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Research we fund

Find below examples of research we are currently funding or have funded in the past, listed under our research priorities.

You can find out more about our research strategy or watch our latest grant holders talk about their research projects.

Key themes

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Mental and physical health and wellbeing

Our research priority: to provide quality care and support for people affected by dying, death and bereavement.

Dr Kate Flemming, University of York

Start date: 1 June 2017
Duration: 27 months
Location: UK

 The experiences of, and need for, palliative care for people with motor neurone disease and their informal caregivers: A qualitative systematic review - PubMed (nih.gov)  

This project was funded by Marie Curie and the MND Association  .

This research also fits under the family, friends and carers category. 

Dr Chris Burton, Bangor University

Start date: 1 June 2013
Duration: 24 months
Location: North Wales

This research also fits under the family, friends and carers category.

Professor Sonja McIlfatrick, Ulster University

Start date: 5 September 2016
Duration: 40 months

Location: UK

 

Lay summary

For people with palliative care needs, constipation can be a significant burden causing considerable suffering as a direct result of physical symptoms or related social and psychological problems.

Constipation is similarly difficult to define due to it being both private and subjective.

While best practice guidelines exist on constipation, it is unclear whether health professionals have enough awareness given the variations in how it is assessed, diagnosed and managed in palliative care settings.

The World Health Organisation advocates that palliative care should seek to improve the quality of life of patients and their families through early identification, impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and symptoms.

The recent WHO resolution for palliative care calls for the strengthening of palliative care, highlighting the importance of continuing education for all health workers.

Professor Sonja McIlfatrick at the University of Ulster is carrying out research to develop and put into practice an educational tool aimed at health care professionals to assist them in the management of constipation in people with advanced cancer.

The study will be carried out in four stages.

The first will look at current practice across Marie Curie Hospices. This will involve speaking with patients and health professionals to understand what they think are the main problems and barriers to managing constipation in specialist palliative care settings.

Using this information and additional evidence collected from doctors, nurses and other experts, Professor McIlfatrick and the team plan to develop an innovative, evidence-based educational tool which will be trialled in a Marie Curie Hospice.

The results of this study will be invaluable to making informed decisions about services for people suffering with constipation in UK hospices.

Professor Richard Harding & Professor Fliss Murtagh, Kings College London

Start date: 1 February 2019
Duration: 54 months
Location: UK

Read the abstract  

33  ‘A post code lottery’: experiences of healthcare professionals providing palliative care out-of-hours across the UK | BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care  

3 Developing a typology for out-of-hours community service provision for patients nearing the end of life and their families | BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care  

35  ‘Plugging the gaps’: healthcare professionals’ responses to challenges in providing palliative care out-of-hours in the community | BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care  

The most important components of out-of-hours community care for patients at the end of life: A Delphi study of healthcare professionals’ and patient and family carers’ perspectives - Joanna Goodrich, Lydia Tutt, Alice M Firth, Catherine J Evans, Fliss EM Murtagh, Richard Harding, 2022 (sagepub.com)  

Professor Marie Fallon, University of Edinburgh

Start date: 1 September 2018
Duration: 38 months
Location: UK

Read the abstract  

Dr Andrew Dickman, University of Liverpool

Start date: 1 April 2011
Duration: 48 months
Location: UK

Dr Sorrell Burden, University of Manchester

Start date: 1 June 2016
Duration: 30 months
Location: UK

 

Lay summary

Bowel obstruction is a common symptom of advanced ovarian cancer, affecting between 20% and 50% of women.

It can limit a person’s ability to maintain adequate nutrition and hydration, leading to poor health and reduced quality of life.

Feeding into a vein or parenteral nutrition (PN) can help to prevent malnutrition and dehydration, as well as provide relief from nausea and vomiting. There is currently a lack of research to inform clinical practice in this area.

Dr Sorrel Burden at the University of Manchester is carrying out research to understand how parenteral nutrition is being used in palliative and end of life care to manage bowel obstruction.

Her study, funded by Marie Curie, involves speaking with women with ovarian cancer who are being considered for or are receiving PN, as well as their families and doctors.

The aim is to find out what patients, families and health professionals think about PN as a form of symptom management. In stage one of the study, Dr Burden will explore current practice of the treatment and look at the factors that influence teams in deciding whether to offer feeding into a vein.

