About us

The NIHR Policy Research Unit (PRU) in Cancer Awareness, Screening and Early Diagnosis (CASED) carries out research targeted to help policymakers make informed decisions about cancer prevention, detection and diagnosis. 

The PRU is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and coordinated by University College London (UCL). Our team brings together researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Leicester, Oxford, Surrey and UCL. By combining different skills, knowledge and experience, we can look at problems from different angles and build a more complete understanding than any one team could achieve alone. 

How we work 

The questions we study are shaped through close working with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, NHS Screening and other partners. This helps us focus our research on the areas where it can have the greatest benefit for patients, health services and the wider public. 

We also work closely with healthcare professionals, patients and members of the public throughout our research. Their knowledge and experience help us understand how policies and services affect people’s lives, keeping our research grounded in the needs of the communities it is intended to benefit. 

Our structure

We have four main work projects which groups our research:

• Supporting earlier-stage diagnosis
• Promoting cancer awareness
• Assessment of underlying cancer risk
• Analysing NHS data to improve early diagnosis and guide interventions
   

Each study we run fits within one of these four work projects. To ensure our work is kept in line with our goals as a PRU, we also use three guiding research themes:

These themes group studies across work projects, and bring together different areas of expertise to answer important questions about cancer awareness, screening and early diagnosis. You can find out more on our Research Themes page.

Working together 

We aim to build lasting partnerships with policymakers, researchers and public contributors, creating opportunities to share ideas and learn from one another throughout the research process. Alongside our research, we support public involvement through activities such as our Public Involvement Board, researcher training, our PPI Pairing Scheme and opportunities for public contributors to help shape individual studies. 

By continuing to learn from our partners and from each project we undertake, we strengthen the quality of our research and the impact it can have on future policy and practice. 

To learn more about our work, explore our Research Projects pages. You can also find out more about how we work with patients and members of the public on our Public Involvement and Engagement page.