and research funding, plus a 2025 conference recap.
Why Heart Disease Risk Can Remain After Treatment
The registered study examines residual inflammatory risk in people with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with or without type 2 diabetes, using immediate versus delayed icosapent ethyl. Mechanistic outcomes include NLRP3/caspase-1/IL-1β signaling, inflammatory cytokines, macrophage phenotype and immunosenescence/SASP markers.
Joanna Ward — Cardiovascular Disease and Inflammation in Ageing
BSRA identifies Joanna Ward as a recipient of a DoNotAge.org-BSRA Small Research Grant in 2026.
DoNotAge.org–BSRA Small Research Grants 2026 — 15 Awards
BSRA announced 18 Small Research Grants across 13 UK institutions in 2026. Alan Graves stated that DoNotAge.org funded 15 of those projects; Quest NutraPharma also sponsored the programme.
Joanna Ward
DoNotAge Conference 2026 speaker and recipient of a DoNotAge.org-BSRA Small Research Grant. The DoNotAge-BSRA award supports Ward's cardiovascular-inflammation research programme; it is distinct from the funding listed for the registered icosapent-ethyl study, whose protocol names Amarin Global and the University of Lincoln.