Institutional Context
Summary
The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is one of the world’s most influential cancer research organisations, with an outstanding track record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. Our mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer.
As well as being one of the UK’s leading higher education institutions in research quality and impact, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most successful for industry collaboration. As a member institution of the University of London, we provide postgraduate higher education of international distinction.
We are also a charity and rely on the support of partner organisations, funders, donors and the general public. Read more to find out about us.
Institutional context
The ICR is an independent research institute based across two sites: one in Chelsea in central London, and the other in Sutton, south London. We have an outstanding record of achievements in cancer research dating back more than 100 years.
Around 800 scientists work at the ICR across the full spectrum of cancer research, from fundamental cancer biology through translational research and drug discovery to clinical trials, and including research in radiotherapy and imaging and in genetics and epidemiology.
Our expertise translated to exceptional performance in REF 2021, the Government’s most recent comprehensive assessment of research quality, for overall research quality and impact, and we ranked first in the Biological Sciences Unit of Assessment by grade point average.
The ICR is also one of the world’s most successful academic institutions at industry collaboration, and we are especially well known for our excellence in drug discovery.
The 2021 U-Multirank survey placed us first in the world for the percentage of our publications referenced in international patents, and first in the UK for the proportion of our publications featuring an industry co-author.
ICR researchers led by our Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery – a large scientific team now based in a state-of-the-art £75m new building in Sutton – have discovered 21 drug candidates since 2005, of which 13 have progressed into clinical trials, more than any other academic centre in the world. The blockbuster drug abiraterone was discovered and initially developed at the ICR, and ICR science also underpinned the development of the leading PARP inhibitor olaparib in BRCA-mutant cancers.
The ICR and our hospital partner, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, are together ranked in the top four centres for cancer research and treatment worldwide, and our joint Drug Development Unit is one of the world’s leading oncology-focused phase I trial units.
The ICR is also a provider of higher education of international distinction through our postgraduate degree programmes. We offer MPhil and PhD research degrees to graduates with a degree in science, PhD and MD(Res) research degrees for medically qualified candidates, and postgraduate taught degrees for clinicians.
The ICR’s Business and Innovation Office (BIO) acts as a knowledge exchange hub, co-ordinating a range of KE activities. Our approach focuses on early-stage partnering and collaborative research, licensing of technology, establishment of spin-out companies, scientific consultancy and co-ordinating with colleagues on public outreach and policy work.
Our approach to knowledge exchange – and in particular the licensing of intellectual property from our research – is guided by our aim to realise benefits for people with cancer as rapidly as possible and to ultimately defeat cancer.
For further information, please send queries to business@icr.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
We are driving local growth and regeneration through The London Cancer Hub – a partnership led by the ICR and the London Borough of Sutton (Sutton Council).
The London Cancer Hub is an ambitious, long-term programme to transform a site in Sutton into a world-leading campus that provides an exceptional environment for cancer research, innovation, education and commercialisation.
Over the latest KEF reporting period, our work to drive The London Cancer Hub has included:
Actively supporting bids for transformative funding.
Leveraging our outstanding reputation to promote opportunities for businesses to locate at The London Cancer Hub.
Expert business development to secure tenancies at a new science incubator.
A programme of entrepreneurial activities at the ICR and with the local community.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Our strategic approach to local growth and regeneration focuses on a major, long-term initiative to develop The London Cancer Hub in Sutton, south London. The London Cancer Hub is a partnership led by Sutton Council and the ICR, supported by The Royal Marsden, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, the Mayor of London and One Public Estate.
The London Cancer Hub has ambitious aims for growth and regeneration at a site near Belmont in Sutton, south London, which is already home to the ICR and The Royal Marsden. The project will turn the site into a world-leading campus that provides an exceptional environment for cancer research, innovation, education and commercialisation. The project has the potential to generate £1.2 billion per annum for the economy, and to create 7,000 jobs in life sciences and supporting activities as well as 6,200 in the site’s construction.
