A lookback on 2020 from the Irish Cancer Society's Research team
Thank you for all your support in 2020!
We would like to thank all of our colleagues and friends for your support of Irish Cancer Society Research over the last year.
2020 has been a difficult year for our community with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic bringing challenges to us all over the past 12 months. For the cancer research community in Ireland, some of these practical difficulties have included significant delays and postponement of research projects and clinical trials due to university and hospital restrictions, or resulted in redeployment of individuals to other areas for some of our clinical-based staff.
Yet despite all these challenges, our researchers have worked hard, remained resilient and continued to lead the way in driving forward cancer research in Ireland. We would like to thank all of our researchers for their strength and hard work in the face of such adversity!
- Supporting over 100 Irish Cancer Society researchers
Despite these challenges, the Irish Cancer Society research team has continued to provide oversight and support to over 100 currently funded researchers nationwide.
All of those amazing researchers are working hard to undertake projects focused on a range of cancer types across a number of research priority areas - from optimising cancer prevention strategies and early detection of symptoms; to the development of cutting-edge, next generation cancer treatments including clinical trials; right through to improvements in care and outcomes for those living with and beyond a cancer diagnosis, and in support of end-of-life care.
- Investing in social, nursing and allied health
This year saw us continue to invest in building research capacity amongst our social, nursing and allied health care professionals. Notably, in February 2020, the Irish Association for Cancer Research (IACR) in collaboration with the Irish Cancer Society, were delighted to recognise the importance of social, nursing, and allied health sciences research in the lives of people with cancer as part of the 56th Annual IACR Conference.
For the first time, the conference hosted dedicated parallel programme on ‘Improving Cancer Care and Outcomes’ alongside the traditional biomedical sessions. Feedback indicated that this new approach was very well regarded with scientific and patient advocate speakers in areas such as nutrition and exercise, palliative care, psycho-oncology and patient-reported outcome measures.
We are excited to be working with the IACR again on this important initiative for their virtual conference in 2021!
- The Women's Health Initiative
Over the last 12 months, we have launched an exciting new programme, the Women’s Health Initiative, aimed at improving health and wellbeing for women cancer survivors at all stages of their journey through the establishment of pilot clinics based in Cork and Dublin. These programmes kicked off in early 2020 under the direction of Prof Donal Brennan and Prof Roisin Connolly and are currently being established in their hospital groups.
Further information supports for women dealing with the effects of cancer treatment can be found here.
- Translational and clinical research
This year also saw us fund important new research projects in translational and clinical research, including projects in ovarian, blood and bowel cancer. We were delighted to award funding for a three-year immuno-oncology research programme to Prof Lydia Lynch from Trinity College Dublin who will work on developing new research examining the role of the immune system on ovarian cancer. We also funded an important new research fellowship from Dr Luke Jones in UCD, who will be exploring research into more effective treatments for a form of childhood blood cancer.
- Public and Patient Involvement
In 2020, the Society continued to be supported by our hard working Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) advocates, all of whom generously gave up their time to help review our research grants, providing valuable input into the decision making process for our funding awards.
20 PPI advocates were involved in reviewing our funding calls this year and ensuring that the patient voice was at the heart of our review processes. We would like to express our gratitude to all of our PPI reviewers this year, we greatly appreciate your contribution! If you are interested in becoming a patient representative, please email ppi@irishcancer.ie for further information.
- Webinars and podcast
While we weren’t all able to physically meet this year, we did host a number of virtual public engagement events over the last few months, including a number of webinars as part of Cancer Week 2020, with topics such as clinical trials, inherited cancer and research engagement.
This month we are also launching our new Decoding Cancer podcast series, hosted by none other than our esteemed Director of Research, Dr Robert O'Connor!
- Looking ahead
Looking ahead to 2021, the research team will be busy implementing our new Irish Cancer Society Research Strategy and will continue to support projects in translational research, clinical trials and survivorship. We will also drive forward other strategic initiatives such as projects with a focus on cancers of unmet need, research to combat cancer misinformation and disinformation, and better ways to engage with underserved communities in Ireland.
We will be ramping up our PPI activities next year. We encourage any individual who has been affected by cancer and who would like to participate as a member of our PPI panel to please get in touch.
Of course, none of these research activities would be possible without the generous donations we receive from members of the public. This year, fundraising at the Society has been severely impacted with the majority of our face-to-face fundraising events being cancelled or moved online. We are therefore eternally grateful for the continued support from everyone who has donated to the Society this year, and we hope to have your support again in 2021.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
The Irish Cancer Society Research and PPI Team:
Robert, Claire, Rachel, Chris, Niamh, Sháuna, and Deirdre
Contact the Irish Cancer Society Support Line
If you have worries or concerns about cancer, you can speak confidentially to an Irish Cancer Society Cancer Nurse through the Freephone Support Line on 1800 200 700.
Monday to Friday, 9.00am - 5.00pm