There is a definite unmet need in the provision of home support for women with bowel obstruction due to ovarian cancer, and multiple challenges relating to the delivery of care.

There is uncertainty around the role of artificial nutrition, including PN, in women with ovarian cancer in palliation and end of life care.

The findings of this study will help to develop evidence-based recommendations to help professionals make decisions about parenteral nutrition and bowel obstruction in women with advanced ovarian cancer.

Dr Wei Gao and Professor Irene Higginson, King's College London

Start date: 1 July 2013
Duration: 18 months
Location: England

Professor Simon Noble, Cardiff University and Dr Jason Boland, Hull York Medical School

Start date: 1 April 2019
Duration: 36 months
Location: England and Wales


Read the abstract  

Development of a Core Outcome Set for the research and assessment of inoperable malignant bowel obstruction. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

The range and suitability of outcome measures used in the assessment of palliative treatment for inoperable malignant bowel obstruction: A systematic review. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

Symptom burden and lived experiences of patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals on the management of malignant bowel obstruction: A qualitative systematic review. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

Development of a core outcome set to use in the research and assessment of malignant bowel obstruction: protocol for the RAMBO study | BMJ Open  

Professor Jane Seymour, University of Nottingham

Start date: 1 September 2011
Duration: 33 months
Location: England (Lancaster, South Cumbria and East Midlands) 

Dr Peter O’Halloran, Queen's University Belfast

Start date: 1 January 2017
Duration: 24 months
Location: Northern Ireland

 

Lay summary

Around 50,000 children and young people in the UK have a life threatening or life-limiting illness, with more living into adulthood.

Healthcare professionals agree that young people and their families should be more involved in the decision making surrounding their care, yet this can often be a challenge.

The small amount of research in this area shows that most young people want to have a bigger role in decision-making and find that advance care planning helps in communicating their wishes with their families about end of life care.

Patient-held records (PHR) exist to help overcome communication challenges, documenting information about a person’s condition, medication and care preferences at the end of life. A Better Plan (ABP) developed with and for the NHS is an online alternative to the PHR.

Dr Peter O’Halloran from Queen’s University Belfast is looking to find out what young people and their families think about ‘My Healthcare Passport*,’ a patient-held record, and its online equivalent, ‘A Better Plan’.

Although carefully developed, these have never been extensively evaluated, especially with young people.

The study will involve interviews with young people aged 16-24 living in Northern Ireland, their families and health care professionals over 9 months to assess how useful they find PHRs.

The results of the two year study will help to lay groundwork for a larger study evaluating the impact of a patient-held record on the wellbeing of young people and their families, in addition to helping understand what steps health professionals should take to use a PHR successfully.

* The ‘My Healthcare Passport’ was developed by the Royal College of General Practitioners Northern Ireland in 2014.

Professor Marie Fallon, the University of Edinburgh

Start date: 1 January 2016
Duration: 30 months
Location: UK

 

Lay summary

Patients who have cancer deposits in bone (usually from a tumour elsewhere) often have severe pain. People can be badly affected by this, struggling to move about and potentially being unable to stay at home.

Radiotherapy is the standard painkilling treatment for these bone cancer deposits. This has to be given in a cancer hospital. Patients have an initial visit to a cancer hospital for a scan, then more visits for treatment. This can be as much as every day for five days.

The problem is that pain relief may take up to 6 weeks, with only one half of patients getting good pain relief. This means that for a considerable number of patients this treatment is futile.

Hospital visits can be difficult and may be inappropriate for patients near the end of life. There is a burden from having the treatment, so it is important to understand who is most likely to benefit.

The ability to predict patients in whom radiotherapy is likely to work would have advantages for patients and the NHS. These views are informed by consumer members of our group.

Our research programme, with scientists and clinicians, aims to improve cancer pain
relief. We have found a simple test that may help predict which patients are likely to get pain relief from radiotherapy:

A simple warm and cool probe (which is not painful) is applied to the skin over the painful area. Some patients find the sensation of warm and cool different to normal.

Our initial work suggests these patients are much more likely to get pain relief from radiotherapy. We want to see if this simple assessment can be used in patients living in the community.

We also want to see how effectively it identifies patients most likely to benefit from attending hospital for radiotherapy.

