Cure Brain Cancer Foundation grants to ignite bold ideas from research minds

Cure Brain Cancer Foundation will provide up to $200,000 funding, per award, to researchers in a new grants round designed to spark innovative ideas, build capacity in brain cancer research, and help improve brain cancer survival.

The new ‘Innovation Grant’ and ‘Early Career Fellowship Grant’ aim to attract “brilliant minds” from all areas of expertise into brain cancer research, helping the Foundation meet its mission to increase brain cancer survival from 20 per cent to 50 per cent by 2023.

“Currently it is difficult to find financial support to explore potentially game-changing brain cancer research ideas. New paradigms may lead to improved treatments and significant increases in survival but they often fall outside the rigid boundaries of traditional funding models,” Michelle Stewart, Head of Research Strategy at Cure Brain Cancer Foundation said.

“Unfortunately, this can result in potentially lifesaving projects being left on the shelf and brain cancer patients, who urgently need treatment options, from missing out on the benefits.

“The Innovation Grant will address this gap by funding higher risk, big ideas idea, and allow researchers to explore new projects that could improve brain cancer survival, which has barely improved in more than 30 years.”

Cure Brain Cancer Foundation’s Innovation Grant will provide up to $200,000 per award to researchers with a proven track record, including those who work outside of brain cancer. It will also enable researchers to produce proof-of-concept data, and establish whether ideas are feasible for ongoing funding and future grant applications.

Meanwhile, Cure Brain Cancer Foundation’s Early Career Fellowship Grant will provide up to $115,000, per award, to incentivise the most promising, early career researchers to work in brain cancer, and build critical capacity in the field.

“Successful Early Career Fellowship Grant applicants will have the opportunity to build their research credentials and be more likely to continue working in the brain cancer field over the longer-term,” Stewart said.

“Both grants are part of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation’s patient-centric research strategy, which is designed to improve brain cancer survival by accelerating treatments to patients and funding the entire research pathway.”

The Innovation and Early Career Fellowship Grants are part of a portfolio of research grants Cure Brain Cancer Foundation will announce over the coming year and are part of a raft of research initiatives designed to quickly improve brain cancer survival.

The Foundation has invested more than $11.8 million in research over the past five years for innovative projects, including trial designs like GBM AGILE, and infrastructure support to encourage greater collaboration between researchers, such as the Brain Cancer Discovery Collaborative.

Applications for the Innovation Grants will open on 5 June and applications for the Early Career Fellowship Grants will open on 19 June. To find our more, visit www.curebraincancer.org.au/page/197/funding-options.