NCRI’s Groups will become networks of experts, which will drive change against strategic priorities. Led by a leadership group and supported by NCRI, they will focus on catalysing activity in areas of unmet need.
The NCRI Groups are a central part of NCRI activity, acting as a forum to bring the cancer research community together and coordinating activities to develop new research. However, NCRI identified untapped potential for the groups to be bolder, becoming thought leaders that set and drive the research agenda, particularly in strategic, cross-cutting areas of unmet need.
NCRI developed the new model through consultation with current group members as well as other cancer research stakeholders.
NCRI Groups will now become wider networks, becoming more agile and wider-reaching. A core executive group will work closely with the NCRI, NCRI Partners, Consumers and the broader cancer community to set a strategy and define key priorities. The multidisciplinary network of skills and expertise will be called upon to deliver focused activities against key priorities with specific tangible outcomes.
By utilising virtual meetings and technology, the groups will operate in the most flexible and resource-efficient way.
This new model will allow the NCRI Groups to act more strategically and will see them deliver tangible outcomes in the areas of most need, advancing cancer research and delivering maximum impact for patients.
Nicola Keat, Head of Research Groups, NCRI
The first groups to transition to this new model are the brain, sarcoma, prostate, head & neck and screening, prevention and early diagnosis (SPED) groups.
By expanding the NCRI Groups to become wider networks, we will be able to involve a more diverse range of experts not limited by numbers, accessibility or geography. As a result, we will be able to utilise this expertise more efficiently to develop new studies in the strategic areas identified by the group, that will ultimately benefit patients.
Professor Michael Jenkinson, Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Liverpool and Chair, NCRI Brain Group
From today, you can join the NCRI Networks to become part of a central hub of people who will be offered opportunities to become involved in NCRI Group activities and hear key updates on progress made by the NCRI Groups.