Before applying

Yorkshire is big and beautiful and while we have much to celebrate, sadly the lives of too many people in our region are cut short by cancer. Yorkshire Cancer Research is dedicated to changing this through funding impactful research and services. We believe in research-led innovation and all our charitable activities focus on delivering solutions and real benefits to the people of Yorkshire.

We accept applications for research projects and clinical trials from organisations in the UK that can contribute to the research topic areas for that funding call. In non-academic led proposals we recommend that an academic collaborator be involved.

The Charity will only accept Award applications from principal applicants:

1. Whose contract of employment with the relevant Organisation provides for the applicant’s continuous employment in a substantive post up to or beyond the proposed end date of the Award applied for; or
2. Who will have a contract of employment with the relevant Organisation which will provide for the applicant’s continuous employment in a substantive post up to or beyond the end date of the proposal should the proposal be successful; and 
3. Who are, or will be, employed by the relevant Organisation for at least 50 per cent of their working time for the duration of the Award.

Please note, for applications to the 2024 Sheffield Pioneers Funding call, please refer to the scheme specific guidance.

For all other applications, research projects and clinical trials must address the Funding Round priorities for that call, have a clear hypothesis and must either:

• Test an intervention in a human population.
• Aim to change clinical practice (for example by way of an observational study to measure impact) during the study.

Further:

• We do not fund work that has the primary aim of knowledge generation or development of an intervention.
• We will only support research projects and clinical trials that seek to test an intervention where there is enough evidence to support the proof of concept.
• We may consider the development of social interventions as part of a wider research project if the team has a track record of quickly developing impactful social interventions.
• Applications may have multiple workstreams where needed to fully address the strategic aims, and where the requirements are fully justified, for example, if one workstream is a clinical trial, a further workstreams to support social and ethnic diversity within the recruitment population or a workstream to refine or pilot of an intervention (where there is already an existing evidence base for use) may be appropriate.
• Applications with training/career development opportunities, including clinical or doctoral fellowships can be submitted with appropriate justification of roles and details on what supervision/mentoring will be provided. Associated fees may be included.
• We will consider clinical trials at any stage from feasibility through to multi-centre phase III trials. Applications for stand-alone feasibility/pilot trials must describe future research plans should the proposed study be successful. Applications with both feasibility/pilot and main trials included must have clear stop/go criteria and review points included.
• Applicants should consider engagement with relevant national or local panels or bodies that may be able to support their application/make recommendations or could be impacted by the research proposed, such as local screening groups etc. Letters of support can be uploaded with the full application.

We run a two-stage process for our annual funding schemes. Any variations from this will be listed on the individual scheme pages.

The preliminary application outlines a summary of the work intended detailing the need and impact of the research. These applications are reviewed by our Strategic Fit Panel to ensure that they fit the criteria of the funding call and overall aims of the Charity; costs and scientific merit of the proposal are not considered at this stage. This panel is made up of lay stakeholder members of our Research Advisory Panel. Successful applicants are asked to participate in the second round and prepare more detailed full applications.

The full application undergoes an external peer review process from international experts in relevant fields. Reviewers will be asked to consider the impact and benefits of the research alongside the appropriateness of the methodology to deliver the desired outcomes, the justification of the costs and suitability of the team to deliver the project.

Applicants will be given the opportunity to address any comments raised through the external peer review process during the rebuttal period.

The full application with reviewers’ comments and any rebuttals received from applicants are considered and scored at the Research Advisory Meeting, involving Expert and Stakeholder members of our Research Advisory Panel. Their ranked recommendations are presented to the Charity Board of Trustees for final funding approval.

For more information on the Review process read our RAP Terms of Reference.

Researchers should consider opportunities to actively encourage patient and public involvement in all aspects of their project development and throughout the ongoing project. Applicants must involve a named lay representative in reviewing their application and engage them in aspects of project design and delivery. Studies should have a strong element of co-design and engagement with patients or the public as appropriate.

Applicants should consider appropriate channels of dissemination to ensure the research is shared appropriately with the target audiences.

More information is available on the UK Standards for Public Involvement website.