Sutton Council and the ICR initially ran a major, borough-wide consultation with local residents to gain their input into proposals for The London Cancer Hub, and held an open day on site for local residents and councillors. These activities demonstrated strong local support. We also presented our plans to The London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP), GLA, MedCity and the Office for Life Sciences.
The initial ’roadmap’ for The London Cancer Hub was unveiled in March 2016, after which Sutton Council completed the purchase of 4.8 hectares of land on the site, at a cost of more than £30m. The investment laid the plans for the creation of up to 100,000m2 of space for commercial life-science buildings, allowing companies to be co-located with academics and clinicians.
We created a Development Framework for the site which formed a key element of the Council’s Local Plan, adopted in 2018. We now run regular stakeholder meetings to gain continued input, involving One Public Estate, the GLA, MedCity and local partners including The Royal Marsden and Epsom and St Helier.
We conducted two major appraisals demonstrating demand from small life-science companies for affordable space in London – a soft market testing report in 2017 and a development appraisal from Creative Places in 2019.
The London Cancer Hub is set to have huge benefits for the Sutton area and more widely. Developments on site since the project was announced include:
Maggie's at The Royal Marsden, a drop-in care centre for people with cancer and their family and friends (opened 2019)
Harris Academy Sutton, a new £40m science-specialist secondary school (opened 2019)
The ICR’s £75m Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery (opened 2020)
The Innovation Gateway, a science incubator developed in an existing building (opened 2021).
The Royal Marsden is nearing completion of the construction of the £70 million Oak Cancer Centre to co-locate patients with clinical researchers and enhance clinical trial activity across the site. In 2019, The London Cancer Hub was assessed as the top-scoring site for a proposed new Epsom and St Helier acute hospital.
Over the latest KEF reporting period, we have driven the London Cancer Hub project by:
Facilitating new funding for local growth and regeneration by acting as an active, supportive partner to Sutton Council, including by:
supporting bids for development of research and transport infrastructure on and around the London Cancer Hub
hosting visits for national and local political figures
a programme of engagement, with partners at Sutton Council and One Public Estate, with TfL, DfT and Network Rail to make the case for funding increased rail capacity at Belmont
supporting Sutton Council’s long-term work to seek a life-science developer for major development at The London Cancer Hub.
Leading and delivering a communications and marketing programme to demonstrate the ICR’s strong support for The London Cancer Hub – leveraging our scientific reputation, including as a world leader in industry collaboration, to build the case for the site as a home for innovative companies, initially at the Innovation Gateway.
Using our expertise in business development to create and sustain business relationships with companies, which could either take space at the Innovation Gateway or in future developments on site.
Developing a pipeline of possible future workers in the life sciences industry at The London Cancer Hub, through encouraging entrepreneurship at the ICR and working with local businesses to develop skills in life sciences.
Aspect 2: Activity
1. Delivering new funding for local growth and regeneration
The ICR is strongly supportive of bringing life-science companies to The London Cancer Hub and has played a key role in making the public case for a future for life sciences businesses in Sutton, with the ultimate aim of delivering 280,000m2 of life-science facilities and including the potential for 100,000m2 of commercial space.
The ICR and the London Borough of Sutton worked together to bid for a major grant from the Local Government Association (LGA)’s Strategic Investment Pot (SIP). The bid was made in August 2019 and in late 2019 the LGA announced it had been successful, winning more than £8.3m.
The grant has paid for the development of a new biosciences incubator called The Innovation Gateway, in an existing building on the London Cancer Hub site, and for improvements to the surrounding public realm. The Innovation Gateway opened in 2021. As well as providing an incubator space for small and medium-sized companies to develop (and around 90 per cent full as at March 2023), the facility is demonstrating demand for laboratory space in Sutton from companies in the life sciences.
Expert ICR facilities staff also acted as advisors to Sutton Council on the facilities required at the Innovation Gateway to attract companies.
The ICR supported Sutton Council in making the case for improvements to local transport infrastructure, including through strongly supporting two bids to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund (made in August 2021 and August 2022; the second of which was successful in winning over £14m).
