Cancer Research UK joins Researchfish

The cancer charity Cancer Research UK has become the latest funder to join the Researchfish community, which aims to transform the way research outputs are captured and reported globally.

Cancer Research UK becomes the 71st funding body, alongside 12 leading universities and over 6,000 researchers to use Researchfish, to consistently track and evaluate the outcomes of multiple research projects.  With Cancer Research UK on board, Researchfish will now track the outputs of around £4.5 billion in research funding.

Researchfish, an online research outcomes system, grew out of the MRC’s e-Val system in 2009. Cancer Research UK helped to develop the programme, in collaboration with a working party of six charities, to provide a single forum for researchers (PIs) to log the results of their research; saving time and money on grants administration.

The facility is said to remove the need for PIs to report repeatedly across multiple funders, freeing up more of their time to spend on actual research and delivering value for money for funders.  This also significantly improves tracking and evaluation for funders and universities, enabling them to collate information from multiple researchers and track progress with individual projects over a number of years - thus bringing mutual benefits to all three user groups. 

Jo Reynolds, director of reporting from Cancer Research UK, said: 'This is a great example of how cooperation between funders can vastly improve how we all understand the outcomes and impact of the research that we fund. Research is a collective effort and how we can gather the results collectively.

'For Cancer Research UK, the information we collect through Researchfish will be instrumental in helping us demonstrate how the millions of pounds donated to us every year make a difference to patients and the public. We are delighted to be working with Researchfish and the 70 other funders using the system.'