A stimulating environment will facilitate research but research excellence depends fundamentally on supporting the right people. To achieve our Goals, Cancer Research UK needs the best biomedical scientists, the best clinical researchers and the best biomedical and clinical research leaders. We must look to the future to ensure that we are training the workforce we will need up to and beyond 2020.
This means encouraging the best scientific researchers to focus on cancer research and it also means making strategic recruitments in areas where we have identified that there are gaps. In addition, many of Cancer Research UK's most successful researchers are moving towards retirement and we need to recruit, mentor and develop the next generation.
We need to develop excellent schemes for training and career development, particularly in new and emerging areas of research. Our Centres and Institutes will play a key role in this, balancing the experience that accompanies stability with the fresh ideas brought about by turnover. With an increasing move towards large scale science, it is more important than ever to invest in and foster collaborations in the UK and across the world.