The ICR worked with partners including Sutton Council and One Public Estate on a programme of engagement with the LGA, Transport for London, the Department of Transport and Network Rail to lay the foundation for these bids.The ICR has hosted multiple visits for delegations led by Sutton Council to generate political support for The London Cancer Hub, including a visit from London Deputy Mayor for Business Rajesh Agarwal in July 2022.
Other visitors hosted at our Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery have included HRH The Princess Royal, who officially opened the building in October 2021.
The ICR’s Professor Udai Banerji, a senior international figure in leading first-in-human cancer drug trials in collaboration with industry, was part of a Sutton Council delegation at UKREiiF, a major public sector real estate conference, in May 2022, where he detailed the ICR’s support and the future opportunities for collaboration with the ICR at a showcase session.
Figure 2. The ICR’s Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery
2. Leading and delivering a communications programme
The ICR’s Communications and Policy directorate and the ICR’s BIO
have led a comprehensive communications programme in support of The
London Cancer Hub. We have leveraged the ICR’s outstanding scientific
reputation, and especially our track record of excellence at working
with industry, to make target audiences aware of The London Cancer Hub
and, specifically, the opportunity to take space at the Innovation
Gateway.
Activities in this KEF reporting period have included:
Hosting, overseeing and updating the main London Cancer Hub website
Producing news, press releases, email newsletters, videos, blogs, and social media content for London Cancer Hub and ICR websites and other channels, aimed at life-science audiences and particularly to promote the Innovation Gateway
Print publications, including brochures aimed at industry audiences and the main Innovation Gateway brochure
Commissioning and advising on design of signage at and around the Innovation Gateway
Attending conferences and events to promote The London Cancer Hub to industry audiences
Working with stakeholders to communicate news about The London Cancer Hub to their networks, for example MedCity, London & Partners, and One Public Estate and the Cabinet Office.
Figure 3. CGI image of the Innovation Gateway (foreground) and the ICR’s Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery (background right). Image generated for marketing purposes (refurbishment is now completed).
3. Developing direct contacts with potential industry
occupiers at The London Cancer Hub
Over the latest KEF reporting period, BIO staff have developed new
relationships with potential industry occupiers of space at The London
Cancer Hub – and especially potential tenants at the Innovation Gateway.
Additionally, the ICR’s BIO and facilities staff worked with Sutton
Council to develop a workflow for companies to move from the lead stage,
through the negotiation phase and up to signing on as tenants.
Activities included:
Direct contact with companies to follow up potential leads; ongoing discussions with companies on meeting their needs at the Innovation Gateway
Hosting visits for companies in collaboration with Sutton Council, and follow-up contact
Working with Sutton Council and consultancy Future Places, developing a price position for companies considering taking space at the Innovation Gateway
With Sutton Council and MedCity, hosting an online event in June 2022 to promote the Innovation Gateway to the MedCity community including the ICR’s Professor Paul Workman and Dr Anguraj Sadanandam.
Figure 4. Staff from MedTech start-up Vesynta standing outside the Innovation Gateway.
4. Developing a pipeline of future skilled life sciences workers
The ICR’s BIO leads an internal programme to encourage entrepreneurship, and is working with south London Councils partnership BIG South London to deliver a local innovation support programme for companies in the life sciences. Activities have included:
Recruiting three entrepreneurs-in-residence in May 2021, whose remit includes identifying potential spinout or start-up opportunities arising from ICR science and which could, in future, be hosted at The London Cancer Hub.
BIG South London’s Life Sciences Innovation Support Programme launched in February 2022 offering training, mentoring and advice to companies in supporting them in becoming more innovative. The programme was delivered by South Bank Innovation – part of London South Bank University – and funded by the ICR.
Figure 5. The ICR’s entrepreneurs-in-residence (clockwise from bottom left): Simon Devonshire, Heather King and David Browning.