We will recruit patients in the community who are due to get radiotherapy for bone pain. These patients will be assessed at home before and at time points after treatment, using the simple warm and cool test.

Ease of use of the probe, the effect of radiotherapy on pain and overall patient and carer experience will be monitored. If the probe works well in this non-specialist setting, we will aim to progress with further work to lead to early patient benefit.

Dr Martin Denvir, Professor Scott Murray and Dr Kirsty Boyd, the University of Edinburgh 

Start date: 1 June 2013
Duration: 26 months
Location: UK

Professor Jane Seymour, University of Nottingham

Start date: 1 May 2015
Duration: 12 months
Location: UK

Professor Marie Fallon, the University of Edinburgh

Start date: 1 September 2016
Duration: 67 months
Location: UK, Scandinavia and Canada

This study is funded as part of a joint collaboration with Marie Curie, the Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research   and Pancreatic Cancer UK  .

Dr Maureen Coombs and Professor Alison Richardson, University of Southampton

Start date: 1 October 2011
Duration: 27 months
Location: UK

Professor Alexander Molassiotis and Prof Janelle Yorke, University of Manchester

Start date: 1 July 2012
Duration: 22 months
Location: England (North West)

Professor Marie Fallon, the University of Edinburgh

Start date: 1 Jan 2012
Duration: 27 months
Location: UK (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Preston, London and more)

Professor Marie Fallon and Dr Kerry McWilliams, the University of Edinburgh

Start time: 1 September 2015
Duration: 32 months
Location: Scotland

Dr Morag Farquhar, University of East Anglia

Start date: 1 March 2017
Duration: 63 months
Location: UK

Dr Debra Howell, University of York

Start date: 1 Jan 2012
Duration: 48 months
Location: England (Yorkshire & Humber)

Dr Anthony Byrne, Cardiff University

Start date: 1 June 2012
Duration: 30 months
Location: England and Wales

Professor Miriam Johnson, University of Hull

Start date: 1 June 2014
Duration: 29 months
Location: England (Hull, London, Manchester)

Professor Christopher McDermott, University of Sheffield

Start date: 1 July 2017
Duration: 60 months
Location: UK

This project was funded by Marie Curie and the MND Association  .

Dr Najib Rahman, University of Oxford

Start date: 1 January 2015
Duration: 71 months
Location: UK

Dr Martin Dempster and Dr Noleen McCorry, Ulster University

Start date: 1 March 2015
End date: 22 months
London: UK

Professor Marie Fallon and Dr Barry Laird, the University of Edinburgh

Start date: 1 August 2017
Duration: 24 months
Location: Scotland

A randomized, feasibility trial of an exercise and nutrition-based rehabilitation programme (ENeRgy) in people with cancer. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

Combined exercise and nutritional rehabilitation in outpatients with incurable cancer: a systematic review. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

A randomised, phase II, unblinded trial of an Exercise and Nutrition-based Rehabilitation programme (ENeRgy) versus standard care in patients with cancer: feasibility trial protocol | Pilot and Feasibility Studies | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)  

Cancer cachexia: rationale for the MENAC (Multimodal—Exercise, Nutrition and Anti-inflammatory medication for Cachexia) trial | BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care  

This project was funded by Marie Curie and the Chief Scientist Office  .

Dr Bárbara Antunes, University of Cambridge

Start date: 1 July 2022
Duration: 15 months
Location: UK 

View the abstract, lay summary and Dr Bárbara Antunes talking about her research project.  

Dr Natasha Campling, University of Southampton

Start date: 1 October 2022
Duration: 1 October 2024
Location: England

View the abstract, lay summary, and Dr Natasha Campling talking about her research project.  

Dr Julia Hackett, University of York

Start date: October 2022
Duration: 30 months
Location: UK

View the abstract, lay summary and Dr Julia Hackett talking about her research project.  

Professor Irene Higginson, King's College London

Start date: 1 November 2015
Duration: 29 months
Location: UK

Find the team's latest publication on Europe Pubmed Central  

 

Lay summary

Breathlessness is a common symptom affecting 50-70% of those with cancer and over 90% with non-cancer lung disease. Despite all the causes for breathlessness being treated, breathlessness often persists.

Such "refractory" breathlessness is very distressing, provokes fear and panic, impairs quality of life, including social life, and can result in emergency hospital admissions.

