Five childhood cancer research priorities receive no funding despite being chosen by children and families

The report, led by researchers at the University of Surrey, reviewed 452 studies funded by 30 UK organisations between January 2020 and July 2025. Total funding across these studies came to nearly £113 million. 

The team found that 81 per cent of studies and £94 million of the total funding focused on a single priority – developing better and kinder treatments. While treatment research is vital, five of the 23 priorities identified by the James Lind Alliance Children’s Cancer Priority Setting Partnership received no funding at all. These include improving the hospital experience for children (the top priority chosen by children in a dedicated workshop), supporting the transition from child to adult services, and addressing the emotional wellbeing of professionals who care for children with cancer. 

Three-quarters of funded studies were pre-clinical. Research addressing psychosocial wellbeing, patient experience and life after cancer remains significantly underrepresented. 

The study was presented at the CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association conference on 16th March.  

The priorities were established in 2022 through the James Lind Alliance Children’s Cancer Priority Setting Partnership, a rigorous process that brought together children with cancer, their families, survivors and healthcare professionals to agree on the most important unanswered questions. The partnership’s findings were published in BMJ Open. 

Nine of the 23 priorities – including three in the Top 10 – did not appear in any of the 30 funders’ research strategies reviewed, pointing to a structural gap between stated priorities and funding decisions. 

The study covered all major childhood cancers. Around three-quarters of funded research focused on leukaemia, brain and spinal tumours, neuroblastoma, bone tumours or soft tissue sarcoma.