Aspect 3: Results
The London Cancer Hub is an internationally significant, long-term initiative. It has already delivered substantial progress in its first few years and has ambitious goals over the coming decades. The London Cancer Hub is ultimately projected to increase the rate at which new cancer drugs are discovered and developed, to generate £13 million annually in business rates and to add £1.2 billion annually to the UK economy.
The ICR and London Borough of Sutton have made great strides in our development of The London Cancer Hub, and it is now recognised as one of London’s most significant knowledge exchange projects, and one of national and international importance.
Funding for local growth and regeneration
Sutton Council and the ICR were successful in 2019 in gaining more than £8.3m from the SIP, which funded the creation of the Innovation Gateway.
Our strong support for a bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund, and previous engagement with key stakeholders, helped to result in its success in securing £14m for improvements to rail infrastructure at Belmont. (Subsequently announced in January 2023, outside the scope of this KEF reporting period).
The funding will double the number of trains between Sutton and Belmont, and alongside improvements to Belmont station will help the partners in The London Cancer Hub to realise its long-term vision. It will also have an impact on many of the people who live or work in Belmont, making journeys easier and helping them to reduce the carbon emissions of their travel.In 2020 the ICR opened its £75m Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery, a flagship building at The London Cancer Hub.
Business Development and Communications
In 2019, we had had positive discussions directly with around 50 companies about The London Cancer Hub as part of our business engagement and knowledge exchange activities.
The Innovation Gateway’s public launch was in March 2021, with the ICR’s Business Development team in BIO the primary contact point for companies.
The first two companies to take space at the Innovation Gateway, physiotherapy company The Exercise Clinic and MedTech startup Vesynta, had moved in and were respectively announced as tenants in May and July 2022. Their journey to taking up tenancies was facilitated by the ICR’s BIO team and both were alerted to the opportunity by ICR-led communications.
By the time of writing in March 2023, five companies have taken space at the Innovation Gateway, around 90 per cent of the space is filled, and there are ongoing communications with multiple other companies.
Developing a pipeline of future skilled life-science workers
Our entrepreneurs-in-residence have assisted ICR scientists with 14 potential commercial projects, advising on four possible spinouts of which some could be hosted at The London Cancer Hub in future. Our BIO and entrepreneurs-in-residence have also created a new ICR spinout policy.
We have delivered an in-house training in entrepreneurship programme to 57 scientists since its launch in 2019.
The BIG South London Life Sciences Innovation Support Programme recruited 24 local south London businesses for ‘innovation health checks’ and training in innovation and entrepreneurship, including the Exercise Clinic, now based at the Innovation Gateway.
For further information, please send queries to business@icr.ac.uk.
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
Public engagement allows the ICR to share its world-leading research with the people we serve. It enables us to connect with our local communities, so they know our mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer and can feel some genuine ownership of research that takes place in their area. It enables our scientists to discuss their work creatively and gives them opportunities for professional development.
We nurture a culture throughout the ICR where public engagement is valued, recognised, and can thrive. We deliver a programme of activities to share our passion for cancer research. We work to inspire young people from a diverse range of backgrounds about science and encourage them to consider research as a career.
Aspect 1: Strategy
Our strategic approach
Our latest public engagement strategy ‘Be part of it’ (2021-24) encourages a sense of shared ownership of our research and strengthened our emphasis on reaching young people from backgrounds that are under-represented in science.
Developed with the ICR’s Public Engagement Forum (PEF), with input from across the organisation, the strategy places a strong focus on diversity and inclusion and was co-produced with the ICR's Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage (REACH) forum.
To inform our new strategic priorities we reviewed our programme of public engagement activities and achievements from our previous strategy, and evaluated feedback from teachers, school students, the London Borough of Sutton (LBS) and local community groups about what worked best.
During 2021-22, the ICR developed its new organisational strategy ‘Defeating Cancer’, which explicitly references public engagement in the ‘Growing our impact for patients’ section, stating ‘We will […] engage with funders, donors and the public, to show the impact of our work, build support and income, and attract young people into science.’
