Research Action Fund
What we do
We fund research, provide support and information, and we campaign to improve the lives of men with prostate cancer. Our uniqueness lies in the breadth of our work - each aspect of what we do informs all the others.
Since the Charity was launched, we have invested over £7 million in vital medical research and supported thousands of men and their families. Now, we want to increase our research effort by gaining support for our dedicated Research Action Fund.
The Prostate Cancer Charity also helps to raise public awareness of the disease and encourages political debate about research investment, services and support.
Who supports us?
"I'm supporting the Research Action Fund because I believe we must find out more about ways to diagnose and treat prostate cancer, so men like me have the chance to spend more precious time with the people they love"
Tom Beels, supporter
Why is the Research Action Fund needed?
Despite being the most common cancer in men in the UK, prostate
cancer has long been a neglected health issue, neither understood by
the public nor prioritised by politicians. And men are paying for this
legacy of neglect with their lives. Every week, 190 men die from the
disease – that’s one man every hour.
The cells pictured on the image are of great concern to some of the UK’s very best scientists.
They should also be of great concern to men everywhere. That’s because they are prostate cancer cells in the advanced stage of the disease.
Research into prostate cancer has been severely under-funded
We cannot predict who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the future – only that 1 in 11 men will be. Although huge numbers of men are affected, we still know so little about the disease. Unfortunately for men, prostate cancer has, until recently, been largely overlooked by the research community. While breast cancer has received huge public support, 70% of adults in the UK don’t even know what the prostate does.
It's time to put the spotlight on prostate cancer and make it a priority
We need to understand more about how cancer develops. We need to find a way of accurately diagnosing the disease early on – before it’s had a chance to spread. We need to be able to identify the aggressive, deadly forms of the cancer. We must learn why treatment in the later stages of the disease begins to fail. And we need to research the impact of the disease on men. Right now we have many more questions than answers.
What will the Research Action Fund do?
Our dedicated Research Action Fund will search for the answers that could save men’s lives and make prostate cancer a disease of the past for our future generations
Fund the best and most promising projects in the UK
Managed by The Prostate Cancer Charity, the Research Action Fund will invite research proposals from the UK’s best scientists and researchers. Each project will be rigorously assessed by an international peer review and independently approved by our Research Advisory Committee, made up of leading scientists and doctors in the UK’s prostate cancer research community and men with prostate cancer. By having a pool of available funds, we will be in the strongest possible position to finance the best research projects quickly and for the long-term.
Find out more about two of the exciting research projects we are currently funding.
Who is on the Research Advisory Committee?
Find out more about the Research Advisory Committee.