There are few proven treatments. Morphine can help some people but other treatments are needed. Because breathlessness causes anxiety, which in turn makes breathlessness worse, people have tried anti-anxiety drugs. But a recent review found no studies that proved these work.

In this study we will test a drug called mirtazapine. Mirtazapine is a commonly used anti-depressant. It affects a brain chemical called serotonin, which is active when people are breathless. Reports involving small numbers of patients suggest that this treatment may help breathlessness.

Mirtazapine is an older drug, therefore we cannot get funding from a drug company,
because they would not profit from it being used. Our current best estimate is that we would need to recruit approximately 230 people to do a full trial of mirtazapine.

Before doing this though, it is vital to determine whether it is feasible to perform a trial this large among patients who are this ill. This study is called a feasibility trial. We aim find out if the trial methods and drug are acceptable to those participating and if we can recruit enough people to a future trial.

Sixty people with refractory breathlessness will be invited to take part. These will have breathlessness due to chronic lung disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or interstitial lung disease), cancer or chronic heart failure, whom their doctors feel are already on optimal treatment.

Those people agreeing to take part then will be allocated, randomly, to receive, for one month, either the mirtazapine or a placebo (a dummy drug that looks like mirtazapine). This makes the comparison fair. We will assess how well the trial performs in terms of recruitment and procedures.

We will find out the best approaches to recruiting people to the study in different settings, and how to make sure we don't have too much missing information.

We will test the questionnaires and assessments that could be used in a full trial to find out which of these are most acceptable to people and help us better estimate how many people we would actually need in a full trial.

Dr Morag Farquhar, University of Cambridge

Start date: 1 July 2012
Duration: 42 months
Location: England (Cambridgshire, South East London)

Dr Karen Shaw, University of Birmingham 

Start date: 1 May 2017
Duration: 41 months
Location: England (West Midlands)

Read the abstract  

Latest publications

Evaluating advance care plans  

Recommendations for the child and young person's advance care plan collaborative  

Dr Christine Campbell and Prof. Scott Murray, the University of Edinburgh

Start date: 1 May 2012
Duration: 25 months
Location: Scotland

Dr Steven Oliver, University of York

Start date: 1 June 2012
Duration: 24 months
Location: England

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Financial insecurity

Our research priority: Ensure that everyone has the support they need to address their practical concerns at the end of life.

Dr Joanna Davies and Professor Richard Harding, Kings College London

Start date: 26 September 2022
Duration: 12 months
Location: England and Wales

View the abstract, lay summary and Miss Joanna Davies talking about her research project.  

Professor George Kernohan, Ulster University

Start date: 1 November 2014
Duration: 50 months
Location: UK

This research also fits into the family, friends and carers category.

Professor Mari Lloyd-Williams, Professor Lynn Calman, University of Southampton, Liverpool University

Date: 2023 (Call 11)
Grant duration (in months): 24
Location: England and Wales

View the abstract and lay summary for the project.

Dr Joanna Davies, Professor Richard Harding, Kings College London

Date: 2023 (Call 11)
Grant duration (in months): 21
Location: England and Wales

View the abstract, lay summary and Miss Joanna Davies talking about her research project.

Dr Nicola White and Dr Nuriye Kupeli, UCL

Date: 2023 (Call 11)
Grant duration (in months): 24
Location: England and Wales

View the abstract, lay summary and Dr Nicola White and Dr Nuriye Kupeli talking about their research project.

Professor Liz Forbat, University of Stirling

Date: 2023 (Call 11)
Grant duration (in months): 14
Location: UK wide

View the abstract, lay summary and Professor Liz Forbat talking about her research project.

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Family, friends and carers

Our research priority: to ensure that everyone affected by death and dying – including the family, friends and carers of the dying person – are supported through and beyond the end of life.

Professor Richard Harding and Dr Steve Marshall, Kings College London

Start date: 1 November 2018
Duration: 50 months
Location: England (South London)

Read the abstract  

Professor Sheila Payne, Lancaster University

Start date: 1 June 2011
Duration: 24 months
Location: England (North West and South West)

Professor Jane Seymour, University of Nottingham

Start date: 1 December 2012
Duration: 31 months
Location: England (Nottinghamshire)

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.  

Dr Nick Ockenden and Professor Sheila Payne, Institute of Volunteering and University of Lancaster

Start date: 1 July 2011
Duration: 27 months
Location: UK

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.  