Public engagement is embedded in ICR activity, evidenced in our communications strategy, our Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) Accountability Statement and ‘Sustainable discoveries’, our Sustainability Action Plan.
Together with our clinical partner, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, we are the UK's only National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR BRC) dedicated solely to cancer. The Centre’s ‘Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPI/E) Strategy 2017-22’ describes how patients are partners in research and how the public are engaged to raise awareness of clinical research. It was co-produced with patient representatives, in consultation with patient and public groups and researchers, and in collaboration with the NIHR Clinical Research Facility.
Our strategic priorities
‘Be part of it’ identifies four priority areas. We aim to:
Actively engage with our local community: The ICR has two sites: Chelsea and Sutton, where we are partners with LBS in The London Cancer Hub. We connect with local communities, encouraging understanding of our research.
Inspire future diversity in science: We focus our schools outreach work on students from backgrounds under-represented in science, identifying schools through analysis of national datasets and by local liaison.
Establish and maintain productive partnerships: We work with carefully selected partners to engage our target audiences and extend our reach. We have long-standing relationships with organisations including the LBS, The Royal Marsden, the Science Museum, funding partners and schools.
Embed engagement in the culture of the ICR: We create an environment where public engagement thrives by providing training and resources, facilitating engagement opportunities, and recognising and rewarding this work.
Our governance structure and leadership for public engagement
The ICR’s public engagement activity is led by our Public Engagement Manager (PEM) and overseen by our Public Engagement Forum (PEF). Membership is diverse and inclusive, with representation from scientists, students and Professional Services staff.
Quarterly PEF meetings shape the annual programme of public engagement, share new ideas and best practice, and engage people interested in delivering events and activities. Meeting notes are exchanged with our Science Communication Forum, ensuring our approach to engagement represents our science effectively and supports knowledge exchange priorities.
Resources
The PEM is a senior role, pivotal to developing and implementing our public engagement strategy. In 2020 and 2021, we recruited interns through the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to extend our capacity.
Public engagement objectives are embedded in Professional Services roles throughout the organisation, including support for a summer student scheme, and much of our external funding comprises a public engagement component. Public engagement activities are delivered through a broad network of ICR staff and students.
The PEM is funded through our HEIF budget, also providing resource for festivals and events. We seek additional funding from bodies such as the Biochemical Society and benefit from collaboration on wider projects, such as museum exhibitions.
Our unique approach
The ICR seeks to innovate and break new boundaries in public engagement activity, just as we do in our research and postgraduate teaching. We maximise the engagement potential of the technologies our scientists use, and their vibrant research images and videos.
We open our laboratories to schools, attend science festivals and encourage creativity from our researchers to invent interactive activities to introduce the fundamentals of cancer research.
Recently, we have reached into the arts to find creative ways to showcase our research to new audiences (see ‘We dance for life’ in section 3).
Figure 1. Students exploring pipetting and microscopy at a school event
Aspect 2: Support
Practical support
We ensure everyone at the ICR feels empowered to participate in public engagement.
The PEM coordinates our engagement activity and makes training and resources available to volunteers. We share best practice through our monthly public engagement newsletter, intranet and PEF meetings.
The PEM meets new staff and students as part of their organisational induction, runs ‘Introduction to public engagement’ training for new and existing personnel, and offers one-to-one support.
In 2019, we ran an interactive skills workshop at the ICR’s technical conference, attended by 50 scientific officers. Activities included how to avoid scientific jargon in public engagement and how to be an active listener when interacting with the public. The ICR also promotes training from organisations such as Understanding Animal Research and the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE).
We provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ of resources on the ICR intranet, guidance on event logistics, FAQs and posters. In November 2020, we published a new education resource, ‘Creating cancer treatments’, supporting teachers in discussing cancer research and drug discovery, helping us to reach new audiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. Designed for GCSE students, and co-created with teachers, the 10-minute video and activity pack allows students to explore how researchers design and develop new drugs for cancer.
