Our research into children's and young people's cancers

Our research is saving lives

We're the biggest funder of research into children's and young people's cancers in the UK.

We fund a wide portfolio of research programmes and clinical trials and support community of over 1,000 scientists, doctors and nurses across the UK and internationally to unlock discoveries about children's and young people's cancers and translate these into new and better ways to diagnose and treat them. 

And it's working. Step by step, day by day, our work means that more children and young people with cancer live better lives through more effective and less toxic treatments.  

Our progress

We’ve been driving progress for more than 50 years

In the last 50 years, around 34,500 children and young people with cancer in the UK have survived into adulthood thanks in part to our work.* Today, more than 9 in 10 children and young people who receive cancer drugs on the NHS receive a drug linked to our work.

*Calculated by the Cancer Intelligence Team at Cancer Research UK, 2025, based on method set out in Siegel R. et al, Cancer statistics, 2011: the impact of eliminating socioeconomic and racial disparities on premature cancer deaths. CA Cancer J Clin. 2011 Jul-Aug;61(4):212-36. Data are for the UK, ICD-10 C00-C97, D32-D33, D35.2-D35.4, D42-D43, D44.3-D44.5, observed and expected deaths 1971-2023, ages 0-24.

Our research

Stratified Medicine Paediatrics 2 programme

We're co-funding a £5.5m research programme with Children with Cancer UK to advance precision medicine for children and young people with cancer.

Children's Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence

We fund a virtual centre that brings together international experts in children’s brain tumour research to transform the way treatments for these tumours are developed. Learn more about the centre

Cancer Grand Challenges

We co-fund three £20m Cancer Grand Challenges teams, NexTGen, KOODAC, and PROTECT, who are discovering new ways to treat solid tumours in children and young people. 

C-Further

Together with LifeArc, we’ve launched a pioneering international initiative dedicated to developing new medicines exclusively for children’s and young people’s cancers.

Clinical trials

Find out more about clinical trials and search for a trial on our clinical trials page.

We've funded many of the world's most successful trials of children's cancer treatments and are the only UK charity that funds a dedicated clinical trials unit for children's cancers.

For researchers

Research opportunities in children and young people’s cancer

Read about our priorities to drive progress in children’s and young people’s cancer research. And explore our current funding schemes across all cancer types open to researchers working in this field.

 Learn more about our work

Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People

Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People is the part of Cancer Research UK dedicated to supporting research into cancers affecting 0-24-year-olds. Learn more about our world-leading research and ways to get involved.