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Challenge Grants in Cancer

Canadian Cancer Society

The Challenge Grants program will support cancer research projects across the cancer continuum and across disciplines, with an ultimate goal of solving a problem (i.e., a ‘challenge’) in cancer that is meaningful to people affected by or at risk of cancer. Challenges should align with priorities identified under the CCS Research Goals and applicants must clearly articulate the relevance to people affected by or at risk of cancer.

Funds available

Funding will be provided to support the direct costs of research, including supplies, eligible salaries, and equipment associated with the proposed work. Equipment requests cannot exceed 15% of the requested budget. Indirect costs are not eligible.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

Some of the major CCS funding mechanisms:

Research Training Awards (Master’s, Doctoral, Postdoctoral): support for trainees in cancer-related research in Canadian institutions.

Breakthrough Teams Grants (e.g. for metastatic cancer): large grants for multi-province, multidisciplinary teams including patient partners.

Emerging Scholar Research Grants: for early career scientists (within ~5 years of first independent appointment).

Workplace Cancer Research Grants: for research addressing occupational cancer risks.

Partner Prevention Research Grants: to support prevention / risk reduction research in collaboration with CCS, with the goal of influencing policy and practice.

Challenge Grants: These support cancer research across the continuum (biomedical, clinical, health services, population health etc.) with meaningful engagement of people affected by or at risk of cancer.

Eligibility / Key Requirements

Some formal eligibility / policy features that are often necessary:

Host institution must be a Canadian research institution; PI must have an appointment that allows independent research.

Early-career career stage for many “Emerging Scholar” / “Career Development” style grants; within ~5 years of first independent academic appointment.

Projects must adhere to ethical standards; if using human samples or participants, proper approvals must be in place. Also for biobank / specimen samples, quality standards must be specified.

Budgets: direct research costs, trainees, supplies, minor equipment etc. Indirect costs (overhead) often not allowed. Equipment often limited to some percentage of the total budget.

Inclusion of trainees / mentorship is often expected. Some calls require inclusion of early-career researchers.

Engagement of people affected by cancer / survivors / caregivers / stakeholder involvement in research is increasingly required (especially for prevention, challenge, and team grants).

Predictors of Success: What Past & Public Data Suggest

From past rounds, public program descriptions, and result announcements, here are features that tend to appear among successful CCS grant recipients (i.e. “success predictors”):

Predictor	What It Looks Like in a Strong Application / Candidate
Early Career + Independence	Being within 5 years of independent faculty appointment; having a faculty position that allows you to take PI responsibility; showing some track record already, but poised for growth.
Clear, Focused, Feasible Aims	Proposals that define manageable goals, use appropriate methods, realistic timeline and budget. Not overly ambitious beyond what funding allows.
Team Composition & Multidisciplinarity	For larger grants, having a team across disciplines (clinical + basic science + policy / health services etc.), including across provinces. Including trainees. Including patient / survivor partners / knowledge users.
Engagement / Patient-Centeredness	Demonstrable involvement of people affected by cancer (patients, survivors, caregivers) as partners, not just token mention; involvement in design / dissemination etc. CCS is emphasizing this in many recent calls.
Relevance to CCS Priorities & Potential Impact	Research that is aligned with prevention (risk reduction), workplace cancer risks, health equity, or areas where CCS has declared priorities. Also proposals that could affect policy or practice.
Strong Host Institution / Infrastructure & Mentorship	Being at an institution with capability for the proposed research; having supervisors / mentors; capacity to recruit trainees; access to necessary facilities.
Good Preliminary Data or Rationale	Even for “innovation” or “challenge” grants, showing some groundwork, literature background, preliminary observations helps. Institutions where past funded projects have had such data tend to fare better.
Good Budget Design	Limiting ineligible costs (e.g. overheads), equipment limited, buy-out time / protected time when relevant; realistic cost estimates.
Strong Dissemination & Knowledge Translation	Clear plan for publications, knowledge sharing, possibly policy influence; in prevention grants, plan to disseminate to public health / policy makers.
Multiple Applications / Source Management	Some calls limit one application per PI; ensuring no overlap with other CCS applications. Applicants who manage their applications (knowledge of other funding) tend to avoid conflict or overlap.

Specialties

Cancer

Oncology

Eligibility Requirements

A maximum of one application per Principal Investigator is permitted in this competition (applicants may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators on multiple applications).
The research project must include people affected or at risk of cancer as an integral part of the team and demonstrate their meaningful involvement. The Canadian Cancer Society’s Research Strategy places people at the center of our research endeavours. By embedding affected communities throughout the research continuum, we will identify and achieve desired results sooner. We recognize that different approaches to engagement may be better suited to different types of research. See Guidance on Engagement of People Affected by or at Risk of Cancer below for more information.
Each team is encouraged to include early career researchers, trainees and end-users (such as policy makers, healthcare providers, etc.) as an integral part of research teams.

Research team eligibility

Applications from any pillar of health research (i.e., biomedical; clinical; health services; and social, cultural, environmental and population health), aligning with priorities identified under the CCS Research Goals, are eligible.
Pilot, first-in-human studies, correlative/secondary studies utilizing existing clinical trial infrastructure, and supportive care trials will be eligible for funding. Partial funding for larger trials is not eligible.

Eligible Countries:

Canada

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Canadian Cancer Society

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 55 St. Clair Avenue West, Suite 500 Toronto, ON M4V 2Y7

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