We provide physical resources for hands-on activities, such as pipetting, alongside guidance for volunteers on running activities. Suggestions for new activities from our researchers are welcome and financial support through HEIF is available.
Inclusion and diversity are considered when developing new resources. Comments raised during public engagement are fed back to the wider organisation; for example, feedback left in an engagement session at the Science Museum asking about the appearance of cancer on black skin.
Figure 2. Feedback from the ‘Cancer Lates’ session at the Science Museum
Recognising and rewarding public engagement: embedding engagement in the culture of the ICR
Our annual Engagement and Outreach Report showcases activity across the organisation, acknowledging everyone who shares their contribution. These efforts are also celebrated through our internal newsletter, website, and blogs.
Historically, the ICR presented an ‘Annual Public Engager of the Year’ award to recognise commitment, self-reflection, creativity, and impactful engagement with the public. Following the pandemic, every staff member and student involved in public engagement during this period was presented with a pin badge and a handwritten postcard and had the opportunity to celebrate their contribution on social media on a dedicated day to inspire others.
Tailoring our approach to community needs and knowledge co-creation
We consult teachers and collaborators and use student feedback to shape new activities and modify our approach to suit particular groups. During the pandemic we devoted a BBSRC internship to the development of online methods of engaging with schools, resulting in a series of tailored workshops.
Aspect 3: Activity
Outcomes
Over the KEF3 reporting period, the ICR was involved in over 130 public engagement activities, reaching 9,700 members of the public (see below).
Figure 3. Our activity
During this period, we hosted 38 vacation students carrying out short summer projects as a way of encouraging talented undergraduate-level students to pursue a career in cancer research. Research England’s ‘Enhancing Research Culture’ funding has helped diversify our vacation student population.
Impact of the pandemic
For much of the reporting period, the public engagement environment was challenging. However, through the commitment of our staff and students, we developed imaginative new ways to engage virtually.
Figure 4. Engaging virtually during the pandemic
Key programmes of activity illustrating our strategic approach
Actively engage with our local community
In 2019 and 2022, the ICR partnered with the LBS, Sutton Grammar School and STEM Learning to deliver activities for the Sutton Science Festival. This included an augmented reality science trail and delivery of a strawberry DNA-extraction activity, engaging several hundred students in a single day.
Figure 5. Local schools visit the ICR
The ICR contributed to LBS’s successful application for a £200K Cultural Impact Award from the Mayor of London in February 2020. The ICR and LBS created a film, ‘We dance for life’, shot in summer 2022, engaging with local community groups and communicating our science through dance.
We hold an annual image competition to encourage researchers to showcase their work visually and have displayed these in public locations in Sutton.
In 2022, we created innovative, interactive activities with ICR researchers and collaborators from Imperial College London for the Great Exhibition Road Festival, aimed at families across London.
Figure 6. Working with Imperial College London
Inspire future diversity in science
In 2019, we ran an interactive careers evening for around 70 sixth form students providing practical experiences, talks, careers discussions, and laboratory tours. This involved more than 30 staff and students, supported by Biochemical Society outreach funding.
In 2021, with the REACH forum, we launched an events programme for schools aiming to encourage students from minority ethnic backgrounds to consider careers in science. We held three virtual careers sessions and engaged with around 240 students. This supports our ‘Race Equality: Beyond the Statements action plan’, addressing the under-representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff in leadership roles and research careers at the ICR.
In 2021, we ran a series of online careers events for local students, sharing our researchers’ career journeys with 60 sixth form students. The interactive sessions included quiz elements, an extended Q&A and a video lab tour allowing students to virtually step inside our labs. 94% of students who completed the evaluation survey agreed they had gained increased awareness of the skills required to be a cancer scientist.
Our new HEIF-funded education resource, ‘Creating cancer treatments’, helped us to reach schools during the pandemic. Since its launch, the video was viewed more than 800 times and the activity pack was downloaded over 200 times.
