Innovative Clinical Trials

This is a two-stage scheme where all applicants are asked to first submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). These EOIs are reviewed and shortlisted by the assembled expert research funding committee for this scheme.

Shortlisted EOI applicants are then invited to submit a full application and attend an in-person interview with the funding committee.

Before submitting an EOI, it is mandatory for all prospective applicants to arrange a short online call with the Blood Cancer UK Research team. This is an initial discussion to confirm your proposed trial is within remit for the scheme, the appropriate support is in place for you, and we can answer any questions you might have at this stage in the process.

We also expect all potential applicants to attend an in-person workshop for this scheme (~January 2027) to support their application’s development.

Please see details below for how to get in touch.

Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) opens: 25 August 2026

Initial discussion with Blood Cancer UK Research team: By end of December 2026

Applicant workshop: ~January 2027

Deadline for EOI submissions: 3pm on Thursday 25th March 2027

Applicants notified of EOI outcomes: ~August 2027

Deadline for submission of invited full applications: ~December 2027

Applicant’s written response to external reviews: ~March/April 2028

Interviews: ~May 2028

Applicants notified of outcomes: ~August 2028

Grants will typically range from £5m to £8m, for up to seven years. The maximum that can be requested is £8m.

Blood Cancer UK can consider applications that are over a slightly longer timeframe where there is strong justification for doing so. Any such requests must be discussed with the Blood Cancer UK Research team before submitting an EOI.

This scheme is designed to support innovative, large-scale clinical trials testing multiple interventions that are adaptable in design (for example, multi-arm, multi-stage trials). Applicants must sufficiently justify their choice of design, explain why it is innovative, and why it is the most appropriate to achieve their proposed aims.

Studies must be focused on patients with leukaemia or myeloid malignancies who, with current clinical management, have a predicted 5-year survival of less than 50% at the point of diagnosis.

Using the latest data for adult cancer survival in England, this includes acute myeloid leukaemia, chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia, acute lymphocytic leukaemia or myelodysplastic neoplasms. Applicants will be asked to provide detail on how the study being proposed fits the remit, as well as provide justification for the patient and clinical need of this study. Applications can include more than one leukaemia or myeloid malignancy with a 5-year survival of less than 50% in their studies.

Given the size of investment being made by Blood Cancer UK, we are looking for proposed trials to have substantial levels of ambition and potential real-world impact, which will form part of the assessment criteria.

Applications are to focus on the testing and development of at least one of the following:

• Novel treatments or treatment combinations;
• Improvements in treatment sequencing/scheduling;
• More personalised treatment approaches, for instance through use of/development of predictive or prognostic biomarkers.

All applications are to:

• Be inclusive by design and have an inclusive recruitment strategy in place to ensure patients are representative of the disease group/subgroups under investigation.
• Have a clearly defined pathway to impact, including regulatory approval, aiming to achieve paradigm-shifting changes to current clinical practice or disease management for people living with the hardest to treat blood cancers.

Please note – Applicants are asked to outline their approaches to inclusivity and impact in sufficient detail, and the information provided will be assessed as part of the assessment criteria for this scheme.

We expect studies submitted to this scheme to be large, collaborative programmes of work.

Full scheme remit and eligibility criteria are given in the guidance document attached below.

We expect meaningful PPI to be embedded in all studies and in line with the UK Standards for Public Involvement.

As these are large complex trials, we would expect more than one PPI representative to be involved in both the design and delivery of the study. Applicants must also seek to involve a diverse group of PPI representatives.

In line with our Blood Cancer Action Plan, we want studies supported by this scheme to be leading the way in transforming how clinical trials are designed and conducted.

Studies must have a strategy in place to reduce barriers that hinder trial participation (in particular for under-served groups). Studies must also have a strategy in place to ensure engagement with diverse and underrepresented blood cancer communities with the aim of recruiting participants that are representative of the disease group/subgroups under investigation.

Full additional expectations for this scheme are given in the guidance document attached below.

All EOI and full applications must be submitted via the new Blood Cancer UK Grants Portal.

The EOI form and how to complete it, EOI assessment criteria, and tips for using the new Grants Portal will be shared within the next few weeks. We will communicate when these are available.

No applications will be accepted after the deadlines for either stage. Applicants must submit their applications ahead of these deadlines, leaving sufficient time for the required signatories to approve the applications.

EOIs will be assessed by the expert funding committee assembled for this call. This committee comprises UK and international experts in relevant fields, as well as people affected by blood cancer.

The funding committee will also review the full applications submitted and conduct the in-person interviews for the second stage of the scheme.

More information on this process will be shared in the subsequent EOI documents and at latter stages of the funding process.

Please make sure to read all scheme documents provided in full to ensure you have understood all of the requirements for this funding round.

Grants will be awarded in line with Blood Cancer UK’s Grant Terms and Conditions. All applicants to this scheme must read these Terms and Conditions in full and as early as possible during the development of their proposal.

Blood Cancer UK’s Grant Terms and Conditions include clauses specific to clinical studies, and these will apply to a trial awarded funding through this scheme.

If you have any queries regarding this scheme, please contact [email protected].

We ask all prospective applicants to get in touch by email as soon as possible to arrange the mandatory remit call.

Please also indicate in your email if you would be interested in attending an in-person workshop for this scheme to support application development (~January 2027).