Facts and figures about our research funding

Today’s science. Tomorrow’s breakthroughs.

In 2022/23 we committed £398m to fund new research proposals, and spent £415m on new and ongoing research in the year. 
 
Our funding supports infrastructure and world-class research institutes and provides grants for investigator-led programmes, projects and training fellowships.  
 
Together we are beating cancer.

Graphics of CRUK annual research activity

In 2022/23, we spent £415m on new and ongoing research. This includes: 

  • £176m on research projects focused on specific cancer types (spend per cancer type listed above) 

  • £40m on research admin and support costs (eg peer review, grant management, IT and other support costs) 

  • £27m on revenue shares (share of royalties from sales of innovations developed from our research, which we passed on to others) 

  • £83m on basic research into understanding the fundamental biology of cancer 

  • £89m relevant to all types of cancer (eg research infrastructure and research studies looking at cancer survivorship) 

 In 2022/23, we spent £18.7m on research specific to cancers that affect 0–24-year-olds, making us the biggest charitable funder of research into children’s and young people’s cancers. 

Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK CEO

“This year, we laid the foundations for significant future progress – from funding four new Cancer Grand Challenges teams and beginning new long-term funding for the Francis Crick Institute to launching Cancer Research Horizons, our new innovation engine which is helping us bring tests and treatments to patients faster.”

Michelle Mitchell OBE, Chief Executive 

Discover more about how far we’ve come in our annual report and accounts.

Graphics of CRUK research networks

From Glasgow to Southampton, our network of centres, institutes and other facilities across the UK are where our more than 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses work together to help us beat cancer, carrying out everything from laboratory studies to largescale clinical trials.  

We bring together a worldwide network of leading scientists to carry out ground-breaking research. We also work with other research funders, cancer societies and governments around the world to pool our resources and knowledge to accelerate progress towards beating cancer. 

Our funding of key research areas

funding of key research areas

In 2022/23, we funded projects across a range of key research areas, including:

  • 30% Institutes 
  • 15% clinical and population research 
  • 13% fellowships and training 
  • 10% drug discovery 
  • 8% discovery research 
  • 7% Cancer Grand Challenges 
  • 6% Centres 
  • 6% other strategic funding 
  • 5% early detection 

Funding across the research pipeline

Fundingt across the research pipeline

From the £415m spent in 2022/23, we funded research across the pipeline, including:

  • 46% on basic research projects focused on biology, aetiology and cancer control, survival and outcomes. 
  • 38% for translational research investigating treatment, early diagnosis, detection and prevention. 
  • 16% for clinical research into cancer control and survival, early diagnosis and detection, and treatment. 

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