This month the North West Cancer Research Centre (NWCRC), based at the University of Liverpool, is celebrating its 5th birthday by hosting a special scientific symposium that will highlight the research being conducted at the Centre and by its collaborators.
NWCRC represents a collaboration of the Universities of Liverpool, Bangor and Lancaster, Liverpool Health Partners, various NHS Hospital Trusts, Liverpool City Council and the people of Liverpool.
It is comprised of three committees, who are responsible for the Centre’s strategy, governance and day-to-day running. The Centre has received more than £2m in funding from the NWCR charity raised through a whole range of efforts by their supporters.
During the last five years the Centre has used this generous funding to support a number of initiatives to help reduce the impact of cancers across the Liverpool City Region, including:
• The establishment of the Liverpool Cancer Research Inequalities Network (LCIRN), bringing together researchers from various disciplines, clinicians, patients, health and social care decision makers and members of the public to work together to help understand and reduce these cancer inequalities
• The recruitment of 11 PhD students who are now conducting cancer related research
• The provision of £230k of funding for ‘starter’ grants for Early Career Researchers, which allow them to either publish their results in scientific journals and/or apply for larger project grants
• The allocation of £17k worth of travel awards enabling staff and students to attend conferences in more than 10 countries, where they have presented their research work and promoted the Centre
• A regular series of public seminars with a mixture of internal and external speakers, covering a wide range of topics related to cancer
• A wide range of community outreach activities to help people understand more about cancer and what they can do to lessen its impact for themselves, their friends and family
On Friday, 26 April 2019, as part of the Centre’s birthday celebrations, NWCRC is hosting its Annual Scientific Symposium at the Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool. The event is open to all academic and clinical staff, Postdocs, and postgraduate research students undertaking and interested in cancer research. More details of the event can be found here.
Professor Sarah Coupland, Consultant Histopathologist at the University of Liverpool and Director of NWCRC, said: “The main goal of the Centre is to understand the biology behind a number of cancer types, to improve therapies, and to reduce the impact of cancers across our region. As such, we are extremely proud of what we have achieved since opening in 2014. The Centre acts as a ‘glue’ for the cancer researchers at the three Universities and in the hospital Trusts, whether they are working more at the bench or at the bedside.
“These first five years have been a good start for the Centre, and within the next five we are aiming to make further impacts in reducing the impact cancer has here in the city region and beyond.”
More information about the NWCRC can be found here