Our Research Careers Committee (RCC) has a broad remit spanning basic and translational cancer research. The funding schemes supported by this committee encourage applications from all areas of our funding remit, except for drug discovery and clinical trials.
We’re particularly interested in proposals addressing areas of strategic priority for us including early detection, children’s and young people’s cancers, and research in cancers of unmet need such as brain, lung, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver and stomach cancer.
Explore our support for research careersThis scheme provides short-term funding to allow clinicians and other health professionals to get involved in research projects early in their career.
This scheme offers funding for clinical trainees to undertake a research project after completion of a PhD, during completion of their clinical specialty training.
This scheme offers researchers the opportunity to develop their clinical academic research career through a period of postdoctoral training.
This scheme supports clinician scientists to develop independence and leadership in their field of academic research.
This scheme supports new group leaders who do not have a salaried independent position to establish their own independent research group.
This scheme supports new group leaders who have a salaried independent position to establish their own research group.
This scheme offers support to group leaders to further develop their own research programme and build their reputation as world-leaders in their cancer research field.
This scheme supports clinicians with an interest in clinical trials and who would benefit from further training within a clinical trials unit setting.
The RCC meet twice a year to review all applications. They assess applications based on:
quality and originality of the proposed work with potential for impact in the field
quality and track record of the candidate demonstrated by key achievements, research outputs, recognition in the field and future research ambitions supported by relevant skills eg personal leadership and communication and engagement skills
suitability of the proposed research environment demonstrated by appropriate access to infrastructure/facilities, samples, specific expertise and support
demonstrated potential for independence eg own research niche, network, appropriate mentorship, leveraged funding
relevance of the project to cancer research and our research strategy
The terms of reference for this committee provide guidance for how they should assess all applications.
Read the committee’s terms of reference (PDF, 434 KB)
You can reapply to this committee if you have been unsuccessful previously at either outline or full application stage. However, we do have a restriction on the number of applications we can accept, and the committee generally only considers two submissions per applicant per career stage as defined by our competency framework.
If you are applying for a second time, you must contact us before starting a new application.
We do not have a strict time limit between re-applications, but we ask that you re-consider your eligibility for your intended scheme in terms of career stage, considering our competency framework and how you have addressed any previous feedback from the committee. This should be included in your cover letter as part of your application.
Explore our competency framework
Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke - Queen Mary University of London
Professor Iain McNeish - Imperial College London
Dr Sam Behjati - Wellcome Sanger Institute
Alice Choi - assessor of supporting skills
Professor John Christianson - University of Oxford
Professor Francesca Ciccarelli - Queen Mary University of London
Farhat Din - University of Edinburgh
Professor Dean Fennel - University of Leicester
Alison Howe - patient representative and assessor of supporting skills
Professor Brian Huntly - University of Cambridge
Professor Silvia Marino - Queen Mary University of London
Martina Platts - assessor of supporting skills
Professor Katie Robb - University of Glasgow
Professor Victoria Sanz-Moreno - Institute of Cancer Research
Professor Daniel Tennant - University of Birmingham
Professor Chrissie Thirlwell - University of Bristol
Professor Gareth Thomas - University of Southampton
Professor Ruth Travis - University of Oxford
Professor Clare Turnbull - Institute of Cancer Research
Professor Marcel van Herk - University of Manchester
Aileen Wallace - assessor of supporting skills
Professor Santiago Zelenay – Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute
Early- to mid-career researchers can apply for the opportunity to observe our panel and committee meetings across our funding remit.
Each year we fund a wide range of new research through our response-mode funding schemes. Find out who has been recently funded and learn more about their research projects.
Our strategy shapes how we'll discover more about how cancer develops and progresses to unlock new and better ways to prevent, detect and treat it.
