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Think Forward Foundation Career Development Award

Think Forward Foundation

Grant Amount$300,000 USD

Grant Term3 Years

Start of Grant TermJuly 1, 2026

Letter of Intent DeadlineDecember 18, 2025 1:00 PM (ET)

Letter of Intent Notification DateFebruary 2026

Application DeadlineApril 7, 2026 1:00 PM (ET)

Decision DateJune 2026

Additional InformationAdditional details regarding this grant can be found in the Program Guidelines and Competitive Letter of Intent Instructions. Final determinations of eligibility will not be completed until the AACR is in receipt of the submitted Competitive Letter of Intent.

Description

The Think Forward Foundation and AACR are proud to announce the AACR-Think Forward Foundation Career Development Award This grant mechanism seeks to support early-career researchers to pursue impactful research focused on advancing precision medicine in breast cancer treatment.

Each grant provides $300,000 over 3 years for expenses related to the research project. Grant funds may be used for research expenses attributable to the project, which may include supplemental salary support, equipment, research/laboratory supplies, and other research expenses.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

✅ 1. Behavioral economics framing

Strong proposals explicitly incorporate:

cognitive biases

heuristics

decision architecture

nudges

choice overload

Purely descriptive financial analysis underperforms.

✅ 2. Real-world financial behavior outcomes

Awardees typically target:

savings rates

debt reduction

spending self-control

credit behavior

retirement planning

financial stress

Hypothetical behavior is less compelling than observable metrics.

✅ 3. Clear societal well-being impact

Projects that reduce:

financial anxiety

inequality in financial literacy

debt spirals

predatory lending consequences

Human impact is a recurring meta-predictor.

✅ 4. Use of large-scale / real-world data

High-scoring proposals often leverage:

banking transaction data

mobile app financial logs

longitudinal panel surveys

real-time behavioral analytics

Synthetic or small pilot datasets score lower unless the scaling path is clear.

✅ 5. Intervention, not just observation

Awardees typically:

change incentives

add friction (to bad decisions)

remove friction (to good ones)

leverage reminders/commitment devices

Purely descriptive models lose points.

✅ 6. Digital delivery platforms

There is consistent success around:

mobile apps

fintech tools

automated nudges

algorithmic personalization

If it’s scalable through technology, reviewers lean favorable.

✅ 7. Vulnerable population focus

Successful themes include:

low-income consumers

young adults

financially stressed families

gig-economy workers

Equity framing adds weight.

✅ 8. Experimental rigor

Repeated features:

randomized controlled trials (A/B testing)

pre-registration

causal inference

effect size interpretation

Exploratory-only studies rank lower.

✅ 9. Interdisciplinary composition

Consistently funded teams combine:

behavioral science

data science

design thinking

economics

fintech engineering

Single-discipline submissions underperform.

✅ 10. Scalability story

Awardees articulate:

low marginal cost per user

deployment through partner banks

digital channels

regulatory compatibility

“Proof-of-concept that can’t scale” is a known reviewer complaint.

🔍 Emerging Trends in Funded Topics

Recent cycles show increasing emphasis on:

algorithmic financial guidance

personal finance nudges

financial resilience to shocks

regret-based choice architecture

behavioral measurement via smartphones

📉 Common Reviewer Critiques (predictors of rejection)

✘ proposal is too academic and not deployable
✘ endpoints are subjective without quantification
✘ small sample without power justification
✘ “financial literacy” training without behavior change
✘ no plan for stakeholder adoption
✘ unclear ethical framing for nudges

🧠 Narrative devices that perform well

Funded proposals often:

define the behavioral bottleneck precisely,

explain the mechanism (bias, heuristic),

propose a low-friction intervention, and

specify measurable behavior change.

The mechanism-→intervention-→impact chain matters.

💡 Methodological patterns among awardees

Successful approaches include:

commitment devices

just-in-time reminders

temporal discounting reframing

loss-framing

goal-tracking gamification

default options

Merely educating people almost never wins.

👥 Stakeholder integration

Reviewers value:

partnerships with banks/fintech

access to real customers

implementation pathways

ethical review on nudging boundaries

Letters of support boost credibility significantly.

🧬 Investigator profile indicators

Awardees often show:

behavioral experiment experience

machine learning analytics capability

policy connection or industry partner

prior financial well-being research

Track record matters, even modestly.

🎯 Winning Aim Structure (observed meta-pattern)

Aim 1 — Identify behavioral friction or bias
Aim 2 — Design and deploy digital intervention/nudge
Aim 3 — Evaluate real-world outcomes (savings, debt, stress)

Two tightly linked aims outperform sprawling ones.

🧵 Soft cultural rules

TFF likes:

humane, empathetic framing

autonomy-respecting nudges

ethical transparency

measurable consumer benefit

Overly paternalistic tones review poorly.

🧱 Condensed Success Fingerprint

A competitive Think Forward Foundation proposal is:

✅ behavior-mechanism-driven
✅ digital & scalable
✅ real-world data-anchored
✅ impactful on vulnerable consumers
✅ experimentally rigorous
✅ interdisciplinary
✅ ethically articulated

Specialties

Cancer

Eligibility Requirements

At the start of the grant term (July 1, 2026), applicants must:

Hold a faculty position with the title of assistant professor, instructor, research assistant professor, or the equivalent.
- If eligibility is based on a future position, the position must be confirmed at the time of submission and CANNOT be contingent upon receiving this grant.
- If the future position is at a different institution than the applicant’s current institution, the applicant must contact AACR’s Research and Grants Administration Department (AACR’s RGA) at grants@aacr.org before submitting their Letter of Intent for information on additional verification materials/signatures that may be required.
Have started their first independent faculty position within the past 6 years from the grant start date (i.e. cannot have held an independent faculty position before July 1, 2020).
Have independent laboratory space as confirmed by their institution.
Work at an academic, medical, or research institution anywhere in the world.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Think Forward Foundation

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 615 Chestnut St., 17th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404 USA Telephone: 215-440-9300 Email: aacr@aacr.org

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