Message from Professor Will Steward

The World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF International) Regular Grant Programme is dedicated to funding research on the role of food, nutrition, physical activity and body fatness on cancer prevention and control. To date, WCRF International has awarded over £23 million of research grants. Together with the Research Grant Programme at the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) (see section 4.1 of the Grant Application Package (GAP)), the total research spend of the WCRF global network amounts to more than £83 million since the network was founded in the early 1980s.

Although I have been a Grant Panel member since 2005, this is my first year as Chairman of WCRF International’s Research Grant Panel. Over the years, I have witnessed important advances in the area of cancer prevention through WCRF International-funded grants and I look forward to seeing exciting developments from the new grant cycle. As you will see in sections 4.3 and 4.4 of the GAP, the scope of WCRF International’s Grant Programme is broad. While studies must be justified in terms of direct relevance to human cancer, they can include human epidemiological, clinical or metabolic studies. Relevant investigations that use human biological samples and in vivo and in vitro experimental designs outside human settings will be considered for studies that explore mechanistic pathways of carcinogenesis (see sections 4.3 and 4.4 of the GAP for more details).

Applications for the WCRF International Regular Grant Programme will be accepted from anywhere in the world except the Americas (North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America). The AICR Research Grant Programme accepts applications from the Americas.

The past few years have been eventful for the WCRF global network. WCRF/AICR have established the Continuous Update Project (CUP), a long-term project that adds new evidence as it is published to a merged database created from those used for the WCRF/AICR Second Expert Report Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective, and performs systematic reviews which are assessed by the CUP Panel of experts. This ensures that our Recommendations for Cancer Prevention, which are for public health guidance, are kept up-to- date and scientifically accurate. A companion to the WCRF/AICR Second Expert Report, the Policy and Action for Cancer Prevention report, was published in February 2009. This focuses on the policy implications of the WCRF/AICR Second Expert Report and is a valuable tool for policy-makers at both national and international levels.

We are also developing activities for WCRF’s International Academy, an educational initiative launched in 2009. Following on from the success of previous years, WCRF International is offering, for the third year, six Fellowships to outstanding participants attending the Nutritional Epidemiology Course run by Imperial College London in September 2011. Another key activity of the WCRF International Academy was the WCRF International 2-day conference, held in September 2010, called Nutrition, Physical Activity & Cancer Prevention: Current Challenges, New Horizons. Delegates from around the world attended the conference, which included presentations from leaders in the field. The conference offered exceptional networking opportunities for scientists, policy-makers and health professionals to discuss challenges and future opportunities in the field of food, nutrition, physical activity and cancer.

As the new grant cycle unfolds, we greatly appreciate the valuable contributions of the previous Chair, Professor Massimo Pignatelli, as well as Professor Geraldine McNeill, Professor Serge Hercberg, and Dr Ashley Cooper, who have now left the Panel. We also welcome new panel members, Professor Janet Cade, Professor Michael Leitzmann, Professor Tobias Pischon, and Professor Chris Paraskeva.

This publication provides the essential information you need to apply for funding for the Regular Grant Programme (including the Investigator Initiated and Regional Seed Grants). Information can also be found on the WCRF International website at www.wcrf.org. Thank you for your interest, and we look forward to receiving your application.

Professor Will Steward MB, ChB, PhD, FRCP (Lon, Gla), FRCP (Canada),
Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology,
Head, Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine,
University of Leicester, UK