AI cancer support and prostate cancer exercise trial among projects awarded new funding

14 November 2023

We are thrilled to announce more than £4.2m in funding for exciting new research in the World Cancer Research Fund annual grant programme award, including 6 grants for early career researchers.

The grant holders – from the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and France – will continue to advance our knowledge of cancer prevention and survivorship, investigating the role that diet, nutrition, physical activity and body weight have on cancer.

A total of 16 grants have been awarded as part of our Regular Grant Programme, including a study looking at the effects yoga has on women living with breast cancer.

The newly awarded grants, funded by our network of cancer prevention charities – which includes World Cancer Research Fund in the UK and Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds in the Netherlands – are:

• Prof Sarah-Maria Fendt, VIB-Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, Belgium, £350,000: Defining the role of diet and age in how breast cancer spreads
• Dr Evelyn Monninkhof, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands, £349,848: Breast cancer: effect of yoga on endocrine-related musculoskeletal symptoms
• Dr Pekka Keski-Rahkonen, International Agency for Research on Cancer, France, £349,807: Understanding the link between colorectal cancer and obesity through metabolic profiling
• Dr Raoul Reulen, University of Birmingham, UK, £349,792: Investigating lifestyle factors and survivors of childhood cancers
• Prof Adam Frampton, University of Surrey, UK, £348,030: Exercise and outcomes in advanced oesophageal cancer
• Dr Rachel van Leeuwaarde, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Netherlands, £339,000: Investigating the role of lifestyle in neuroendocrine tumours
• Dr Dieuwertje Kok, Wageningen University, Netherlands, £324,060: Non-metastatic colorectal cancer: liver fat, treatment tolerance & prognosis
• Dr Alina Vrieling, Radboud University Medical Center, Netherlands, £305,263: Reducing sedentary behaviour after colorectal and renal cancer
• Prof Daniel Galvão, Edith Cowan University, Australia, £299,578: Trialling exercise alongside radiotherapy for prostate cancer patients
• Dr Simon Lord, University of Oxford, UK, £270,394: Impact of obesity on cancer survival using the Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy Dataset
• Ms Lene Mellemkjær, Danish Cancer Society Research Centre, Denmark, £243,467: Body composition and risk of obesity-related cancers
• Prof Robert Newton, Edith Cowan University, Australia, £65,609: MYEX exercise trial for patients with prostate cancer
• Dr Rania Abu Seir, Al-Quds University, Palestine, £60,000: Colorectal cancer survival in Palestine: a feasibility study on lifestyle factors
• Prof Ruth Hubbard, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Australia, £60,000: Older adults with cancer: designing a diet and activity model of care
• Prof Stewart Graeme Trost, University of Queensland, Australia, £58,268: Feasibility study using exercise for survivors of paediatric sarcoma
• Dr Jasmine Menant, Neuroscience Research Australia £29,981: Feasibility study for helping patients with chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy

Inspiring early career researchers

For the first time ever, we have awarded INSPIRE Research Challenge grants in partnership with American Institute for Cancer Research and Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds. The programme is aimed at researchers in their early careers.

World Cancer Research Fund has awarded more than £397,000 to 6 INSPIRE grant holders, covering areas including how sleep, the immune system and stress affect cancer risk.

Below is the full list of INSPIRE grants awarded by our network:

• Dr Julie Aarestrup, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Denmark, £69,700: Early life infections: pathways to prevent adult cancers?
• Dr Christos Chalitsios, University of Ioannina, Greece, £69,700: The impact of sleep on the development of reproductive system cancers
• Dr Micah Skeens, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, US, £69,700: Using AI chatbots to support families of children with cancer
• Dr Shan Luo, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, £69,619: Exploring links between sleep patterns and breast cancer risk
• Dr Dong-Woo Kang, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, US, £69,412: How exercise and fibre affect immunotherapy outcomes for melanoma patients
• Dr Alice Chaplin, Consorcio Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red, Spain, £49,200: Life S-Can: a new clinical tool to improve cancer survivorship care

Dr Panagiota Mitrou, World Cancer Research Fund’s Director of Research, Innovation and Policy, said:

We’re dedicated in continuing in our mission to help avoid preventable cancers and improve survival rates through our research funding. From research into how yoga can reduce pain for women living with breast cancer, to the effect lifestyle choices have on childhood cancer survivors, we’re proud to announce our 2023 grants.

Innovation is key for our Inspire grants, which look at a wider range of cancer risk factors than ever before, including the impact sleep has on cancer. With this new scheme of funding, we’re bridging the gap in the field by supporting early career researchers – which is why our new INSPIRE grant scheme is vital.