Breakthrough Cancer Research Innovation Grant Programme 2025

In partnership with  Citi Ireland

The Breakthrough Cancer Research Innovation Grant Programme 2025, in partnership with Citi Ireland, is now accepting applications. This initiative represents a collaboration aimed at funding world-class cancer research in Ireland.

Funding Details

• Maximum Grant Value: €50,000
• Project Duration: 12-18 months
• Eligible Institutions: Any University in the Republic of Ireland currently engaged in cancer research

Programme Details

This programme aims to support innovative and novel ‘proof of concept’ or ‘pilot studies’ in cancer research. It is open to independent researchers across various disciplines, including lab-based research, translational research, and allied health. The focus spans the disease trajectory from prevention to early diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. Researchers are encouraged to initiate, identify, and develop innovative approaches and implement evidence-based strategies to improve cancer care and survival rates.

Applications must align with the Breakthrough Cancer Research Strategy and research priorities.

Applications are invited for innovative pilot or proof of concept studies focused on awareness of symptoms, early detection, treatment, or interventions to improve survivorship focused on cancer sites with the lowest survival: lung, brain, stomach, ovarian, liver cancer, or early-onset colorectal cancer.

Application Process

Applicants are invited to apply via the Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System.

Contact

If you have any questions please email [email protected]

Related Documents to Download

Breakthrough-Innovation-Grant-Programme-2025-Call-Document_Updated

Breakthrough Innovation Grant Programme 2025-Mentor_Co Applicant_Collaborator-Support-Document

Breakthrough Innovation Grant Programme 2025-FAQs

Musgrave Breakthrough Cancer Research PhD Scholarship in partnership with Breakthrough Cancer Research

The Cancer Research PhD Scholarships applications are now open.  There are two PhD Scholarships available this year.

The Musgrave Breakthrough Cancer Research PhD Scholarship, in association with Breakthrough Cancer Research, represents a partnership to fund world class cancer research in Ireland, while educating the next generation of cancer research leaders. This scholarship is funded up to maximum value of €140,000, over 4 years. Funding for two 4 -year PhD Scholarships will be provided, to take place at any University in Ireland currently engaged in cancer research. The Scholarships are open to researchers in Clinical, Biological, Epidemiological or Public Health fields, as long as they are patient focused and with the ultimate aim of improving cancer care and increasing survival. Applications will be limited to those focused on ovarian, lung, brain, liver or oesophageal-gastric cancer only.

For further details, please see the Breakthrough PhD Scholarship call document below.

Apply via the Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System

Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System

Key Dates

Related Documents to Download

breakthrough-phd-scholarship-call-document-2025-2

breakthrough-phd-scholarship-faqs-2025

breakthrough-phd-scholarship-support-document-for-supervisors-and-referees-2025

bcr-confidentiality-agreement-for-peer-reviewers-2025

breakthrough-cancer-research-funding-acknowledgment-guidelines-2

BREAKTHROUGH CANCER RESEARCH EDUCATION AND TRAVEL AWARD 2025

The Breakthrough Cancer Research Education and Travel Award 2025 aims to support doctoral researchers who:

• want to present their research findings at national or international conferences, or
• would like to travel to another laboratory to learn a specific technique not available at their current third level institution.

Applications are invited from doctoral research students who will travel between 20^th January and 31^st October 2025 in connection with their research.  Five bursaries are available to a maximum of €500 per successful applicant payable in the form of reimbursed receipts relevant to the research trip/conference.

The aim of this award is to:

• Encourage networking through active participation by research students at conferences both national and international.
• Support networking and training through travel to another lab to learn a new technique which will advance their research – this should not have been part of, and costed into the original proposal.

Application Process

• Applicants must complete the application form and the supervisor form and submit to [email protected] before the 20th of January 2025.
• The applicant’s supervisor must support the application by writing a brief letter of recommendation commenting on the contribution this conference or research trip will make to the overall research for the PhD. Supervisor should send the recommendation letter to the applicant before the deadline.

