2024 Funding Round - 'For Healthier, Longer Lives in Yorkshire and Beyond'

We now invite applications to our 2024 Funding Round for research projects and clinical trials testing the latest innovations in the NHS or local communities in the following areas:

1. Reducing the risk of developing cancer.
2. Improving early diagnosis and cancer screening.
3. Improving treatments.
4. Reducing cancer-related health inequalities.

The proposed work should have the goal to reduce incidence of cancer in a given population, to improve survival and/or reduce life years lost to cancer (but not at the expense of quality of life) during the course of the project and beyond. In view of this, applications focused on the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Yorkshire, cancers causing the most deaths and life years lost in Yorkshire or projects across multiple cancer types will be prioritised as those projects are the most likely to have the greatest impact.

All projects are encouraged to take steps to maximise inclusion and engagement with populations often underrepresented in research such as minority ethnic populations and deprived communities. Furthermore, for the ‘Reducing health inequalities’ topic we invite applications with interventions targeting specific under-represented groups, still with the overall aim to improve survival and reduce life years lost through reducing the risk of cancer developing, improving early diagnosis and/or improving treatments. We encourage all applicants to familiarise themselves with the Involve guidance issued by NIHR. We have also provided some further useful links about health inequalities and inclusion.

Over 30,000 people develop cancer per year in Yorkshire. We welcome applications that seek to reduce the risk of people developing cancer. Any intervention may be investigated whether medicinal, surgical, behavioural or lifestyle provided there is convincing evidence to support the proposal.

Examples of applications eligible under topic 1 are:

• Behavioural, lifestyle and environmental factors
  4 in 10 cancers are linked to avoidable risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol and obesity [2]. We welcome proposals that consider how to address behavioural, lifestyle and environmental factors to reduce the risk of cancer. The projects must have an interventional element, with the emphasis on solving problems rather than describing them. We are happy to receive applications from researcher/practitioner teams engaged in cycles of development and testing to create sustainable change.
  
  
• Identification of, and offering of interventions to, people at higher risk of cancer or recurrence.
  Proposals should consider how at-risk individuals could be identified, encouraged to engage, determine appropriate course of treatment/monitoring/prevention and supported throughout the process.

The NHS Long Term Plan indicates that early diagnosis will be the main contribution to achieving fewer cancer deaths per year in Yorkshire.

All projects in this topic should aim to diagnose more people at an early stage to improve survival and reduce life years lost to cancer. Survival need not be an endpoint given that, for most cancers, survival at 1 and 5 years is much higher if the cancer is detected early (at stage 1) than if it is detected later (at stage 4).

Examples for topic 2 include:

• Raising awareness and increasing earlier presentation to primary care and reducing the diagnostic interval.
  
  Examples include applications testing interventions that not only raise cancer awareness, but also result in an earlier presentation to primary care for people with potential cancer symptoms. Further, we welcome applications that test interventions to enhance processes within primary and secondary care to reduce the time from a person presenting with symptoms to diagnosis and treatment, in order to decrease the diagnostic interval.
  
  
• Testing and implementing new cancer screening methods.
  
  We welcome applications focusing on the implementation of alternative screening strategies to improve current cancer screening techniques or identify new approaches that can be implemented for those cancers that are not routinely screened. However, the screening test cannot be in the developmental stage. The project may consider using existing techniques in a novel or adapted way to increase their effectiveness/sensitivity and reduce any harms associated with screening.

We welcome applications that test new treatments, or improve current treatments, aiming to improve survival or reduce life years lost in cancer patients. Any therapeutic intervention in people diagnosed with cancer including medical, surgical or radiological can be considered. Furthermore, we have a particular interest in exercise interventions and view exercise before, during or after primary treatment as part of the treatment pathway. Whilst our emphasis is on improving survival, any improvement in survival should not be at the expense of quality of life, and we encourage collection of patient reported outcomes where relevant.

Projects solely focused on improving quality of life are not eligible for the Funding Round.

All projects in topics 1-3 are expected to take steps to ensure the research population is representative of the Yorkshire population for the condition under investigation.

It is well known that health inequalities exist and certain groups of people have a higher risk of developing cancer and/or higher cancer mortality rates than others. Furthermore, groups may be underserved due to demographic factors (e.g. age, sex, ethnicity), social and economic factors (e.g. employment status, location, digital exclusion/ disadvantage) or current health status. For this fourth topic, we welcome applications that seek to address these health inequalities through research projects involving targeted interventions in underserved groups, known to have worse cancer outcomes. The under-served group/s being focussed on should be relevant to a demographic within Yorkshire and will need to be fully described including impact on health outcomes and again the emphasis must be on preventing cancer, increasing survival or reducing life years lost.

