How we measure the success of our research funding
How do we know research funding is really making a difference?
Prostate cancer research takes time. Most projects begin with discovery and may take years to translate into benefits for men. But with prostate cancer now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in England, it’s more important than ever to understand whether research investment is genuinely moving us forward.
Here in the Research Impact and Engagement Team at Prostate Cancer UK, we’ve been working on a way to show how research projects progress over time, a way to reflect the realities of translational research rather than relying on short-term outputs alone. We call this translational boundary analysis - TBA for short.
A simple way to track progress
We developed a standardised translational framework and applied it to 163 completed Prostate Cancer UK–funded projects (active from 2010–2024). Each project was mapped to one of six stages along the pathway from discovery to clinical use:
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(A) Exploring pathways and processes
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(B) Understanding the biology
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(C) Developing the idea into something (a product) to be tested
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(D) Testing the product works and is safe for use in men
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(E) Trialling in men to make sure the product works and is safe
- (F) Ensuring the product is in use and available to men across the UK
The framework draws on established translational models, including NASA’s Technology Readiness Levels and the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Small Molecule 4D Map.
The 6 translational stages
What did we find?
Using grant applications, final reports and long-term follow-up reports collected 1, 2, 5 and 10 years after funding, we assessed each project at the start of funding, at completion and at latest follow-up (and yes - this analysis is only possible because researchers like you take the time to send those reports, so please do keep completing them when they land in your inbox!)
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74% of projects progressed by at least one translational stage during active funding
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This increased to 82% when longer-term follow-up was included
Of those 82% of projects that have advanced during long term follow-up, we've seen a large proportion of these projects progress across multiple translational stages.
Across the portfolio, projects shifted from early discovery stages towards later translational and clinical stages over time, including projects reaching clinical trials and implementation.
Why this matters
For our researchers, we hope this offers a clear and fair way to describe progress that recognises incremental, long-term impact. For Prostate Cancer UK, it provides a transparent way to show how research funding helps move ideas towards benefit for men.
Our aim is to publish this framework so other funders can use this to help measure the success of their portfolio.
Finally, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to complete post-award reports. Your updates are invaluable in helping us understand, evidence and communicate the real-world impact of prostate cancer research. Being able to clearly show how research progresses over time strengthens our case to funders, donors and supporters—and ultimately helps us secure more funding to invest back into the prostate cancer research community.
Research Impact
Over the last 25 years, our research has changed the lives of men with prostate cancer. From transforming the way prostate cancer is diagnosed to developing the first precision medicine for advanced prostate cancer.
Find out more about how our funded research has made a difference
