Published: 14 December 2022

Charities are vital partners in UK research because they respond to patients' priorities, tackle areas of unmet need, and accelerate health impact. In this new animation, we explore how they make research happen, providing help for today and hope for tomorrow.

This new video follows on from a previous animation launched in March, which explained how the charity, public and industry sectors work together to help research ideas to flourish into solutions that save and improve lives. We know there is limited understanding outside of the medical research world about the vital roles the three sectors play to ensure the UK remains an international research powerhouse. Having explored the differences and similarities in the previous animation, this new video explores in further detail the vital role and impact charities specifically have in making research happen. In particular, the animation highlights that:

• patient priorities drive and shape charity research so that funding gets directed to where it will make the most difference to people’s lives
• charities invest in research that improves healthcare for people with unmet needs, such as those living with neglected conditions and rare diseases
• that charities bring people and organisations around the world together, building partnerships and attracting investment for promising research to deliver benefits to patients sooner.

We’d like to thank Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Parkinson’s UK, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Epilepsy Research UK, Worldwide Cancer Research and Guts UK, who acted as sounding boards for us throughout the development process. They introduced us to some fabulous people affected by conditions, who gave us their time and knowledge, and helped guide us to get our messaging and visuals right.