Nothing should stand in the way. Making it easier for researchers to work together

How your voices helped shape a landmark report on research collaboration

Over the past two years, with the support of people affected by cancer, our Policy team at Cancer Research UK has worked closely with the University of Southampton to produce a new report. The goal is to influence UK and EU policy to make it easier for cancer researchers in different countries to work together, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

We’re delighted to share that the final report, ‘Nothing Should Stand in the Way has now been published and so far has had great success. Our Cancer Insights Panels and the wider cancer community helped to shape this report, enabling us to show what the barriers to research truly mean to people affected by cancer and their loved ones.

Your voices made this possible

From the very beginning, people affected by cancer played a vital role in shaping this work. Here’s how your involvement made a difference:

• Getting the questions right: Our Online Cancer Insights Panel reviewed the questions we planned to ask the wider community, helping us ensure they were clear, accessible, and relevant.
• Hearing from the community: We ran a survey that received 80 responses from people affected by cancer. These insights helped shape our conversations with UK and EU decision-makers and were included in our Longer, Better Lives policy programme in November 2023.
• Strong public support: Engagement showed overwhelming support for international research partnerships, and the views from the panel helped show policymakers how much this matters to those affected.
• Prioritising what matters most: The panel helped us identify the most important issues, ensuring the final report reflected the real priorities of people living with cancer.
   

Shaping the message together

• Making it clearer and stronger: Panel members gave feedback on our early messaging, helping us make the language bolder and more impactful.
• Refining the summary: When we shared a draft of the executive summary, you asked for more patient voices and a stronger focus on access to medicines. We listened and made those changes.
   

What’s happened since

We’re pleased that our report, 'Nothing Should Stand in the Way’ has received lots of positive attention. It even made the front page of The Guardian and was picked up by other major media outlets.

Since its release, the report has been welcomed by key organisations in health and international policy, including the UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences, think tank the Nuffield Trust and NHS Confederation. It’s also sparked interest and support from European partners, with some even writing to the European Commission to back our recommendations.

We know how important it is to show that people affected by cancer care deeply about scientists being able to work together across borders. This helps encourage the UK Government to strengthen its relationship with the EU in these areas.

We’re continuing to share the report with decision-makers in the UK and EU, and we’re meeting with key people to keep the conversation going. In a recent meeting about the new UK-EU strategic alliance, we spoke up about how much scientific collaboration matters to patients, and our input was very well received.

We’ll keep pushing for patient voices to be heard in these discussions, alongside those of businesses and governments. We’re also thinking about how this work fits into our wider international policy plans.