What is our research strategy?
Our Research Strategy sets out five strategic aims that guide us towards funding the best research to achieve our vision - to see a day when no life is cut short by cancer. We believe this can only be achieved through research, by starting new discoveries worldwide.
Worldwide Cancer Research sits at the very start of the research journey.
We back brand new ideas and support scientists to ask bold new questions about how cancer works. Are you a researcher looking for funding that would like to know more?
Our strategic aims:
We will recognise and support daring and innovative science.
We were founded on the principle that we would support research that seeks to answer the difficult questions in cancer biology. We are looking for innovative and truly novel ideas that have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of cancer and how to beat it.
We support discovery research (often called ‘basic and translational’) but do not prioritise any field of research within this; we welcome research that draws on epidemiological, behavioural and clinical data to provide a starting point for a new avenue of research. Multidisciplinary or discipline-hopping projects are encouraged where this helps stimulate innovation.
We will support any researcher with a brilliant idea, no matter where in the world they are based.
We will search for the answers to cancer that are desperately needed.
To back the best ideas we can, we take an unbiased approach to funding and cast the net as widely as possible.
One of our founding principles is to tackle the unmet need in cancer research. This means we are looking to support research that; explores brand new concepts and approaches; advances our understanding of cancer with the potential to open up new areas of cancer research; and establishes the first step in a research journey that could one day provide new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.
Our unbiased approach means that we will support research tackling any or all types of cancer, recognising that the greatest advances in cancer research often impact on more than one type and that cancer research should not be artificially limited. We encourage research into cancers that desperately need it – where outcomes for patients are low or haven’t seen significant improvement.
We will aim to invest at least £6 million in research each year, and grow that investment every year.
Our current annual investment in new research projects is around £6 million. This means that we can only fund some of the brilliant ideas put forward by researchers. Our goal is to grow this investment every year so that no brilliant idea is lost.
We will fund research that kick-starts clinical trials.
Our focus on discovery research and helping scientists to explore brand new concepts and approaches, sets in motion the journey towards clinical trials, and ultimately, new tests and treatments that impact the lives of people with cancer.
By kick-starting new avenues of research all over the world, we have already seeded medical advances that are saving lives today, and we will continue doing that for the future. Success from a Worldwide Cancer Research grant is the generation of the solid initial findings required to secure downstream funding from other sources.
We will help to increase cancer survival rates.
In the 40 years since we started funding research, cancer survival rates have doubled. But nearly 10 million people still die every year from cancer. And while some cancers have seen dramatic improvements in survival, others have not. By funding the most innovative, exciting and daring research all over the world, we will ensure that survival rates continue to improve for all cancers.
There is a trend for funding agencies to focus on applied and translational research and increasingly neglect discovery research. That is a huge error in the long run. You cannot build a house only with a roof. You need the groundwork. Some of the coolest scientific breakthroughs, with major impact for humankind, were the result of what we call basic science.
Our funding criteria
To help us fulfil the aims of our Research Strategy, and to ensure we realise our vision of no life cut short by cancer, we are looking for projects that meet the following funding criteria:
Starting new ideas:
We are looking for innovative research that takes intellectual risks. To us, that means helping researchers turn their bold idea into reality. And if there is a risk of failure, we are willing to take it, if the rewards for success are worth it.
We want to see ideas which have the potential to start new lines of research and to tell us something new about cancer and how it could be prevented, diagnosed or treated.
We want to make the most of our supporters’ generous donations by funding standalone research projects. Projects should seek to answer a focused research question, not be an incremental piece of research tied to a larger programme grant.
Exciting and creative:
We are looking for ideas that excite. The ones that make us go, “I wish I had thought of that”. We are looking for proposals with a creative approach to answering fundamental questions that could change how we think about cancer. Often these are ideas that other funders may overlook.
Scientific quality:
We want to see the most exciting and creative new ideas, but we are also responsible stewards of our supporters’ donations. We need to see robust scientific reasoning and appropriate solid methodology to back it up. The aims of a project should be feasible with the time and resources requested, and with the expertise of the research team.
Transformative impact:
We support blue-sky thinking in research and want to direct funding towards projects that could transform an area of cancer research or one day have a major impact on the lives of people with cancer. While impact on cancer patients is a priority for us and our supporters, we recognise that important discoveries take time to bear fruit and that it may be many years before the research leads to lives saved or improved.
Will you fund more bold research?
We simply could not back the bright ideas that will lead to new cancer cures without your help.
Our research projects
Explore the bright ideas we are funding
The projects seeking to answer big questions about any type of cancer, anywhere in the world.
We want to hear your best ideas
Information for researchers
We fund discovery research. Wherever you are in the world, and whatever type of cancer you research - we may be able to support you with a project grant.
