Cancer Research UK launched its EDI strategy two years ago, making a commitment to being transparent about progress and challenges. Today the charity has published its gender and ethnicity pay gap reports. The gender pay gap is the difference in average pay between all females and males, and the ethnicity pay gap is calculated by comparing the average pay of White employees and other ethnic minority colleagues. The gender and ethnicity pay gaps are not the same as equal pay. Cancer Research UK conducts an equal pay audit and females and males receive the same pay for equal work. I believe t ..read more

As a research scientist I found going to conferences really beneficial. Not least because they were a great opportunity to get out of the lab, present and discuss my data, learn about other people’s work and to meet other researchers but I also enjoyed the perk of travelling and exploring new places. Moving into research management I envisaged missing this aspect of being a research scientist. However, this hasn’t been the case. To my surprise I found that there is a stimulating conference scene for research integrity, metascience and topics related to best practices in research. Like academi ..read more

You may have heard about a new study into contraception and cancer recently. New information about cancer risks can be hard to apply to everyday life, and headlines about this paper are highlighting some alarming-looking numbers. If you or someone you’re close to uses hormonal contraception, there’s a chance you’re asking what the latest findings actually mean. Let’s break this research down and see. First, we should say a bit about what hormonal contraception is. Unlike barrier contraception, such as condoms, hormonal contraception releases hormones into a woman’s body to prevent her becomin ..read more

As a golf coach and pro, Lysa Jones is used to competing at the highest level and drawing on the mental resilience that she’s gained through years of rigorous sports training. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, Lysa, 51, found that she could deploy the same resilience to help her cope with the illness and her treatment. Being able to focus on the here and now was key and it’s a skill that Lysa aims to pass on to her clients. She is part of Graham Walker’s Golf Academy Professional team at The Oaks Golf Club and Spa at Aughton, near York and her elite work includes coaching Eng ..read more

Cancer Research UK today announced the appointments of Rakshit Kapoor and Hitesh Thakrar to its Council of Trustees, the charity’s board of directors. Teye Mkushi, Jazz Thind and Janet Ryan have also been appointed as non-Trustee committee members. The Council of Trustees plays a vital role in setting Cancer Research UK’s agenda and upholding its values. They help determine the charity’s strategic direction and monitor the delivery of its objectives, as well as advising and supporting the chief executive. Non-Trustee Committee members provide essential subject matter expertise and guidance to ..read more

As we saw today, the Spring Budget is a key moment in the political calendar for health and research because it is one of the major moments where the entire landscape can change in an hour-long speech. Though the Chancellor has a plethora of economic plates to spin, we at Cancer Research UK always believe every Budget is a moment for a Government to seize upon and make real impact on cancer research, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. For those still picking through the numbers or who haven’t got the time to pore over the documents with a fine toothcomb, here’s our quick primer on the ..read more

March 8th marked International Women’s Day, and to celebrate we hosted our annual Women of Influence Fellow’s Meeting at the Royal Society in London. The Women of Influence initiative is a mentorship scheme which pairs exceptional female scientists funded by Cancer Research UK with leading businesswomen. It aims to provide early to mid-career researchers with support and guidance from outside of academia. Women of Influence Fellows’ Meeting at The Royal Society in London. The initiative started in 2014, and almost a decade later the scheme has seen around 80 researchers benefitting from the ..read more

The work cancer researchers undertake has incredible ambition. Perhaps understandable then, that it’s so often described in celestial terms. Visionary projects become moonshots, new research strategies reach for the stars and biopharma spinouts explode from the launch pad. For one emerging leader of the cancer research community this has real resonance. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to be an astronaut,” says Mariam Jamal-Hanjani. “I remember being obsessed with stars and, you know, I’m quite tiny so at the very least I figured my center of gravity wouldn’t be an issue!” “And then I sudde ..read more

Excellent patient and public involvement (PPI) plays an essential role in health and social care research. Members of the public, as those benefiting from research, should have a say in decisions that impact them. Their perspective and lived experience can increase the relevance, impact and quality of research. That’s why Cancer Research UK has been actively involving people affected by cancer since 2014 across many of our research funding activities, as well as across much of the charity’s work. N.B.: Where we use the term “patient” or “patient involvement” we mean the involvement of people ..read more

How does weight impact cancer risk? What can we do to make breakthrough immunotherapies work for more people? And why are viruses that infected our ancestors millions of years ago contributing to how cancers develop today? Those are some of the biggest questions in cancer research. Answering them won’t be easy, but it has the potential to transform the way we prevent, diagnose, and treat the disease. And that’s exactly what we’re here to do. Today, Cancer Grand Challenges, which we co-founded with the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2020, announced 9 new research challenges, and invited ..read more