The Patient Care Pioneer Award is intended to provide funding specifically for patient-focussed applied research. The funding is offered for innovative patient-centred projects that seek to explore new practical approaches to improve treatment, care, and quality of life for leukaemia patients. The expectation is that the research will be of short duration to provide rapid proof of principle/evidence to address an unmet patient need, or to develop a proposed practice-changing improvement for the benefit of patient treatment and care, or to generate robust preliminary data for a subsequent funding application.

The proposed research must have direct relevance to leukaemia and/or related diseases. The remit of the funding is intentionally broad and can address any aspect of leukaemia patient care, quality of life or treatment, including post-treatment. Successfully funded projects should demonstrate the opportunity or potential to make a real difference to leukaemia patients and their families.

Please note:

• The funding is not intended to fund gaps in NHS services. However, the award can be used to highlight a need or improvement that could subsequently be used to campaign for change to NHS practice.
• The funding is also not intended to be used as an educational grant for the award holder. However, the award can be used to fund specific training that is necessary to enable the award holder to undertake the proposed project successfully, including training that may be part of the award holder’s education programme (e.g., a master’s qualification).

We would particularly welcome applications that seek to address an unmet need or develop a practice-changing improvement for patients in communities that are poorly-served or underrepresented in research.

The remit of this funding call covers unmet need across all leukaemia patients, but proposals may be focussed on particular patient groupings – this entirely optional.

Applicants may wish to refer to published James Lind Alliance Priory Setting Partnerships (PSPs) on: children’s cancer (2022), teenage and young adult cancer (2018) and living with and beyond cancer (2018) if relevant. Please note that the leukaemia representation across these three PSPs is likely highest in the children’s cancer PSP. However, applications to the Leukaemia UK Patient Care Pioneer Award focussed on childhood leukaemia will not be viewed preferentially over applications focussed on adults, elderly or teenagers / young adults. Applications are not required to reference or address the published PSP priority topics, or be driven by their rank ordering.

Application process

Applications for the 2025 awards will open on 10 February 2025, with a submission deadline of midday on Friday 02 May 2025. All applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application by 31 July 2025.

Applications must be submitted via the Leukaemia UK Funding Management System. In order to submit an application, applicants are required to register for an account in the Leukaemia UK Funding Management System, as are the applicant’s Head of Department (or equivalent), Institutional Finance Approver and any Co-applicants, all of whom are also required to approve the application prior to the submission deadline.

We therefore suggest that applicants begin their applications as soon as possible, to avoid any delays with the submission process. Applications can be saved in the system and updated at any time prior to the submission deadline. A detailed user guide for the Leukaemia UK FMS and a sample PCPA application form are available.

Please also read our full Patient Care Pioneer Award guidance and Terms and Conditions before starting your application.

We funded one PCPA in 2024.

Previous Outcomes

Questions?

If you have any questions or queries regarding Leukaemia UK’s Patient Care Pioneer Award, please email our Research Manager, Dr Tom Simpson.