Establish and maintain productive partnerships
We worked with the Science Museum to develop content and exhibits for their £24m Wellcome Galleries. The Medicines gallery, launched in November 2019, showcases the ICR's pioneering research underpinning the development of targeted drug olaparib, which has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of women with breast and ovarian cancers.
Also working with the Science Museum Group we contributed to a major exhibition ‘Cancer revolution: science, innovation and hope’. Our work was highlighted at exhibition openings in Manchester and London. We also took part in a ‘Cancer Lates' evening event, reaching 150 people.
Figure 7. Working with the Science Museum
We showcased in public for the first time three of our scientists' lab coats, transformed into wearable works of art and embroidered with words and images from people with cancer.
Figure 8. Lab coats become canvases to tell cancer patients’ stories
Through our BRC with The Royal Marsden, with our clinical researchers we ran open days and events for patients, sharing our research around particular tumour types.
Working with partner organisations, including IntoUniversity and Access Aspiration, helped us to reach target audiences effectively, and has been key to our success.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
The ICR is committed to evaluating its public engagement. We assess our work’s impact to understand whether we are meeting the needs of audiences and to drive improvement. We share our findings with others in the sector.
We have a guide to evaluating engagement events and include evaluation in our public engagement training to familiarise staff with the ICR’s approach and develop their expertise in evaluation. Tools include:
Post-it walls for feedback.
Video interviews.
Photographs or drawings to show favourite aspects of activities.
Social media monitoring.
Voting during events.
Methods of collecting feedback are inclusive, accessible and comprehensive. We encourage the use of standard feedback questions to promote a consistent approach and to enable comparison across events.
Staff and students are encouraged to provide feedback on events they take part in. This information is made available through our public engagement resource library. Individual event evaluations are reviewed at PEF meetings and shared through our public engagement newsletter and other mechanisms to maximise our reach, for example at the ICR’s annual scientific conference.
Through our annual public engagement report, presented to PEF, we report progress against public engagement aims, highlighting opportunities for improvement.
Our evaluation has highlighted areas to improve, including:
Developing more sustainable activities (less plastics)
Tailoring activities more specifically on cancer research, rather than generic science
Working in collaboration with others targeting similar audiences
Learning from other organisations.
Other evaluation data are routinely collated and shared, with the relevant quantitative data reported via annual HEIF surveys. The PEM attends training and workshops organised by the NCCPE to maintain knowledge of the best practice in public engagement evaluation and to share experience with peer organisations.
Aspect 5: Building on success
The ICR has excelled in reaching many of its goals for public engagement. We have positive feedback from students and members of the public, with most saying they have a better understanding of cancer research and feel inspired to get more involved after taking part in our events.
Volunteers often describe the sense of the reward they get from taking part; one was quoted as saying: "It was very satisfying to engage with several hundred young people and tell them about the cancer research happening at the ICR. The curiosity of the students while doing the demo and the happiness they showed when seeing the strawberry DNA was the best part of the event".
Figure 9. Engaging diverse audiences
We have made strong progress against our aim to focus on school students from under-represented backgrounds, with more than half of the schools engaged having intakes predominantly from these backgrounds. We will continue to strengthen our relationships with partners such as Access Aspiration, who share our focus on this audience. We have worked with our local communities in Chelsea and Sutton and found new ways to stimulate these relationships (see section 3).
In a previous review, we received feedback that we should strengthen our focus on engagement with schools, and with under-served groups – especially children from backgrounds less likely to enter science. We have made important progress in this area through specific commitments in ‘Be part of it’, and remain committed to monitoring equality, diversity and inclusion.
Our public engagement strategy will be renewed by March 2024. We will:
Build on progress, including the opportunities emerging from the pandemic of new virtual models of engagement, alongside the welcome return of face-to-face events.
Involve our stakeholders in evaluation to identify both strengths and areas of potential growth.
Continue to seek further resource to extend our reach and develop creative new activities and approaches.
For further information, please send queries to publicengagement@icr.ac.uk
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