Cancer Research UK, a leading charity, has announced £9m funding to the University of Oxford to boost cancer research. The charity said the funding will train ‘the next generation of doctors and scientists,’ and support those who want to get involved and stay in cancer research.
The funding comes after a clinical staff survey by the charity in 2023 found that nearly three quarters (74%) had said ‘it has become harder to deliver research in a timely manner in the last 18 months’.
The charity also found that 78% of respondents had described ‘wider pressures on the health service as a substantial or extreme barrier.’
Becoming a clinician, which is a doctor who also carries out medical research, usually involves taking time out of medical training to undertake a PhD, before returning to train in a chosen specialisation. However, the survey showed that many clinicians did not come back to research.
The charity’s CEO Michelle Mitchel said the funding was meant to ‘encourage even more clinicians to get involved in cancer research,’ and added that they needed ‘all our doctors and scientists to be able to reach their full potential.’
Professor Mark Middleton, programme lead academic in Oxford, said the funding meant ‘that our scientists will understand better how to apply their work to the benefit of patients.’
Over the next five years, Cancer Research UK will invest £58.7m at nine research centres, including the Cancer Research UK Oxford Centre in partnership with the University of Oxford.