International Cancer Research Partnership: Promoting the Coordination of Cancer Research Funding

Background: Coordination across agencies funding cancer research and access to information about their research portfolios is increasingly critical for maximizing the investment in cancer research. Recognizing this need, the International Cancer Research Partnership (ICRP), a formal collaboration of cancer research funding organizations across the globe, are working together to maintain a database of research funded by participating Partners. The Partners strive to improve researchers' abilities to identify potential collaborators, help avoid duplication of research, provide information on best practices for portfolio evaluation, and allow Partners to dynamically explore and display data through the development of new analytical tools. The ICRP utilizes a common language for presenting their research portfolios. This common language, the Common Scientific Outline (CSO) is a system organized around seven areas of research that include biology; etiology; prevention; early detection, diagnosis and prognosis; treatment, cancer control, survivorship, and outcomes research; and scientific model systems. The CSO supports efficient collective portfolio analysis and coordinated strategic planning. To optimize cancer research benefits, the ICRP website offers levels of cancer data access to a wide audience: cancer researchers, cancer funding organizations, health care policy makers, health care professionals, cancer survivors and advocates, as well as those interested in cancer research funding worldwide. Highlights: This presentation will highlight potential uses of the ICRP database, including analytical tools that are available to Partner. Examples of research questions that can be explored by accessing the ICRP database and using these analytic tools will be presented.