Key Dates:

Related documents to download:

breakthrough-cancer-research-education-and-travel-award-2025_call-document-3

breakthrough-cancer-research-education-and-travel-award-2025_application-form-2

breakthrough-cancer-research-education-and-travel-award-2025_supervisor-form-2

The 2025 Breakthrough Cancer Research Summer Student Scholarship is now opened. This programme is an initiative to facilitate the partnership of students with research teams and to foster the education of the next generation of cancer research leaders.  Funding will be provided for outstanding candidates, for the period of 6-10 week and to the value of €3,000 each.

The scholarships are to take place at any University in Ireland currently engaged in cancer research.  It is open to researchers in Clinical, Biological, Epidemiological, Public Health or Allied health fields.

Proposals must fulfill our research priorities, be patient-focused, with the ultimate aim to improve cancer care and increase survival. Applications will be limited to those focused on pancreatic, oesophageal, ovarian, lung, brain, liver or gastric cancer only.

Apply via the Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System

Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System

Key Dates

Related Documents to download:

breakthrough-summer-student-scholarship-call-document-2025-3

breakthrough-summer-student-scholarship-faqs-2025-2

ALL-IRELAND – CANCER NETWORK (AllCaN) – PANCREATIC CANCER PROGRAMME GRANT 2024

The All-Ireland – Cancer Network (AllCaN) Programme Grant is a Breakthrough Cancer Research funding programme started in 2021.  This Programme Grant will fund networks of the best scientists/researchers at institutions across the Island of Ireland, to develop new and innovative approaches to improving cancer outcomes.  Researchers will collaborate across disciplines, institutions, and as appropriate across the four pillars of prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship.  The successful researchers will work together on a common goal, pooling their knowledge and resources to work together to eliminate barriers and to hasten the progression needed to improve patient outcomes.

Pancreatic cancer will be the focus of the AllCaN Programme grant 2024.

Expressions of Interest (EOI) and Full Proposal

Applicants are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) by October 30th, 2024, at 12:00 PM (noon) Irish time. All EOIs will undergo peer review, and the teams selected to submit a full proposal will be notified in November 2024.

Full proposals for the Breakthrough AllCaN Programme Research Funding projects must be submitted in December 2024 (exact date to follow) with interviews of the team(s) in January 2025.  The programme will start in Spring 2025.  

Apply via the Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System

Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System.

Related Documents to Download

Breakthrough-Cancer-Research-ALl-CAN-Programme-Grant-Guidelines-and-Call-Document-Pancreatic-Cancer-2024

Pancreatic Cancer Research on the Island of Ireland Report Sept 2024

KEY DATES

Applied Partnership Awards 2024

Second cycle now open

Breakthrough are inviting researchers to submit proposals for the HRB Applied Partnership Awards (APA) addressing specific needs in poor prognosis cancers.

The scope for this funding call is;

• Improving early detection or treatment of pancreatic and lung cancers.  Pancreatic cancer survival rate is approximately 14%. Lung cancer survival rate for late diagnosis is 18%.  There is a need for more research to increase the number of people surviving a pancreatic and lung cancer diagnosis. Breakthrough are calling for proposals to address this need.

The Applied Partnership Awards are designed to bring knowledge users and researchers together to develop research projects that address a specific need within the Irish health or social care system. Research findings will have a direct impact on decision-making in the knowledge user organisation.

This is a rolling call and as such there will be one round launched in 2022 with two separate closing dates and associated peer review cycles. The closing date for Cycle 2 is December 18th 2024.

For more information on eligibility, please see the link below.
APA Guideline

Please submit a 1 page proposal, with the research title, the need being addressed, the team, the method of addressing the need, and proposed budget to [email protected] by 10th November 2024.

KEY DATES

Related documents to download:

apa_2022_guidance_notes

Breakthrough Cancer Research are partners in the Research Ireland Enterprise Partnership Scheme (EPS).  Breakthrough will accept applications that align with our research strategy and research priorities.

The Enterprise Partnership Scheme is a national initiative linking excellent researchers in all disciplines to enterprise; in the context of this call, enterprise partners can range from multinational corporations to SMEs, non-governmental organisations, and, where justified, public sector agencies. The scheme provides researchers with the opportunity to pursue research in collaboration with enterprise while based at an eligible higher education institution.

