Cancer Research awards £9m to Oxford University to support clinicians training

The charity said that many clinicians did not come back to research after completing their PhD

A leading cancer charity has announced £9m funding for "the next generation of doctors and scientists".

Cancer Research UK will award the funding to the University of Oxford over the next five years to train early-career clinician scientists.

It will help support those who want to get involved and stay in cancer research. 

A survey by the charity showed that 74% of respondents found it harder to deliver research "in a timely manner".

Cancer Research UK said clinician scientists "play an essential role" in helping to bridge the gap between scientific research and clinical research involving patients.

Becoming a clinician, which is a doctor who also carries out medical research, usually involves taking time out of medical training to undertake a PhD, before returning to train in a chosen specialisation.

But the charity said many clinicians did not come back to research.

In its clinical research staff survey in 2023, it found that nearly three quarters (74%) had said "it has become harder to deliver research in a timely manner in the last 18 months".

It added that 78% of respondents had described "wider pressures on the health service as a substantial or extreme barrier".

The Clinical Academic Training Programme was created in a bid to better support the clinicians who want to get involved and stay in cancer research.

The charity's CEO Michelle Mitchel said they needed "all our doctors and scientists to be able to reach their full potential".

She added that they "want to encourage even more clinicians to get involved in cancer research" through the programme.

It will invest £58.7m at nine research centres, including the Cancer Research UK Oxford Centre in partnership with the University of Oxford.

Professor Mark Middleton, programme lead academic in Oxford, said the funding also meant "that our scientists will understand better how to apply their work to the benefit of patients".

Follow BBC South on Facebook, X, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2240.