Up to £350,000 in Funding: WCRF International Regular Grant Programme

The World Cancer Research Fund International is seeking applications for Research Grant.

The Research Principles, Areas and Themes define the scientific scope of the World Cancer Research Fund International Regular Grant Programme.

Types of Grants

• The Regular Grant Programme comprises two main grant types:
  • Investigator Initiated Grants: Investigator Initiated Grants (IIGs) are for established researchers working on their research areas and themes. They encourage collaboration with other teams, therefore it is important to have at least one coapplicant. The aim of this grant funding scheme is to support innovative and original research into the link of diet, nutrition and physical activity in either Cancer Prevention or Cancer Survivors.
  • Pilot and Feasibility Grants: Pilot and Feasibility Grants (PFGs) are intended as startup funds for preliminary research to allow researchers to collect preliminary data or test study parameters to take them to a stage where an application for an IIG would be appropriate. PFGs could also study behavioural change in cancer survivors.

Research Areas

• Applications to the Regular Grant Programme must fall into either the Cancer Prevention or the Cancer Survivors Research Area.
• For the Cancer Prevention Research Area, they accept research into the links relating diet, nutrition (including body composition) and physical activity to the causation or primary prevention of cancer. The Cancer Survivors Research Area focuses on individuals who have received a cancer diagnosis.
• Applications under each of the Research Areas should address one of the Research Themes.

Research Themes

• There are two Research Themes that apply to both research Areas, and one that applies only to the Cancer Survivors Research Area.
  • The Mechanisms Research Theme applies to both Research Areas, and covers molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms that help explain the biological connection between relevant exposures and cancer development or progression. This type of research must be coherent with existing laboratory, epidemiological and clinical evidence.
  • The Host Factors Research Theme applies to both Research Areas and covers factors that might explain the variability between people in their susceptibility to cancer or the biological abnormalities predisposing to it. It also applies to the variability in outcomes after a cancer diagnosis, including in response to treatment. Variation in susceptibility to cancer or in its progression is likely to be influenced by host factors.
  • A third theme addressing how diet, nutrition (including body composition) and physical activity can improve outcomes after cancer diagnosis applies only for the Cancer Survivors Research Area. This Evidence for Impact in Cancer Survivors Theme covers research into the role that diet, nutrition (including body composition) and physical activity can play in, for instance, reducing the side-effects of treatment, improving quality of life during and after the completion of treatment, reducing the risk of distant metastasis, second primaries and local cancer recurrence and ultimately prolonging survival.

Funding Information

• Level of funding: up to £350,000 (no more than £100,000 for any 1 year).
• Duration of funding: up to 4 years.

Relevant Exposures

• Exposures must be well defined and could include:
  • Diet, dietary patterns, other diet related behaviours and – provided that they are part of the usual diet – foods, food components and dietary supplements. Please note that proposals focusing on the role of isolated food or herb extracts that are not part of the usual diet will not be accepted.
  • Markers of nutritional status, including physiological or metabolic markers; body composition, and measures of growth, development and maturation.
  • Physical activity, physical fitness, time spent being sedentary, metabolic or other markers related to physical activity and physical activity related behaviours.

Eligibility Criteria

• The applicant – Principal Investigator (PI) of the study – must hold a research position at the host institution for the duration of the project. Only one person can act as PI.
• Eligible applicants: lead applicants must hold a research position at the host institution for the duration of the project.
• Eligible organisations: anywhere in the world except the Americas (North America, Central America including the Caribbean, and South America).
• Grant applications are open to a Principal Investigator based at a research institution from any country outside the Americas (North America, Central America including the Caribbean, and South America).
• World Cancer Research Fund International encourages international collaborations. Please note that although the Principal Investigator of an application cannot be from an institution based in the Americas, co-applicants and collaborators can be based in those countries, and a portion of the research work can be carried out at their institutions.
• Applications with the Principal Investigator based in a low- and middle-income country are also encouraged, such as for high quality studies that explore relevant exposure-outcome links in under-researched regions or population. Applicants should ensure the relevant expertise has been secured, for example through appropriate international collaborations.
• If a PhD student is to be included in a research grant project, the following criteria must be met:
  • The host institution must be responsible for the progress and training of the PhD student and must ensure adequate supervision and assessment of the student’s progress and the research training provided.
  • The PhD student should be spending 100 per cent of their time on the WCRF funded project, on a full-time or part-time basis.

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Deadline: 7th November 2022