Cancer Research UK–Children with Cancer UK Innovation Awards

Cancer Research UK and Children with Cancer UK are joining forces to fund five teams of world-leading scientists. Each team has been awarded up to £1 million to delve into the biology of children’s and young people’s cancers.

Cancer in children and young people is different to cancer in adults

Our joint £4.3 million funding with Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People is for innovative new research that will give a much-needed turbo-boost to research into children’s and young people’s cancer.

Cancer in children and young people is different to cancer in adults. Despite improvements in overall survival in the last 40 years, cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in children and young people (aged 1-24) in the UK**.

These Cancer Research UK–Children with Cancer UK Innovation Awards will help researchers to gain a better understanding of cancer in children find new ways to prevent and treat these complex cancers.

Joining forces allows us to fund more research

Five research teams have received awards of up to £1m over three years through the Cancer Research UK–Children with Cancer UK Innovation Awards.

As two of the biggest independent funders of children’s and young people’s cancer research in the UK, joining forces allows us to fund more research into children’s and young people’s cancers and accelerate our progress to improve survival.

These five exciting research projects are innovative, complex and varied and will, we hope, bring important advances in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in children and young people.

We are thrilled to be working with Children with Cancer UK in co-funding the Innovation Awards.

This funding represents the dawning of a new age

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Children with Cancer UK in co-funding the Innovation Awards. This funding represents the dawning of a new age of investment into cancers that affect children and young people, and the awards are a key part of our research strategy.

“We hope this funding boost will build momentum in the field to improve our understanding of these types of cancer and ultimately lead to fewer children and young people losing their lives to this disease.”

Dr Nick Goulden, Trustee of Children with Cancer UK, said: “Scientific research, largely funded by charities, has underpinned the massive improvement in survival for children and young people with cancer seen over the last 30 years. This exciting collaboration allows Children with Cancer UK to maximise the impact of this precious funding toward our ultimate goal of ensuring that every child and young adult with cancer is cured.”