The award, made by the UK's professional body for nephrologists and renal scientists, acknowledges Dr Noble’s significant contribution to the field of academic Nephrology.

Dr Noble is a researcher in health services research contributing to health care management of end stage kidney disease. She is involved in a programme of research aimed at supporting frail older people with kidney disease and their carers as they make difficult treatment decisions, often as the end of life approaches.

The Walls bursaries were established in memory of the late Professor John Walls, President of the Renal Association 1995-1998, who died in 2001. Their aim is to help Renal Association members to spend short periods at other centres, generally outside the UK, to learn new laboratory techniques or gain new clinical skills.

The bursary will fund a visit by Dr Noble to Sydney, Australia, where she will meet colleagues at The Renal Society of Australasia annual conference and present findings from her recent study exploring Palliative Care in chronic Kidney diSease (PACKS). She will use the trip to explore the organization of renal palliative care in Australia and the use of decision-aids in the elderly, frail renal population.