The FINANCIAL — Cancer Research UK on October 22 announced a partnership with HSBC to support the scientific leaders of tomorrow through a contribution of USD25 million towards the development of the Francis Crick Institute.
The new state-of-the-art biomedical research facility is currently being built in King’s Cross, in the heart of London. HSBC’s support is contributing to the cost of the construction of the Francis Crick Institute which is due to open in 2016, according to HSBC.
Cancer Research UK will receive USD5 million per year from HSBC for the next five years (2015-2019).
The Francis Crick Institute will see more than 1,200 scientists, representing a variety of disciplines, collaborating to tackle the diseases that pose the greatest threat to humanity – cancer, heart disease, lung disease, infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria and many more.
The collaboration between HSBC, Cancer Research UK and the Francis Crick Institute will be marked by 150 PhD students who will be provided with an opportunity to conduct vital research at the new institute. The young scientists will be selected from across the world for the PhD programme.
Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive Officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “Cancer Research UK has a long history of working with HSBC, but this donation really is game-changing for us. This extraordinarily generous gift will cement our commitment to investing in the highest quality science by helping us to support some of the best and most imaginative scientists in the world.”
HSBC’s donation is part of a series of community investments being made globally to mark HSBC’s 150th anniversary. Overall USD150 million of additional funding has been committed to community projects over three years (2015-2017) around the world.
Douglas Flint, HSBC Group Chairman, said: “We are very proud to support the 150 PhD students at the Francis Crick Institute. In working with the team at Cancer Research UK, it became clear that the Crick would be an environment where the best and brightest talent from all over the world would come together in new fields of research, to make ground breaking progress in the fight against some of the most urgent health and disease issues. We hope our PhD students will be the future leaders in their field and wish them all the best in their vital work at the Crick.”
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