Breadcrumb links
Navigation
MRC Strategic Plan 2009-2014 - Foreword
MRC researchers are global leaders in their fields of science, as the 28 Nobel Prizes over our 95-year history indicate. Always at the international forefront, the MRC addresses the most difficult scientific and health challenges of the day. Now, as we approach our centenary in 2013, we must not be complacent. We must remain driven by the needs of populations, individuals and patients and the desire of scientists to strive for new discoveries to improve human health through prevention and treatment.
To achieve this goal, we must build on our strong history and continue to recognise the importance of taking on fundamental problems by supporting basic science. This not only delivers discoveries but provides the basis for translation of research into patient benefit. We must ensure that scientists supported by the MRC have confidence that, even in difficult economic circumstances, science of the highest quality and excellence can and will be supported and sustained, as it takes many years before discoveries achieve their potential in patient care.
Building for the future requires the development of careers and opportunities for young scientists – the future of the UK biomedical enterprise. We will also invest in infrastructure to support our scientists and trainees ensuring that they continue to have access to the best and newest technologies and facilities to maintain excellence in a competitive world. Further, we will aim to create the right enabling environment to undertake the highest quality research, to produce and evaluate the optimal outputs and outcomes, and to communicate the impact to all parts of society.
Throughout the history of the MRC, the problems and the nature of scientific discovery and translation have not stayed the same. The MRC must respond quickly to a changing world. New infections continue to emerge and, despite major advances in their control, remain a major cause of mortality worldwide. Non-communicable diseases – diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and mental disorders – account for a large proportion of the burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries.
Similarly, people are living longer in virtually every country. As the population ages, we need new approaches in understanding the biology of ageing and how it relates to frailty and disease. This requires investigation of our ‘life course perspective’ in large cohort studies, linking population biology with a greater understanding of the disease processes themselves.
Other challenges facing the world, including environmental change, energy supply and food security, affect health. We must work in partnership with others, including other research councils, to study the impact of these issues and to provide solutions across the multitude of disciplines that deal with these problems.
We will channel resources into areas that have the most potential for translation into impacts and benefits for human health and society. This will take advantage of our 100-year history of achievement and our current excellent research. It will also reflect the need to enhance progress towards clinical application, and we will work with industry partners as appropriate. We are fortunate to have a strong partnership with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Devolved Administrations, coordinated through the Office of Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR), to place these in the context of wider health challenges and speed their progress to the clinic and changes in public policy.
These are difficult but worthwhile challenges; our objective is to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and populations in the UK and beyond. This aim remains as valid today as it has been throughout our history.
