The ICR's campus in Sutton
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Imperial College London have agreed plans to develop a strategic partnership through the creation of a virtual Cancer Research Centre of Excellence (CRCE).
The virtual centre will be headed by the ICR’s Chief Executive, Professor Paul Workman, and will harness the complementary expertise of both partners to deliver an enhanced and synergistically world-leading programme of cancer research.
A strategic collaborative partnership agreement is now in place and the CRCE Board that will shape and steer the centre’s activities will be established in the coming weeks.
The ICR will contribute outstanding leadership in cancer research, and ICR scientists will gain access to the extensive resources and expertise of an exceptional multi-faculty university in exciting new areas, including the basic life sciences, medicine, physical sciences and bio-engineering. This will further enhance the ICR’s basic and translational cancer research.
The ICR will now be working with colleagues at Imperial to develop a joint bid for a Cancer Research UK Major Centre, as well as aligning other funding bids.
'Raising ambitions'
Professor Workman said: “I am excited about this important new strategic partnership with Imperial that will allow the ICR to broaden the scope and raise the ambitions of our cancer research. By pooling our resources and expertise, and by working together in strategic collaboration, we will be able to do more together than we could have done alone.
“The ICR will be able to expand its leadership role in cancer research — and through access to the wide-ranging resources of such a top class multi-faculty university, we will be able to move into important new areas of essential multidisciplinary science and accelerate our ability to make discoveries that bring benefit to cancer patients.”
Professor Gavin Screaton, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, said: “Cancer is one of the most important challenges we’re facing in healthcare today, and Imperial has long been committed to tackling it. Our world-leading research is already saving lives, but we know that through collaboration we can achieve more.
“This important step will allow us to harness the expertise of Imperial – across the Faculties of Medicine, Natural Sciences and Engineering – and the ICR to drive pioneering and innovative advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Our plans are ambitious. We look forward to closer working with colleagues at the ICR as this partnership develops.”