Dr Bridget Candy, University College London

Start date: 7 November 2011
Duration: 15 months
Location: UK

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.  

Professor John Ellershaw, University of Liverpool

Start date: 1 December 2011
Duration: 24 months
Location: UK

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.

Professor Kevin Brazil, Queen's University Belfast

Start date: 1 September 2022
Duration: 18 months
Location: UK

View the abstract, lay summary and Professor Kevin Brazil talking about his research project.  

Dr Nathan Davies, University College London

Start date: 1 January 2019
Duration: 23 months
Location: UK

Read the abstract  

Co-design development of a decision guide on eating and drinking for people with severe dementia during acute hospital admissions. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

Experiences of Carers and People with Dementia from Ethnic Minority Groups Managing Eating and Drinking at Home in the United Kingdom. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

Enteral tube feeding for people with severe dementia - Davies, N - 2021 | Cochrane Library  

How do people living with dementia perceive eating and drinking difficulties? A qualitative study. - Abstract - Europe PMC  

Family caregivers' and professionals' experiences of supporting people living with dementia’s nutrition and hydration needs towards the end of life - Barrado‐Martín - 2022 - Health & Social Care in the Community - Wiley Online Library  

Nutrition and hydration for people living with dementia near the end of life: A qualitative systematic review - Barrado‐Martín - 2021 - Journal of Advanced Nursing - Wiley Online Library  

Mapping and understanding the decision-making process for providing nutrition and hydration to people living with dementia: a systematic review | BMC Geriatrics | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)  

Dr Emily Harrop, Cardiff University

Start date: 1 February 2016
Duration: 20 months
Location: UK and other locations applicable to UK context

 

Lay summary

Organisations which provide palliative and end of life care have an important role to play in providing bereavement support to the loved ones of patients after they die.

Dr Emily Harrop is looking at the research evidence on bereavement support available for people who have lost loved ones through terminal illness.

This will help improve services by identifying what type of support works best for different groups of people, and how such support might be improved.

Gaps in the evidence base will also be identified with recommendations made for further research.

Another key objective of the project is to develop an agreed set of criteria which researchers or practitioners should use when assessing how well a service is working.

This is known as a ‘core outcome set’, and will enable more meaningful comparisons to be made across research studies and types of services, which in turn will help improve clinical practice and service delivery in this area.

Professor Scott Murray, the University of Edinburgh

Start date: 1 November 2012
Duration: 36 months
Location: Scotland (Edinburgh, Lothian region)

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.  

Dr Kate Flemming, University of York

Start date: 1 September 2012
Duration: 18 months
Location: UK

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.  

Professor Jeremy Whelan, University College London

Start date: 1 November 2013
Duration: 24 months
Location: England

Dr Nathan Davies, University College London

Start date: 1 April 2015
Duration: 22 months
Location: England

Dr Liz Sampson, University College London

Start date: 1 January 2013
Duration: 12 months
Location: England (London)

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.  

Professor Sue Latter, University of Southampton

Start date: 5 January 2013
Duration: 30 months
Location: England (Hampshire) and Wales (Cardiff)

This project was funded by the Dimbleby Marie Curie Research Fund.  

Professor Gunn Grande, University of Manchester

Start date: 1 August 2014
Duration: 31 months
Location: England (Manchester, North East England)

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Inequity

Our research priority: end inequity in end of life experience by ensuring access to excellent standards of care and support for all.

Dr Jamilla Hussain, Bradford Institute for Health Research

Start date: 1 January 2023
Duration: 18 months
Location: England (Bradford)

View the abstract, lay summary and Dr Jamilla Hussain talking about her research project.  

Dr Richard Harding, King's College London

Start date: 1 May 2014
Duration: 24 months
Location: UK

Professor Richard Harding and Dr Katherine Bristowe, King's College London

Start date: 1 June 2014
Duration: 27 months
Location: UK

Dr Kathryn Almack, University of Nottingham

Start date: 1 September 2012
Duration: 28 months
Location: England and Wales

Dr Catherine Evans, King's College London

Start date: 1 January 2012
Duration: 23 months
Location: UK

Dr Mary Turner, University of Lancaster

Start date: 1 June 2013
Duration: 36 months
Location: England

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