Clinical Research Funding Scheme

Overview

This modular scheme provides support for high-quality clinical research, associated translational research, and collection of samples and data. We encourage bold and creative applications.

Key information Timelines

Applications are reviewed twice per year. Upcoming application deadlines: (full) 25 June 2026

Funding period

Typically, up to 10 years but longer durations can be considered if justified (project dependent)

Funding amount

Flexible; module dependent

Who is eligible?

Our core eligibility criteria are outlined below. Note that this scheme operates a closed round to ensure only eligible applications are submitted.

You must contact us ideally one month but at least two weeks before the deadline for an informal and confidential discussion of your proposal prior to submitting your application. We’ll advise on your eligibility and provide guidance on submitting your application.

Email clinicalresearch@cancer.org.uk

The applicant

You can apply for our Clinical Research Funding Scheme if you are based at a UK university, medical school, hospital, UKCRC registered clinical trials unit or research institution. The proposal must be investigator-led.

All applications must have a UKCRC registered clinical trials unit co-ordinating the clinical trial/study, or an associated clinical trial/study. If appropriately justified, we may allow exceptions for:

small-scale and/or non-complex, non-interventional studies

certain biomarker assay validation studies using samples from patients receiving standard of care

Explore the UKCRC clinical trials units

Career stage

This scheme is open to researchers at any career stage, from early to established. Each module has specific guidance for applicant eligibility.

This scheme is open to early-career researchers (defined by the Develop Independence section of our competency framework) who have had limited involvement in research as co-investigators and collaborators. We encourage applications which include early-career researchers, specifically individuals who are nearing the completion of, or have recently graduated from, a clinical trials fellowship or clinician scientist fellowship.

We outline how we define career stages in our competency framework.

Read the framework

What is suitable for this scheme?

This modular scheme supports high-quality, biologically rich trials and studies using innovative and adaptive designs that seek to maximise what we can learn from every participant.

We encourage bold and creative applications.

Scheme modules

This scheme has three interconnected modules: Clinical Trial, Experimental Medicine, and Sample Collection. We strongly encourage applicants to apply for all three modules together as an integrated package.

New clinical trial research proposals should take advantage of the opportunity to embed Experimental Medicine studies that will inform our mechanistic understanding of the disease, and its treatment, where possible.

We expect most clinical trial proposals to have a Sample Collection module and Experimental Medicine module integrated, where possible, to enable the delivery of our strategy.

We will also prioritise:

early phase proof of concept trials

trials that optimise/repurpose treatments while minimising adverse effects

trials that promote innovative methodologies

Examples of opportunities to generate mechanistic insights include:

why an intervention is or is not effective, including cancer recurrence

how tumours evolve to be resistant to therapies

how toxicities can be better predicted and managed

how combinations of therapies can be optimised to tumour biology (eg precision and stratified medicine approaches)

trials with clinical decision-making biomarkers which can progress towards biomarker registration for routine use

These investigations may be underpinned by research into how cancer evolves, develops resistance, evades the immune system and progresses. We also will support proposals investigating the primary effects of cancer on whole-body physiology, where there is a clear impact on patient outcome, such as cachexia.

We will consider standalone or mixed module applications, where justified. Additional modules can be layered on throughout the lifetime of a grant.

Read our research strategy

Read our statement of intent

What are we looking for

Where possible, recruitment should be representative of the target patient population and we expect study teams to identify and reduce barriers for underserved populations to access research.

All proposals should outline the activities planned to ensure the trial/study is designed with diversity and inclusion in mind, and how inclusion will be accounted for in the way the trial is designed and delivered.

We encourage proposals that focus on areas of strategic priority such as cancers of unmet need, children's and young people's cancers or rare cancers. We will continue to support trials that look to refine current treatments, including trials of radiotherapy and surgery, which are less likely to be funded by industry or other bodies.

We particularly value the generation of high-quality omics data within prospective randomised controlled trials.

Explore our work in cancers of unmet need

Explore our work in children’s and young people’s cancers

Endorsements

You can apply for endorsement of an academically sponsored clinical trial where the direct research costs have been secured elsewhere, typically through an industry partner and core funding from a clinical trials unit.

Endorsements do not provide any additional direct funding but allow you to brand the trial as a Cancer Research UK trial. Within a clinical trial endorsement proposal, funding can be requested for associated experimental medicine and/or sample collection modules.

Industry-sponsored trials cannot be reviewed under this scheme.

If the trial uses core funds from one of our core-funded clinical trials units, the endorsement will enable the trial to be included in the NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) portfolio via the automatically eligible route.

It will also enable the Department of Health and Social Care to cover any Research Part B costs that aren’t supported by industry. To be eligible for the Research Part B costs to be met, you will need to make clear to the NIHR RDN portfolio adoption team how our clinical trials units core-funding is also being used to support the trial alongside industry funding.

Frequently asked questions

You can review our frequently asked questions for additional clarification on any questions you might have.

Explore our clinical research funding scheme FAQ(PDF, 1.01 MB)

Clinical research statement of intent and funding webinar

Watch the recording from our clinical funding webinar to learn more about the opportunities available within this funding scheme.

Watch the webinar

Spotlight call: tackling gastrointestinal cancers of unmet need through clinical research

We're committed to addressing critical gaps in cancer research through our spotlight calls, which highlight key areas of need where dedicated research efforts could accelerate progress.

With our new spotlight call, we encourage applications to develop applications that address clinical and translational questions in pancreatic, liver, oesophageal and gastric cancers.

Applicants can apply for funding to address the spotlight call through this award. All applications will be considered alongside the full pool of Clinical Research Committee proposals. Primary evaluation will be based on the clinical and scientific quality, including the expected patient impact of the research. However, applications of comparable quality may be prioritised if they are of strategic importance in tackling cancers of unmet need.

The spotlight call will span multiple funding rounds, with the decision on when to end the call made by us and the Clinical Research Committee, based on the coverage of awarded projects.

Learn more about the spotlight call

What isn't suitable for this scheme?

You should not apply for this scheme if your proposal does not fit the remit of the Clinical Research Committee. This includes:

population based studies, clinical trials and associated translational research aimed at understanding the epidemiology of cancer, cancer risk, incidence rates, overall changes in cancer survival, preventative interventions and screening

clinical and translational research that aims to investigate how and when early cancers and pre-cancerous states are diagnosed, including investigations into biomarkers for early detection or risk stratification for screening

genome-wide association studies for the identification of genetic predisposition/risk biomarkers

biomarker discovery proposals that are not integrated within a clinical trial or a well-designed observational study

pre-clinical studies utilising cell lines or animal models to investigate biological mechanisms

pre-clinical research for drug deve