| Dear Voornaam
Last week, Lord O’Shaughnessy published his keenly anticipated report into the UK commercial clinical trial landscape.
His review rightly recognises that the UK’s clinical trials system needs to change. The system has been under pressure for many years but has been pushed close to breaking point by the pandemic and related pressures on the NHS.
In total O’Shaughnessy makes 27 recommendations to address a series of problem statements, from speeding up study set-up and approval processes to prioritising research within the NHS and improving incentives for clinicians to take part in research.
Many of the review’s recommendations recognise the value that medical charities like Cancer Research UK bring to clinical trials, offering patients early access to innovative new treatments. Taking trials to sites outside of hospitals and cutting red tape will help get more trials up and running, get more patients joining trials and make faster progress towards new treatments.
But fundamentally we must urgently address the lack of time and capacity available for research within the NHS. Right now, staff within cancer services are overstretched, struggling to set aside time to deliver promising clinical trials which could ultimately make smarter use of the NHS.
If the UK doesn’t address this core problem now, we will lose the chance to lead globally renowned clinical trials in the future as trial sponsors look to other countries with better infrastructure already in place.
The UK Government needs to urgently deliver a programme which offers contracts with protected time for research to key NHS staff, to give them the time and space needed to get trials back on track. And more broadly, we need a fully funded strategy to recruit, train and retain the staff we need to ensure cancer services are fit for the future. |
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Funding & Research Opportunities |
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| | | Applications accepted all-year round |
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| | | Applications accepted all-year round |
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ANTONIS ANTONIOU APPOINTED TO LEAD CANCER DATA AND EARLY DETECTION PROPOSAL We’ve appointed Antonis Antoniou, a data scientist with expertise in cancer risk prediction and cancer prevention, to lead the development of our proposed cancer data driven detection initiative.
The proposal will seek to unite expertise in cancer risk, epidemiology, multi-omics, early detection, prevention, health informatics and data science and Antonis will develop a consortium proposal to use data science to improve understanding of cancer risk and cancer early detection.
Ahead of starting, Antonis talked to us about the attractions of open and team science and the unique opportunities that large scale data resources offer to improve cancer risk prediction.
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INFORMATION SESSION ON HOW THE VENTURE BUILDER INCUBATOR CAN HELP YOUR DATA-DRIVEN PROJECT Are you a UK researcher with a data-driven project? The University of Edinburgh’s Venture Builder Incubator can provide you with a share of £65k+ and commercialisation expertise to create your startup. The scheme, run in partnership with our innovation arm Cancer Research Horizons, is open to all researchers from PhD students to professors.
Find out more about the programme and have your questions answered in the upcoming information session on 9 June.
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 CALL FOR COMMENTS ON PEDRI’S BEST PRACTICE STANDARDS FOR THE USE OF DATA The Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (aka PEDRI) is asking researchers for insights on its best practice draft standards for the use of data for research and statistics.
The standards aim to provide clear guidelines for conducting meaningful patient and public involvement and engagement in data and research involving the use of public data.
Give your feedback on the draft by 30 June to help shape policy and practice in research.
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|  CHROMADOSE SELECTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SUMMER SCIENCE EXHIBITION ChromaDose is a collaborative project between the University of Newcastle, UCL and the startup Vesynta. It’s been invited to exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition from 4–9 July.
The ChromaDose team brings together scientists, clinicians, patients and parents to develop a bedside blood-testing tool that will improve treatment dosing for children with cancer.
At the exhibition the researchers will share their work with visitors, raise awareness and encourage involvement.
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RADIO STARS LINE UP FOR OUR RADIATION RESEARCH CONFERENCE The crosstalk between physics and biochemistry renders radiation research unique, says Silvia Formenti, Chairman and Associate Director at the Meyer Cancer Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine. There is still so much to uncover, and radiation biology needs an infusion of resources to motivate young scientists to focus on studying the field.
As we get ready for our radiation research conference, we talked to Silvia about how the role of radiotherapy has evolved, why she's working on a combinatorial approach with immunotherapy and what excites her about the future of the field.
Join us at our international conference, run in partnership with the Association for Radiation Research, and hear Silvia speak in the immunology session on 6 June at 9:45am BST. |
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ARE YOU PRESENTING AT ASCO 2023? The ASCO annual meeting is about to start in Chicago and we’re looking forward to hearing about the latest advances, innovations and perspectives in clinical cancer research.
If you’re presenting a poster or speaking at ASCO, let us know and we’ll give you a shoutout on our social accounts. |
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| | | Glasgow, UK 10:00 AM 04 June 2023 |
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| | | Online 1:00 PM 20 June 2023 |
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| | | Online 4:00 PM 05 July 2023 |
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| | | London, UK 11 September 2023 |
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| | | Online 4:00 PM 27 September 2023 |
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| | | Paris, France 04 October 2023 |
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| | | London, UK 10 October 2023 |
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| | | London, UK 14 November 2023 |
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