Collaborative working
These funds were additional to those available through our pre-existing funding streams (such as project grants and research fellowships), through which we would continue to encourage applications in the brain tumour field.
Underpinning this new initiative was a strong emphasis on collaborative working. Our first call for applications, issued in 2014, requested collaborative, multi-disciplinary applications costing up to £500k each. We received a strong response to the call and ultimately awarded four grants totalling £1.81m – to brain tumour projects based at UCL Institute of Child Health (JP Martinez Barbera), University of Nottingham (Richard Grundy), University of Edinburgh (Steve Pollard) and University of Birmingham (Andrew Peet).
As a result of the projects funded under the initiative, as well as our investment in the INSTINCT network and projects funded through our other schemes, 30 per cent of our current research funds are invested in brain tumour research.