Through this co-funded programme, postgraduate researchers develop new, advanced knowledge and skills linked with industry and employer needs. The programme trains early-career researchers for the diversity of employment opportunities in industry, the public sector and the non-government sectors. For the enterprise partner, the scheme provides a low-risk, flexible route to research talent and innovation in an area closely aligned with its strategic interests.

With consideration to national and global challenges, the involvement of those organisations, both large and small, who seek technological, social and sustainable solutions and opportunities for people and planet is welcomed.

Applications are invited for research which aligns with Breakthrough Cancer Research’s Research Strategy 2022-27 and our research priorities.  Breakthrough focus on research into the poorest prognosis cancers, and currently incurable cancers. For this call we are prioritising research focused on lung, ovarian, brain, liver, stomach and early onset colorectal cancer, multiple myeloma and uveal melanoma.  We fund research focused on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and/or survivorship.  Breakthrough also fund research addressing cancer policy and advocacy issues.

If you are interested in submitting an application with Breakthrough as a partner, please submit the following information to [email protected] by September 30th 2024:

• Name and Contact Details and CV of the applicant
• Name and Contact Details of supervisor
• Title of your Research Proposal
•  A 500 word lay summary of your proposal

For informal enquiries you can also email [email protected].

Postgraduate Scheme:

https://www.researchireland.ie/funding/enterprise-partnership-postgraduate/

Post-doctoral scheme: TBD

Enterprise Partnership Scheme (Postgraduate)

Breakthrough Cancer Research Health Economics and Policy Call 2024

Call for tender: Health Economic Analysis of Electrochemotherapy for the Treatment of Skin Cancers in the Irish Healthcare System.

The Breakthrough Cancer Research (Breakthrough) Health Economics and Policy Grant 2024 is now open for submissions.

Introduction

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a localised tumor treatment that uses electrical pulses to increase cell permeability, allowing chemotherapeutic drugs to enter tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. ECT has been approved as a cancer treatment, however, there is a lack of information on the cost-effectiveness of this treatment modality.

Aim of the Call

Breakthrough invites applicants to submit proposals for conducting a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) of ECT for skin cancer treatment within the Irish Healthcare System.

How to apply?

All applications must be sent via email to [email protected], before the closing date of 23rd September 2024 at 14:00 (Irish Time).

Contact

If you have any questions please email [email protected]

Related Documents to Download

Breakthrough Cancer Research Health Economics and Policy Grant 2024_Call Document

Application Form

Lead Applicant Signature Form

Host Institution Signature Form

Introduction:

Breakthrough Cancer Research is a leading Irish Medical Cancer Research Charity focused on funding research leading to new treatments for cancers which do not respond or are poorly served by available treatments. Breakthrough is committed to funding research to improve cancer care and outcomes and we ensure patient benefit is at the core of our efforts.  We emphasise clinically engaged projects, throughout the patient journey which will positively impact survival of patients with the toughest to cure cancers.

Breakthrough Cancer Research is now accepting EOI applications for the HRCI-HRB Joint Funding Scheme 2023/2024. 

The scope for applications to Breakthrough for this call are:

• Applications must be translational and/or applied research that seeks to produce outcomes that directly benefit people diagnosed with cancer, for example basic and translational science discoveries, including lab science, as well as bioinformatics and AI projects, with high potential of moving more quickly and efficiently into practice or clinical studies. Examples of research includes, but is not exclusive to; 
  • Early detection (lab-based and bioinformatics and AI studies exploring large datasets)
  • Drug validation in pre-clinical animal models
  • Drugs tested in pre-clinical animal models tested in phase 1 clinical trials
• Cancer sites within the scope of this call are: lung, ovarian, liver, pancreatic, brain and stomach only.
• Systematic evidence of need is required.
• Active and appropriate PPI involvement in the research application is essential.
• Further information on our Research Strategy can be found here

NB: Changes have been made by HRCI HRB for this call compared to previous years.  Please read the following carefully before applying: HRCI-HRB-JFS-2024 Guidance Notes for Applicants

Application Procedure:

Please submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) (2-3 pages max) to [email protected] by 1pm GMT on Monday 28^th August 2023. The EOI application form can be found here

Following peer review, a shortlist of successful applicants will be notified for requests for their full application between: 11th-15th September 2023.

