External Deadline: November 2025 Internal Deadline: September 29, 2025
Instructions for electronic submission: To apply for the INSPIRE Research Challenge, please submit the materials requested below to this link no later than September 29, 2025, at 11:59 PM.
Budget: £75,000 for up to 1 year
Number of Applications: 5 applications from WCM (not shared with Ithaca)
Program Description:
The INSPIRE Research Challenge will prioritize innovative, bold and creative proposals with the potential to catalyze rapid and impactful advances in cancer prevention, treatment and survivorship. This grant call is aimed at early career investigators and is open to researchers worldwide.
Eligibility
The Principal Investigator (PI) should be an early career researcher – defined as individuals who are within 2-7 years full-time equivalent working in research since the award date of their PhD or equivalent higher research degree.
Proposed projects must have direct relevance to cancer prevention, treatment or survivorship and may address any or all stages of the cancer journey.
Proposals should address modifiable factors including both lifestyle – such as diet, nutrition, physical activity – and environmental factors – such as pollution/contaminants and pathogens.
Particular priority will be given to novel exposures including stress, sleep and host factors such as immune function.
A PhD student cannot be the PI. However, they can be included on a research grant project, providing that they are a full-time student, spending 100 per cent of their time on the project.
A postdoc can be the PI, as long as they are within the early career researcher timeframe.
There can only be 1 PI and thereby 1 lead institution, but the application may include collaborators or other team members from other institutions.
Application Requirements
WCM is limited to submitting 5 nominees. Due to this limitation an internal selection process will be coordinated. Department Chairs/Division Heads may submit no more than two nominations from their department/division.
Note: Chairs/Division Heads submitting more than one nomination must provide an assessment commenting on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two nominees to researchdean@med.cornell.edu.
Submissions should contain the following information:
- A 30-lines scientific abstract explaining the quantification of the applicant and fit of the project for this funding mechanism.
- A 1- 2-page letter of nomination (from Department Chair/Division Head. If the applicant is a postdoctoral researcher, the letter must be co-signed by the candidate’s advisor) detailing why the candidate should be considered.
- A 2-page research proposal, single-spaced, with one-inch margins and font size no smaller than 12 point. A few notes to guide the preparation:
- Proposed projects must have direct relevance to cancer prevention, treatment or survivorship and may address any or all stages of the cancer journey.
- Proposals should address modifiable factors including lifestyle factors, such as diet, nutrition, physical activity, or environmental factors, such as pollution/contaminants and pathogens. Particular priority will be given to novel exposures including stress, sleep and host factors such as immune function
- A Biosketch, no more than 5 single-spaced pages
Submit the above items in the order listed in one PDF file using this naming convention: PI last name.first initial_INSPIRE2025.pdf (Example: Smith.J_INSPIRE2025.pdf).
Application Deadline: Monday, September 29, at 11:59 pm