AMRC Membership

Research Funding Process

How We Fund Research

The ICVI is committed to supporting high-quality research that has the potential to improve outcomes for patients and advance understanding of cancer and related diseases.

As a small charity, we have now recognised that maintaining our own independent peer review infrastructure is not the most effective use of our resources. To ensure that the funds donated to us have the greatest possible impact, we have decided to work in partnership with established members of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) to deliver research funding opportunities.

When funding becomes available for research projects, we may collaborate with an AMRC member charity whose research programme aligns with our charitable objectives, ie cancer immunotherapy research projects. The partner charity will manage the funding call, application process and expert peer review using its established procedures and independent review mechanisms.

Expert Review

All research proposals considered for funding through our partnership model are subject to rigorous expert assessment and peer review conducted by the partner organisation. This may include review by independent scientific experts, clinical specialists and relevant funding committees, in accordance with the partner charity’s established funding procedures.

The outcomes of these expert review processes are used to identify the very best research proposals for consideration.

Funding Decisions

Recommendations arising from the peer review process are considered alongside our charitable objectives and funding priorities.

Transparency

For each funding partnership, information about the funding call and the peer review process used will be made available through the relevant partner charity. Where appropriate, we will provide links to the partner charity’s research funding and peer review procedures.

Previous Funding Partnership

We have already successfully piloted this model through a partnership with Prostate Cancer Research. Through this collaboration, an innovative immunotherapy research project at Sheffield University was co funded by Prostate Cancer Research and the ICVI following Prostate Cancer Research’s comprehensive peer review and assessment process.

This new funding model allows us to maximise the impact of our charitable funds while ensuring that all research we support is assessed through a robust expert review process.

Research

One of the ways in which we are really unique is that we direct our research interests so specifically. Each and every one of our scientists works on a research project which is informed in some way by Professor Dalgleish’s interests and the treatment he gives patients. Cancer patients are his inspiration, and the reason the ICVI exists.

Before October 2022 our research was solely based at St George’s University of London so the published papers outlined below all originate from our team at that time. In future we will be funding projects in line with the Association of Medical Research Charities. More information about that can be found here: https://icvi.org.uk/about-us/amrc-membership/

It costs the ICVI around £400 each hour to keep our researchers working on their projects. If you would like to support us click here.
If you have any questions about any of our projects, please email us, we are a small team and try to respond to all enquiries promptly.

As a member of the AMRC, the ICVI also supports the AMRC’s position statement on the use of animals in research. We recognise that the responsible use of animals has been, and continues to be, an important part of advancing scientific and medical knowledge, and we are committed to the principles of replacement, refinement and reduction (the 3Rs). Further information can be found in the AMRC’s position statement: https://www.amrc.org.uk/position-statement-on-the-use-of-animals-in-research