Cancer Research UK introduces three new funding schemes to support careers of cancer doctors

Cancer Research UK is launching three new funding schemes to support the careers of cancer doctors researching new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.

Over the next few years, the charity's Clinical Careers Committee hopes to fund twice as many fellowships as were previously available. And three schemes will be available for clinicians at different stages of their careers.

The Postdoctoral Research Bursary is available to clinicians to carry out research while completing speciality medical training. This bursary covers research costs for up to two years but does not cover salary.

The Clinician Scientist Fellowship is available to researchers with no previous post-doctoral fellowship experience. It provides the successful candidate's salary and research costs for up to five years.

And the Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellowship is available to researchers with more than three years post-doctoral research experience. This fellowship provides up to five years funding for the successful candidate's salary, the salary of another post-doctoral researcher and an assistant or technician in addition to equipment and running costs.

Dr Karen Noble, head of research training and fellowships at Cancer Research UK, said: "We've listened to the needs of the community and we're tailoring our funding accordingly. These new schemes will allow us to support talented clinicians and help to advance research into new cancer treatments.

"Clinical research is the key to finding out if a new approach to cancer treatment works well - and is safe - in patients. It also helps us discover which treatments or strategies work best for certain types of cancer or groups of patients."

Professor Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, said: "Finding the next generation of clinical research leaders is one of our highest priorities at Cancer Research UK.  People who can turn our amazing discoveries into things that will help patients in the clinic are vital to our future.  We're excited to further invest in the best clinical research taking place in the UK."