Pre-doctoral Research Bursary

Overview

This bursary provides short-term funding to allow clinicians and other health professionals get involved in research projects early in their career.

Key information Timelines

Applications are reviewed twice per year. Upcoming application deadline: 24 September 2026.

Funding period

up to 12 months

Funding amount

up to £25k

Who is eligible?

Our core eligibility criteria are outlined below. You may contact us 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 research.careers@cancer.org.uk

The applicant

Our Predoctoral Research Bursaries fund the best clinical academics to develop careers in the field of cancer research. This bursary is designed to provide short-term funding for a period of your research.

This bursary is for you if you are interested in a career in academic medicine and wish to gain experience and skills in cancer research. This bursary will support you to obtain preliminary data before applying for PhD or MD fellowships.

You can apply for this if you are:

a clinician in training (foundation, core, speciality or run-through training)

a nurse

an allied health professional, for instance physiotherapist, radiographer, medical physicist or pharmacist

eligible to complete your clinical training and practice medicine in the UK

In Scotland, the bursary is suitable for holders of clinical lectureships who have not registered for a PhD/MD.

Academic Clinical Fellows (ie funded through the NIHR Integrated Academic Training Pathway in England) can apply for funding for consumable costs to undertake a period of research. Otherwise, you cannot apply for this bursary if you have already registered for or have completed a PhD or MD, or if you already hold a fellowship that allows you to undertake research.

Host institution

This award must be held in a UK university or research institute. You will need the support of an appropriate research group and supervisor. Most UK university departments are eligible, but we can help you check your host institution is eligible.

If your salary is funded through one of our institutes, you are not eligible to apply for this bursary.

Please inform your host institution that you intend to apply as they will need to approve your application.

Other funding

You can submit applications for the same project to different funding bodies, including us. However, if successful, you may only accept one award. If applicable, please notify us and disclose this in your application under 'Other Funding'.

Cancer Research UK-Pathological Society Pre-doctoral Research Bursary

In partnership with the Pathological Society, we promote research in pathology and cancer to foster development of early career clinical academic researchers with a focus on the intersection between these specialities.

We have a joint funding scheme to fund pathology trainees applying for Predoctoral Research Bursaries. If you are a trainee pathologist and a member of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, you should apply to the Cancer Research UK-Pathological Society Pre-doctoral Research Bursary for up to total of £50k for 12 months.

Applicants must be a member of the Pathological Society and a medical trainee in a pathology specialism (eg chemical pathology, forensic histopathology, paediatric and perinatal pathology, diagnostic neuropathology, histopathology).

The application procedure is the same, however, Pathological Society members must apply specifically to the ‘Cancer Research UK-Pathological Society Pre-doctoral Research Bursary’ scheme listed on our grants management system. We encourage you to speak to us before starting an application.

Flexible working arrangements

Career breaks (due to personal circumstances), part-time working and changes in discipline will be taken into consideration by our panels and committees to make appropriate adjustments when assessing your record of outputs, research achievements and career progression.

You can apply on a part-time or flexible working basis if this fits with the needs of your host institution and they approve your request.

For bursary applicants, there is flexibility in the working hours we expect you to spend on academic research, provided this aligns with the research proposal and you can demonstrate how your research time will be protected. The maximum award value still applies.

If you’d like to apply on a part-time basis, contact us to discuss your proposed parameters for the award and how to include the part-time request in your application.

Learn about our flexible research career support

What is suitable for this scheme?

You can apply for a Pre-doctoral Research Bursary in any (or more than one) of the research areas listed below, as long as your research proposal is cancer-relevant and clearly articulates the cancer-related question you’re focusing on.

We also accept proposals spanning both basic and translational research.

We are particularly interested in proposals addressing cancers of unmet need (ie brain, lung, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver and stomach cancer), early detection and other areas of strategic priority.

Read our research strategy

Basic biological research

Any cancer-relevant area of basic biological research, including:

cancer cell metabolism or genetics

cell transformation and oncogenesis

genomic instability and cell cycle

inflammation

migration, invasion, metastasis and tumour dormancy

tumour immunology, biology, microenvironment, heterogeneity or evolution

Studies may include model systems (eg yeast/fly/mouse/cell lines etc) or primary tumour material. Please specify how the chosen model relates to the question you’re addressing.

Preclinical studies

Research that generates biological data for developing therapeutics, including:

identification and functional characterisation of biological targets in cell lines, primary tumour material or model systems

biological mechanisms of therapeutic interventions

mechanisms of resistance to therapies

biological investigation of exceptional responders or non-responders

discovery research to identify and/or provide biological insight regarding potential biomarkers using samples from defined patient cohorts (eg retrospective trial or cohort)

Imaging

The following areas of imaging research, including:

whole-body preclinical studies

cellular imaging to address questions of tumour biology in animal models or through whole-body imaging

development of imaging or contrast agents and other imaging technologies

imaging research associated with surgery

Radiotherapy research

Research to optimise radiotherapy, including:

radiotherapy physics eg improving treatment planning, reducing toxicity and increasing efficacy of treatment to improve patient outcomes

radiobiology eg mechanisms of radiotherapy resistance and drug interactions

imaging radiotherapy

Engineering and physical sciences applied to cancer

Research across all engineering and physical sciences disciplines, including:

physics

engineering

mathematical and computational modelling

chemical and molecular sciences

materials science

molecular and/or tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Population research

Research areas, including:

prevention – eg adherence to chemoprevention

epidemiology

population-based studies, including classical, clinical and molecular epidemiological approaches, to help understand risk and disease aetiology, and to test and validate strategies to improve the prevention and control of cancer in patients and the public

incidence rates of cancer, including changes over time and geographies

investigation into the changes in cancer survival, driven by risk factors or other relevant factors

methodological and statistical research relating to prevention and population sciences

population-level epidemiological studies of secondary physical effects of cancer treatment

risk stratification and associated cancer prevention studies, including identifying high-risk groups where preventative interventions would be beneficial and preventative intervention research could be conducted

exploratory and confirmatory clinical trials seeking to test the efficacy and safety of chemo-preventive agents

development and evaluation of behavioural and lifestyle interventions to support prevention of cancer, including cancer recurrence, across a range of risk factors, which may include tobacco, alcohol, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, obesity and UV exposure (individual or population level)

screening as a form of prevention, including population-level trials of screening approaches

policy-focused research to help develop our policies and advocacy strategies concerning cancer prevention, including policy research on tobacco control

Early detection research

Research areas, including:

biological research underpinning ear