Apply for funding to be hosted at NCI for six to 12 months to develop international collaborations and gain skills to underpin the next phase of your cancer research career.

You must:

• be an early or mid-career cancer researcher, or looking to apply relevant skills and expertise within cancer research
• be looking to establish yourself or transition to independence in your field
• focus your research on any area within MRC’s or NIHR’s remit, or both

NCI is the largest of NIH’s 27 institutes and centres, and it consists of more than 300 laboratories and research groups.

NCI is located on the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and in the surrounding area of Rockville and Frederick, Maryland.

Eligible US research groups are directly funded by the NCI at the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) or the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG). For more information about eligible NCI research groups, please see:

• research areas at NCI’s CCR
• fields of study at NCI’s DCEG

Collaborations

Your application should support the establishment of new collaborations, or the substantial development of existing collaborations, with researchers at NCI.

We welcome you to approach potential NCI hosts directly if you have existing contacts, or are clear on who you wish to approach.

Matchmaking

If you are unsure which research groups may be best suited to your interests, support and ‘match making’ can be facilitated by contacting NCI central contacts.

An email inquiry should be sent to both Erika Ginsburg (ginsbure@mail.nih.gov) and Jackie Lavigne (lavignej@nih.gov) and include the following information:

• up to three sentences describing your scientific focus area or areas
• CV

If you require matchmaking support, you should get in touch as early as possible and no later than 7 June 2024.

Once matching with a research group has been undertaken by NCI, you will be informed via email of the proposed research group and provided with their contact details.

Working with NCI hosts

You are required to work with your prospective NCI host to develop your application, discussing the opportunities and activities that will be on offer.

As part of the application, the NCI host is required to provide a letter of support, which you will upload as part of your application (see ‘Statement of support’).

Remit

Your application can focus on any area of cancer research within MRC’s or NIHR’s remit, or both, across biomedical and health research. For example, discovery and basic disease biology, through to translational, clinical and applied cancer research.

Find out about MRC’s strategy, remit and programmes.

Find out about NIHR’s academy remit for personal awards.

We are particularly keen to see applications that develop skills and experience in the following areas that align with priority opportunities identified during the UK-US Cancer Summit:

• data science and artificial intelligence
• health equity
• molecular and other mechanisms of cancer prevention
• trial methodology including innovative clinical trial design and delivery

In your application, you must clearly demonstrate:

• how this proposal aligns with your existing skills and experiences
• what training, skills and experiences will be gained through the proposal including new or developed collaborations
• how this award will support and enable your long-term career goals in cancer research

Award length

These awards are to fund visits to the US across a six to 12-month period with the format of these visits being flexible. For example, you may choose to visit once for an extended duration or make several shorter visits.

You have MRC’s and NIHR’s support if you wish to combine this award with caring or family responsibilities. Appropriate costs to support this can be included within the application.

You must spend substantial time within the duration of the award visiting eligible research group or groups at NCI CCR or DCEG, or both.

The time spent overseas must accommodate the specific training and skills development aims of each application and your individual circumstances.

While virtual interactions will support ongoing development and skills over the duration of the award, we expect you to take advantage of and prioritise the opportunity for in-person visits.

In your application, you must clearly justify:

• the proportion and pattern of time spent overseas and in the UK
• how this will support and enable skills development, knowledge transfer and building or enhancing collaborations

Funding support

Full economic costs are not covered by this award. All costs will be supported at 100%.

Awards will provide funding for:

• the salary of the grant holder for between six to 12 months (up to 100% full time equivalent), including:
  • travel, accommodation and subsistence costs associated with visits to the NCI host in the US
  • both personal and family relocation costs
  • visa costs and health insurance
  • subsistence costs to reflect the increase in cost of living can be requested. NIHR reserves the right to review and adjust these costs to ensure fair and justified support for all applicants
• training and development costs of up to £5,000
• conference costs of up to £2,000
• research costs and consumables, including:
  • NCI partner research groups will support standard consumables, but where substantial or additional research costs are required for the proposed research and skills development, costs may be requested where justified
  • funding for clinical trials will be ineligible, but costs for collecting pilot data, add-on research linked to established trials or trial methodology and conducting preliminary work to support future research funding applications can be included

Host organisation commitment

Both the UK host (applicant employer) and NCI host (organisation being visited) should provide applicant-specific letters of support. Letters should outline appropriate commitment to supporting skills development, training needs and long-term career goals.

UK host (applicant employer) commitment includes:

• support that will be provided by the UK host organisation to enable development and progression of the applicant’s research career
• how the UK host organisation will liaise with the US host organisation to ensure appropriate support is in place, including arrangements for pastoral care
• the names of a senior academic or academics who have supported you during the development of your application and who will continue to do so
• evidence of the host organisation’s commitment to creating and maintaining an inclusive and supportive research culture, including evidence of commitment to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion, and research integrity

NCI host (organisation being visited) commitment includes:

• additional details on in-kind commitment including access to space or equipment
• support that will be provided by the NCI host organisation to enable development and progression of the applicant’s research career
• how the US host organisation will liaise with the UK host organisation to ensure appropriate support is in place, including arrangements for pastoral care
• the names of a senior academic or academics who have supported you during the development of your application and who will continue to do so
• evidence of the US host organisation’s commitment to creating and maintaining an inclusive and supportive research culture, including evidence of commitment to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion, and research integrity