Our Mission
Our Mission
The Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre is a partnership between Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) with funding from Cancer Research UK.
Convergence research is driven by a societal need and utilises a deep integration across disciplines. Our Centre focusses on areas of unmet need within the cancer research and clinical management space and provides an interdisciplinary framework to solve these challenges.
The mission of the Centre is to bring together researchers across Imperial and the ICR from different disciplines, such as engineering, physical sciences, life sciences and medicine, to develop innovative ways to address challenges in cancer research to benefit cancer patients. This is achieved through interdisciplinary collaborations that integrate otherwise distinct approaches to co-create new tools, technologies and methodologies.
We support interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration in several ways:
We connect researchers through our network, both locally and internationally. We provide opportunities for researchers with an interest in convergence science to learn how to communicate and work with each other through training, workshops, regular seminars and symposia, with the aim of encouraging new research ideas and ways of thinking. We create new research communities building capacity and trust in interdisciplinary solutions. See our upcoming events for future opportunities.
We invest in cutting-edge research facilities for our members to use and world-class clinical trial units, designed to address bottlenecks and facilitate translational research for the benefit of the patients. See our facilities and clinical infrastructure here.
We provide funding for research projects that align with the Centre’s objectives through our development fund, which is a seed funding programme. We also signpost researchers to other funding schemes available to researchers crossing discipline boundaries. See all of our funding opportunities here.
We provide bespoke training for the next generation of convergence scientists. We foster future leaders of cancer research with expertise greater than the sum of individual disciplines. We fund clinical and non-clinical PhD Studentships that focus on convergence science topics relating to cancer research and support individual development with additional training and workshop opportunities. More information about our training programmes here.
Our community is made of world-leading experts in fundamental and clinical sciences. We prioritise realistic innovations that have the best potential to make an impact on the experience and outcomes of cancer patients. The road to clinical practice is long and challenging. We use social and economic sciences to fast-track our solutions into the real world. The Centre supports practice changing clinical trials in medical, surgical and clinical oncology. More information here.
We actively encourage our researchers to interact with patients and the public. We support patient and public involvement (PPIE) initiatives in research. The principle of Convergence Science recognises that a place is needed for everybody around the table to make a real change, including our patients and cancer survivors. Find out more about our PPIE work here.
Real solutions to address unmet needs in cancer treatment require for them to work for everybody. The Centre believes in the power of diverse minds. We promote the EDI ethos to increase representation in our research from academics and students to the inclusion of underrepresented populations in our clinical trials.
