Hello everyone,
The historic city of York was the setting for an inspiring gathering of more than 100 scientists, clinicians and patient advocates at the 2025 Researcher Workshop, hosted by Brain Tumour Research. Now in its eighth year, this annual event brought together researcher personnel supported by the Charity from our Centres of Excellence and Funded Initiatives.
From the outset, the atmosphere was one of collaboration and shared purpose.
Our research community received updates on the progress being made at our Centres of Excellence and Funded Initiatives and learned about the importance of political and community engagement to accelerate treatments for patients. In a thought-provoking panel discussion, Hugh, Thomas (on his penultimate day as a team member of Brain Tumour Research) and Dr Joanna Birch, a lead researcher at our Scottish Centre of Excellence, demonstrated the impact of involving researchers in political discussions in order to remove the barriers to research in the UK.
Read more on this inspiring event from our colleague Nicola Gale, Research Communications Manager.
This week, Jana and Thomas attended the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, meeting policymakers from across the UK, discussing the challenges facing brain tumour patients and exploring ideas to improve patient outcomes. Reporting back, Jana said: “We were pleased to secure meetings with key stakeholders in health policy, including Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister of State for Care, with whom we discussed the significant pressures that brain tumour patients and their families face.
“We had a valuable discussion with Zubir Ahmed MP, the new Medicines Minister, who has a strong personal connection to the brain tumour community. We were encouraged by his continued enthusiasm and willingness to consider our proposals aimed at improving outcomes for brain tumour patients, particularly given the lack of progress in standards of care over the past 20 years.”
The Conference also provided a welcome opportunity to meet new members of the health team, such as Rosie Wrighting MP, who showed a keen interest in listening to the challenges and ideas shared by our team.
A particular highlight was connecting with Emily Darlington MP, Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes Central, where Brain Tumour Research is based. We’re delighted to have secured a local champion in Emily and look forward to working closely with her to help spread our message across Government and advocate for increased investment in brain tumour research and therapies.
We also reconnected with familiar faces such as Scott Arthur MP, sponsor of the Rare Cancers Bill. We discussed the Bill’s progress towards the House of Lords, and how, once passed into law, it can be effectively implemented to deliver tangible benefits for patients. We’re proud to have supported Scott Arthur MP in shaping this legislation.
Our time at Conference concluded with a private event attended by the Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP. He acknowledged the ongoing challenges in the healthcare system and reaffirmed his commitment to tackling these with urgency, to enable earlier diagnoses and improving care for all patients.
Finally, this week marked Hugh’s 15th anniversary of working at Brain Tumour Research. Reflecting in York, he said: “We support 217 research personnel with 64 dedicated researchers being directly funded by us. Over the past decade and a half our funding, plus that leveraged by our research centres, has delivered over £46 million of vital investment into finding cures for the biggest cancer killer of children and adults under 40.
“For me the journey to this point has shown that at 50, (gasp, I’m now 65!) if you are given a chance, supported and give it your best shot because you believe in what you are trying to build, you can have that new career and make a difference.
“I consider myself incredibly lucky to have found this cause, this charity and I have been inspired by all of the extraordinary people I have met over the past 15 years.”
That’s it for this week. Wishing you all a peaceful time until next Friday.
Karen, Hugh, Katherine and Jana
