CRUK Cambridge Clinical Academic Training Programme / Year 1 QQ2

The Vision of our Clinical Academic Training Programme (CATP) is ‘To be the international Centre of choice for clinicians seeking doctoral training in the cancer sciences’.

Our mission is ‘To provide an integrated, flexible, multi-disciplinary training programme that leverages the full infrastructure, skills and intellect of the CRUK Cambridge Centre (CCC), Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) and wider University of Cambridge; creating an ecosystem that trains, nurtures and develops the clinical cancer research leaders of the future, bringing forward the day when people can live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer’.

Critical to the success of this mission is the training of highly skilled clinical academics who will discover new and effective early cancer detection, diagnostic and treatment approaches.

Therefore, ‘Training the next generation of cancer researchers’ is one of four major Strategic Objectives of the CCC.

The world-class faculty, resources and infrastructure of the CCC provides a truly unique environment within the UK to train and mentor the next generation of cancer clinical scientists.

One of the first CRUK Major Centres established within the CRUK network, the 1,134 members of the CCC are drawn from 34 Departments, Institutes and Units across all six schools of the University of Cambridge and its affiliated NHS Trust Hospitals. Over one quarter of our members are translational/clinical researchers who serve key leadership roles in CCC.

This high density of leading academic clinicians, 44% (8/18) of whom are female, serve as ideal role models to clinical academics in training, inspiring and guiding them toward impactful academic careers.

Our affiliated NHS Trusts, critical for CATP training, include the world-leading Cambridge University and Royal Papworth Hospital Foundation Trusts and a new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital that will open in 2027.

This world-class clinical research infrastructure is centred on the 140-acre CBC that is the largest biomedical campus outside of North America, co-locating 21,000 researchers with industry scientists in renowned institutes and global headquarters of major pharmaceutical companies.

We propose an evolution of our current CATP, with four key aims: (i) select and train the most outstanding, committed, career cancer clinical scientist researchers providing maximum flexibility in access to the CATP; (ii) fill knowledge gaps created by more traditional cancer biology training schemes ensuring students are well prepared for doctoral studies and careers; (iii) break down silos between clinical and non-clinical researchers, maximising laboratory and clinic collaboration from early in research careers; (iv) facilitating the transition of fledgling cancer clinical scientists to independent academic careers.

To achieve this, we propose three separate entry points into the CATP and special reintegration and bridging funds.

Our three MB/PhD CATP positions will be part of the Cambridge MB/PhD programme–established 34-years ago as the UK’s first MB/PhD programme. ~60% of our MB/PhD students achieve ‘Distinctions’ in their medical finals and >80% of alumni remain research active.

Our Integrated MRes-PhD Doctoral Programme CATP–Cambridge’s first, integrated MRes-Doctoral programme–provides an innovative programme for students who undertake an MRes prior to entry to the PhD programme.

This provides holistic preparatory training for a PhD, including: intensive taught courses; tailored, two-week out-of-programme rotation experiences e.g., in regulatory bodies or industry; as well as two laboratory blocks allowing candidates to explore different projects prior to committing for their PhD.

To ensure maximum flexibility of entry we also propose to recruit CATP PhD students as Clinical Research Training Fellows (CRTF). CRTF-CATP students are free to attend all elements of the MRes.

Finally, to support the reintegration of MB/PhD alumni back into research and the transition of cancer clinical scientists to independent research careers, we propose a series of innovative bridge funding awards.

Together, our CATP provides candidates with support and opportunity across the whole continuum of medical training in an environment that fully values equality, diversity and inclusion and that champions research culture and integrity.

The programme is overseen by out CCC Training Programme Management Committee that selects candidates and organises one-to-one mentoring before, during and after doctoral studies and links the CATP and non-clinical students to generate a combined cohort, fostering early and lasting collaboration.