Some 48% of our research is carried out at third-party institutions which are grant-funded by the Charity. Research expenditure included in the Statement of Financial Activities on page 25 continues to reflect the requirement to account for our research grants to universities and hospitals at the time we make an award. The remaining 52% of our research is carried out through directly funded activities, where research work is accounted for in line with activity in the year. These are together accounted for as ‘costs of research’ in the financial statements, and the total for the year was £325 million (2010: £308 million).

The way that we account for grants impacts on the reported cost of research. We determine the periods over which the progress of each research grant can be assessed and set appropriate scientific milestone review. We then provide in advance for the expected payments up to the next scientific reviews.

As an example, many five-year programme grants are recognised in two tranches of three years and two years each, not annual tranches. The gap between the dates we provide for grants and when we actually pay them affects the picture of costs over time. Where grants are recognised in larger, less frequent tranches, the pattern of research costs can be more volatile than the underlying trend of annual research activity.

We measure the research undertaken during the period, which shows the cost of the research carried out in the year, excluding the forward commitment. This is defined as ‘annual research activity’. The annual research activity remained stable at £332 million (2010: £334 million).

260 280 300 320 340 360

06/07 07/08 08/09 9/10 10/11

Costs of research and annual research activity (£m) 355

330 315 306 303 338 308

For more information on the research we fund, visit our website at science.cancerresearchuk.org/research/ who-and-what-we-fund

06/07 0/11 07/08 08/09

Costs of research Annual research activity

9/10 10/11

1 Site-specific research includes an apportionment of research that is relevant to all sites. Wherever possible research is assigned to a specific cancer type; however, some research is neither biology of cancer nor can it be tied to an individual cancer, e.g. a project on pain control relevant to all cancer patients.

2 The figures include apportionment of uncoded work totalling £11 million in 2010/11 (2010: £19 million), which cannot be tied specifically to one piece of research but underpins all areas of research.

334 325 332

Annual research activity Some 37% of our research activity is directed towards the biology of cancer, which underpins our understanding for all types of cancer. The remaining 63% is directed to specific cancer types. The 21 most common cancer types are shown below.

2011 £000

Total research into the biology of cancer

Site-specific research1 Breast

Colon and rectal Prostate

Leukaemia Lung

Ovarian Melanoma

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma Pancreatic Bladder Skin

Oesophageal Brain

Cervical Myeloma Kidney

Testicular Sarcoma

Kaposi’s Sarcoma Neuroblastoma Other

Total site-specific research

Total annual research activity in the year2

Difference between annual research activity and accounting cost of research

123,404

44,821 25,182 18,519 17,147 11,681 11,323 8,593 8,461 8,201 5,911 5,363 5,132 3,767 3,764 3,231 3,172 2,479 2,314 1,985 1,752

15,612 208,410 331,814 (7,150)

Total cost of research as per financial statements (page 25) 324,664

2010 £000

132,527

41,376 24,767 17,305 15,028 11,912 10,605 6,815 9,515 9,384 6,081 6,464 4,188 4,829 3,358 2,644 2,443 2,227 2,252 1,924 1,873

16,527 201,517

334,044 (25,940) 308,104

Annual Report and Accounts / Our finances / 11