Scientists have expressed shock after the UK’s National Cancer Research Institute announced its closure, blaming “uncertainty in the wider economic and research environment”.
The NCRI was established in 2001 to identify gaps in cancer research and to seek to address them, while attempting to reduce unnecessary duplication of scientific effort. It sought to formalise connections between and coordinate the efforts of many of the UK’s main cancer research funders and charities, including the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
However, in a letter published on 26 June, Fiona Driscoll, the NCRI chair, says that the organisation would be wound down.
“NCRI consulted widely with stakeholders last year to produce a strategy fit for the future. This identified a compelling set of priorities, but has raised significant questions around the sustainability of NCRI’s operating and funding model, which we have not been able to resolve in such a way which would deliver long term viability for the organisation,” Ms Driscoll writes.