Examples may include:

• Interventions to increase participation in national screening programmes in relevant underserved groups in Yorkshire.
  
  Addressing variations in the rates of people taking part in national cancer screening programmes across Yorkshire represents an area where significant improvements can be made. In order to address inequalities in underserved groups, we welcome applications that test interventions that may raise the level of cancer screening participation for example in ethnic minorities, rural or deprived populations. Examples may include interventions aimed at removing barriers, changing behaviour or considering alternative approaches to improving early diagnosis.
  
  
• Lifestyle interventions targeting modifiable cancer risk factors in relevant underserved groups in Yorkshire.
  
  As noted previously, an estimated 4 in 10 cancers are preventable through modifiable risk factors including smoking, obesity and physical activity and at the same time, many of these risk factors are highest in underserved groups. For example, we know that smoking prevalence is higher lower socio-economic groups and participation in smoking cessation programmes is also lower in lower socioeconomic groups putting them at higher risk of developing cancer and poorer outcomes following a cancer diagnosis. We welcome applications that investigate lifestyle interventions, for example smoking cessation, targeting high risk, underserved groups.
  

• Interventions that seek to improve access to healthcare in relevant underserved groups in Yorkshire.
  
  Research that tests new interventions to remove barriers and improve access to healthcare with the aim of improving survival and/or gaining life years in Yorkshire. This might include interventions that encourage help seeking behaviour in people experiencing symptoms suggestive of cancer, or targeted support to remove barriers throughout the cancer treatment pathway and beyond.

Applications in this topic will need to provide considered plans around how the group will be engaged. We recommend that all applicants familiarise themselves with the involve guidance issued by NIHR. We have also provided some further useful links about inequalities and inclusion.

We welcome applications for clinical trials in any of the above topic areas. For large, multi-centre trials, inclusion of an internal pilot with clear progression criteria should be considered, alternatively, where there may be broader questions regarding the feasibility of study conduct, stand-alone feasibility trials may be considered for funding where there is a clear path to impact. Phase II trials may be considered if they are competitive in terms of potential impact.

All interventions should be sufficiently developed and ready for testing in relevant populations, with the aim of improving survival, extending lives or reducing cancer incidence.

It is well documented that being research active is beneficial and has been shown to improve outcomes beyond the direct research project. We therefore want to maximise research activity in Yorkshire and projects should aim to recruit the majority of participants from within Yorkshire where possible, especially where data suggest there are sufficient numbers of eligible participants from within the Yorkshire region. However, we appreciate this may not be possible and certain multi-site studies will need to recruit participants from outside of the region. In such circumstances applications must:

• Outline how many eligible patients there are in Yorkshire and how many of these would be offered the opportunity to participate in the study.
• Demonstrate that every effort will be made to recruit as many eligible patients from Yorkshire as possible, for example describing how site set-up will be prioritised.
• For multi-site studies, recruitment should take place at as many relevant sites in the region as possible, and site set-up within Yorkshire should be prioritised.

Following the recommendations from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Research all projects should aim to recruit a representative population. All applications will be required to describe how this will be achieved and reasonable costs associated with such activity will be supported. Successful Awards will be expected to report demographic data annually and progress with recruitment targets will be monitored throughout the course of the project.

We run a two-stage application process for funding. Preliminary applications are taken through our Strategic Fit Test. The Strategic Fit Test is assessed solely by lay stakeholder members of the charity’s Research Advisory Panel (RAP). Projects that best align with our strategy will be invited to submit a full application.

Full applications are peer reviewed by external experts with relevant expertise and experience. Applicants will be given the opportunity to address any comments raised through the external peer review process during the rebuttal period. The full applications, peer review comments and any rebuttals are then discussed and scored at a Research Advisory Meeting. Equal numbers of lay stakeholders and expert RAP members attend this meeting, and their views are treated equally.  The recommendations from this meeting are then taken to the Board of Trustees for a final decision on which proposals to fund.

• Conflicts of Interests
• Confidentiality requirements
• Information for Applicants
• Award terms
• Research Strategy

This funding round has now closed.

Queries: If you have any questions, please contact Research@ycr.org.uk or call Teams 01423 613483.