• Learn about cancer
• Cancers at a glance
• Research highlights
• About cancer research
  • What is 'research'?
  • The scientific method
  • Different areas of research
• Understanding 'risk'
• Our history and achievements

What is 'research'?

Research is a step-by-step process that involves collecting and examining information. We do research to improve our knowledge and understanding about the world we live in. It almost always involves finding out something new.

Researchers are the people who carry out research. They can be all different sorts of people, including scientists, doctors, nurses, psychologists, students and epidemiologists. Epidemiologists are population researchers who, among other things, work out the statistics you often see in the news.

Cancer research is the study of cancer, from its basic biology to the effects of treatment. Researchers who study cancer collect and analyse information about every aspect of the disease. This includes:

• What causes cancer
• How cancers form
• The different ways to treat cancer
• How cancer can be prevented

…and much, much more.

The final goal of cancer research is to produce effective treatment and prevention for the many different types of cancers around today.