Cancer Research UK today announced a partnership with HSBC to support the scientific leaders of tomorrow through a contribution of US$25 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.
"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." - Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK will receive US$5m 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 US$150m 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."
ENDS
For media enquires contact the Cancer Research UK press office on 020 3469 8300 or, out of hours, on 07050 264 059.
Notes to Editor
About The Francis Crick Institute
The Francis Crick Institute is a world-leading centre of biomedical research and innovation. It will house 1,200 leading scientists from a variety of disciplines working together under one roof to tackle the biggest health challenges faced by humankind. Dedicated to research excellence, the institute will have the scale, vision and expertise to tackle challenging scientific questions underpinning health and disease.
Due for completion in 2016, The Francis Crick Institute is a visionary collaboration between six of the world's leading medical research organisations: Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, UCL (University College London), King's College London and Imperial College London. It will be world-class with a strong national role – training scientists and developing ideas for public good. cruk.org/crick
About HSBC
The HSBC Group
HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from over 6,100 offices in 72 countries and territories in Asia, Europe, North and Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,572bn at 30 June 2015, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.
HSBC's US$150m community fund
HSBC marks its 150th anniversary in 2015. As part of this, HSBC has committed an additional US$150m fund to community projects over three years (2015-2017). More than 140 charities worldwide have been selected by HSBC's management team, based on votes from HSBC employee for charitable themes. The US$150m fund is in addition to the US$114m HSBC makes available to community investment programmes globally each year. Further details: www.hsbc.com/150-community-fund(link is external)