We are committed to furthering our investment in brain cancer research and have already taken steps to stimulate scientific progress and build scientific capacity to do research on brain cancer.

In January 2026, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) announced increased investment of over £25 million in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium. This includes an initial investment of £13.7 million announced in December 2025, and a further investment of a minimum of £11.7 million through funding of work packages announced in January 2026.

Future payments will be issued over the period of the award contracts which range from five to 10 years, as per the schedule of payments agreed between the NIHR and the Consortium.

Information on all awards will be made publicly available in due course. The NIHR is working to ensure that new investments can get up and running as soon as possible.

In addition, the NIHR continues to strongly encourage brain cancer research applications through its regular funding opportunities.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Brain Tumour Research Consortium was established in December 2024 to bring together researchers from a range of different disciplines and institutions, with the aim of driving scientific advancements in how we prevent, detect, manage, and treat brain tumours in both adults and children. The NIHR is working closely with the consortium to support the development of high-quality funding proposals.

The consortium is in the process of collaboratively developing its programme of work, which will be submitted to the NIHR for independent peer review by 31 July 2025. There is no set funding window for their proposal, which we hope will be ambitious in scope and potential impact.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1.6 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £133 million in 2023/24, reflecting its high priority.

The Brain Tumour Research Consortium was established in December 2024 to bring together researchers from a range of different disciplines and institutions with the aim of driving scientific advancements in how we prevent, detect, manage, and treat brain tumours in both adults and children. The NIHR is working closely with the consortium to support the development of a high-quality funding proposal.

The NIHR will continue to also fund other brain tumour research via open competition, where the level of funding depends on the applications received. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer. The Department spends £1.5 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with cancer being the largest area of spend at over £121.8 million in 2022/23. The NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group, reflecting its high priority.

Brain cancer remains one of the hardest to treat cancers in both adults and children and we urgently need more research to inform our efforts, which is why in September, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a national NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure that the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation. Further information on the new research funding opportunities is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/new-funding-opportunities-novel-brain-tumour-research-launched

The NIHR continues to encourage and welcome applications for research into any aspect of human health, including brain tumours. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR invests in research, clinical expertise, specialist facilities, workforce, and support services across a range of clinical areas. NIHR expenditure on cancer research was £101.2 million in 2021/22.

The Government is committed to funding high-quality brain tumour research. The May 2018 Government announcement of £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission remains available and if we can spend more on the best quality science we will do.

We welcome high-quality applications for brain tumour research funding. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition. The NIHR continues to follow its normal high-quality processes in making funding recommendations to the Department. It is worth noting that all applications that were fundable in open competition have been funded.

While no specific assessment has been made of the PROTECT study, we welcome research that will help us to understand how brain functioning changes as we age and that could lead to further research to prevent conditions such as dementia.

We have committed to double funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by 2024/25. This will span all areas of research from causes and prevention to treatment and care, delivering evidence to help prevent, diagnose, and treat dementia, enabling the best possible care and quality of life for people with dementia.

Cancer will be a substantial part of the major conditions strategy. We will be looking at the major causes of ill health in the country, of which cancer is, of course, one. Part of that will involve ensuring that we are good at diagnosing cancer, because the earlier it is diagnosed, the more treatable it is, and hence the better the outcomes for people with cancer will be.

In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). We are relying on researchers to submit high-quality fundable research applications in a difficult area with a small research community. We have released a public announcement making clear our desire to receive funding applications.

Working with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, we held customised workshops in October 2021 to support the research community in submitting more fundable research applications and we are funding training in research for specialist brain tumour oncologists. The NIHR has received 69 applications to date, of which 10 have already been successful with others still under consideration.

The level of funding in the current Parliament for brain tumour research is dependent on funding applications received. We are looking to researchers to submit higher quality applications into the system, so that research funding can be directed to this very difficult area.

In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million over five years for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including brain tumours. The NIHR released a public announcement to the research community in April 2018, making clear our desire to receive brain tumour research funding applications.