The Charity wants its research to be accessible and relevant to a wide population. As such all projects are encouraged to ensure inclusion and engagement with populations often underrepresented in research such as minority ethnic populations and deprived communities.

Where projects involve the recruitment of individuals, the application should describe measures to increase participation by populations often underrepresented in research. This may mean considering the eligibility criteria, proposed recruitment sites, consent process and community engagement activity, some of which may have implications for budgets. For applications in the addressing cancer-related health inequalities topic, applicants will need to describe how the target group will be approached and recruited.

You will also be asked about your expectations with regards to the demographics of your research population in relation to the population in Yorkshire with the condition under investigation.

Funded projects will be expected to report on the demographics of the recruited population in order for the Charity to understand if our funded trials are recruiting participants reflective of the Yorkshire (or UK) population and/or the specific cancer being studied.

SoECAT will apply to research applications that need to access the funding for Support and Excess Treatment Costs.

1. What are Support Costs? These are resources provided by the NIHR (Department of Health and Social Care) usually via the Local Clinical Research Networks. Examples of support costs are additional investigations, assessment and tests where the results are required by the patients care team.
2. What are Excess Treatment Costs? These are NHS treatment costs funded by the NHS. Treatment costs in a research study can be greater than in routine care, for example, giving a patient a new drug to see how it compares to the standard drug given.
3. When should I apply for SoECAT? Once a full application is invited a SoECAT will need to be completed with the full application if the research incurs support costs and/or excess treatment costs as shown above. We encourage you to initiate this process with the NIHR as soon as possible to ensure this will be ready by the deadline date.

We are happy to help with any queries you may have, and further guidance can be found on the NIHR website. Templates for the SoECAT forms can also be found on the above link.

• Below is information on Salaries and Consumables which you will find helpful when considering the budget requirements and completing a Full application when applying for one of our Schemes.
  
  If you have any questions regarding what can be included in your application, please contact: research@ycr.org.uk.
  

Costs you can claim

Only direct costs i.e. actual costs that are explicitly identifiable as arising from the conduct of a project (e.g. staff salaries, equipment, materials, travel) are valid. Indirect costs will not be considered for funding in any application in accordance with AMRC guidelines on full economic costing. Any cost increase due to inflation for salaries or consumables should be taken into account when preparing the budget.

Salaries

Costs can include:

• Salaries (only the staff time working on the Award is chargeable)
• Employer’s contributions e.g. NIC and pension costs (in proportion to the FTE working on the Award)

Salaries should not include:

• Members of staff not directly working on the Award e.g. central administration staff

• Those members of staff who are employed by the host organisation e.g. Principal Investigator
  

Consumables

These can include:

• Laboratory costs, associated with the Award only
• Associated charges for shipping, delivery or freight
• Archive costs
• Printing/photocopying
• Equipment needed for the research only, this will include purchase, delivery, installation and maintenance, during the period of the funding.
• Computers, usage must be solely for the Award.
• Software
• Data Management
• Questionnaires and materials for the study
• Registration costs
• Volunteer expenses, patient involvement and community engagement
• Project specific travel and expenses

Any consumables items that are included in the project costings and have a value over £10,000 should be justified including backing information showing how the costings have been arrived at.

Consumables should not include

• Fixed costs of the building e.g. premises, electricity, gas
• Computers or equipment for general use
• Depreciation
• Insurance
• Publication cost (unless stated otherwise in the Information for Applicants)
• Conference travel costs (unless stated otherwise in the Information for Applicants)

The list shown is not exhaustive and each Award is assessed individually.

Also, we may not fund items which are shown on the list if we deem them not to be a cost of the Award or inappropriate

All costs to a grant should be auditable. Your finance department from your organisation must be able to justify and account for all expenditure incurred.

Yorkshire Cancer Research is a signatory on the Academy of Medical Sciences cross-funder statement on COVID-19.

We encourage applicants to include any relevant information on how the pandemic has impacted your career and any relevant consequence on the research to be considered by the review panel alongside your application.

Read the Academy of Science Cross Funder COVID-19 statement.