Applicants invited to submit a full application will be provided with all relevant documentation.

Related websites:

HRCI- https://hrci.ie/joint-funding-scheme/

HRB- www.hrb.ie

Funding Available: Funding of up to €300,000 will be provided, for projects from 12 up to 36 months.

Contact: If you have any questions please email [email protected]

Documents for Applicants:

HRCI-HRB-JFS-2024 Guidance Notes for Applicants final

B1 HRCI-HRB 2024 Part B1 Application Form

C1 HRCI-HRB 2024 Part C1 Collaboration Agreement

C2 HRCI-HRB 2024 Part C2 Infrastructure Agreement

D1 HRCI-HRB 2024 Part D1 Lead Applicant Signature Page

D2 HRCI-HRB 2024 Part D2 PI Host Institution Signature Page

Timelines: (Please note some timelines are provisional and may be subject to change by the HRCI/HRB)

Breakthrough Cancer Research are open to applications as partners in the Irish Research Council (IRC) New Foundations Funding Programme 2023.  Applications must align with Breakthrough Research Priorities

New Foundations is a key driver in progressing the IRC strategic priorities by enabling awardees to pursue research, networking or dissemination activities within and across the diversity of disciplines. The scheme provides support for:

• research actions;
• the development of networks and consortia;
• conference and workshop development; and
• capacity building for interdisciplinary collaboration.

Since 2015, over 250 community, voluntary and charity organisations have engaged across our programmes with 423 funded projects. Through partnerships with researchers, diverse community organisations can bring new evidence and insights to enhance their services and impact for those that need them. The scheme also includes strands supported by government departments and agencies. In each of the past three years, a dedicated strand of the call has provided opportunities for researchers to work on important areas of policy, including global development, crime, creativity and children.

Please email [email protected] with an Expression of Interest by Friday 26th May at 4pm Irish time.

New Foundations | Funding | Irish Research Council

Breakthough Cancer Research, in partnership with ‘5 For The Fight’, is committed to investing in future leaders in cancer research. The purpose of these fellowships is to support two excellent early/mid-career-stage investigators to carry out independent research for a three-year period to the value of €300,000 each. All applications must align with our research priorities and strategy and show the promise of impact for cancer patients.

Two Fellowships are available:

1. Cancer Immunology Research Fellowship 2023. This Fellowship is open to an early/mid-career researcher, with a proven track record.  Applications should be focused on harnessing the immune system in the fight against cancer.
2. Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Research Fellowship 2023. This Fellowship is open to an early/mid-career researcher, with a proven track record. Applications should be focused on Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer, in particular metastatic Colorectal Cancer Research

Apply via the Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System

Breakthrough Cancer Research Grant Management System

Key Dates

Related Documents

5forthefight-cancer-research-fellowship-in-conjunction-with-breakthrough-cancer-research-2023

cancer-research-fellowship-expression-of-interest-faqs-2

cancer-research-fellowship-full-application-faqs

cancer-research-fellowship-mentor_collaborator-support-document

bcr-confidentiality-agreement-for-peer-reviewers-2

THE ALL-IRELAND – CANCER NETWORK (AllCaN) PROGRAMME GRANT

The All-Ireland – Cancer Network (AllCaN) Programme Grant is a new Breakthrough Cancer Research funding programme.  This Programme Grant will fund networks of the best scientists/researchers at institutions across the Island of Ireland, to develop new and innovative approaches to improving cancer outcomes.  Researchers will collaborate across disciplines, institutions, and as appropriate across the four pillars of prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship.  The successful researchers will work together on a common goal, pooling their knowledge and resources to work together to eliminate barriers and to hasten the progression needed to improve patient outcomes.

One network will be funded to up to €1,000,000 for a maximum of 3 to 4 years

Related Documents - Programme Guidelines and Application Instructions

breakthrough-cancer-research-all-can-programme-grant-guidelines-and-call-document-june-2nd-2022