CRUK Clinical Research Funding Scheme

Funding over a maximum period of ten years to support innovative, investigator-led clinical research to further understanding of the biology and treatment of cancer.

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the UK’s leading cancer research charity and one of the main funders of cancer research across Europe. Its research strategy aims to invest £1.5 billion over five years to support research aligned with four main objectives – discover, detect, prevent and treat – to advance understanding of the fundamental biology of cancer and lead to new prevention measures, tests and treatments.

The CRUK research funding programme awards a wide range of fellowships and grants to support researchers, across all career stages, conducting clinical, pre-clinical, discovery and translational research to advance the detection, diagnosis, treatment, and potential cure, of all forms of cancer.

The CRUK Clinical Research Funding Scheme is a new clinical research funding programme, due to commence in September 2024, that will replace the existing suite of CRUK clinical research grants.

The scheme will award funding over a maximum period of ten years to support researchers at universities, research institutions, clinical research centres and clinical trials units in the UK conducting bold and innovative investigator-led research that addresses critical clinical questions to further understanding of cancer biology and treatment. Research should align with the CRUK clinical research strategy and can involve topics such as biomarker research, cancer aetiology, cancer biology, imaging, immunology and immunotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

The scheme is intended to be flexible and scalable and will operate on a modular basis across three inter-connected modules: clinical trials, experimental medicine and sample collection. It is intended that applications will cover all three modules, although standalone and mixed module applications will also be considered if they are strongly justified.

The Clinical Trial Module supports interventional cancer treatment trials, including systemic treatment, radiotherapy, and surgery, with the aim of improving patient outcomes. Proposals are expected, where possible, to have experimental medicine modules and sample collection modules integrated within the trial.

Applications can be submitted for funding or endorsement of a clinical trial module in any one of the following areas:

• Pilot/feasibility study.
• Phase Ia/II dose finding trials testing safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy, including novel combinations of therapies and radiotherapy, and novel indications.
• Phase Ib/II or phase II trials testing the viability of larger trials, including the ability to recruit and/or explore tolerability or efficacy of treatments window of opportunity studies.
• Phase II/III or phase III trials to investigate the efficacy, effectiveness and tolerability of interventions with the aim of improving survival.

Within a clinical trial application, projects can incorporate sub-studies that add value to the overall study. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Patient and public involvement.
• Quality of life.
• Methodology.
• Sustainability.
  

The Experimental Medicine Module supports translational cancer research associated with a clinical trial or well-designed clinical study, which aims to enhance understanding of biological mechanisms to improve treatment strategies for patients.  

Lead Applicant(s) to this module should have to have both clinical and scientific expertise and may be either individuals with clinical-academic training, or a scientist with a strong translational research focus, or a collaboration between a clinician and scientist.

Experimental medicine project applications are encouraged to be integrated within a clinical trial proposal. Standalone applications will be considered where they meet one of the following criteria:

• Non-interventional clinical study recruiting patients, such as prospective cohort studies.
• Standalone biomarker validation or qualification study which uses retrospective samples and/or data.
• Studies exploring data or computation-driven approach to clinical research.

Proposals investigating the primary effects of cancer on whole-body physiology, where there is a clear impact on patient outcome (eg cachexia) are also supported within this module.

The Sample Collection Module supports the hypothesis-driven prospective collection of unique samples or images within a clinical trial or well-designed clinical study.

Encouragement is given to sample collection to be integrated within a clinical trial and/or experimental medicine proposal. Standalone and/or non hypothesis-driven sample collections may be considered in exceptional and justified circumstances – particularly in priority areas such as cancers of unmet need, children’s and young people’s cancers and rare cancers.

Funding body	Cancer Research UK (CRUK)
Maximum value	£3,000,000
Reference ID	S26688
Category	Medical Research Biotechnology and Biology
Fund or call	Fund