Pilot Funding Opportunities

The following pilot funding opportunities are available through the Markey Cancer Center. The list below will be updated when specific due dates for each program become available. Calls for applications and letters of intent are announced two to three months before the application due date. Contact Jennifer Bybee (jennifer.bybee@uky.edu) for more information.

• American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant (ACS IRG) awards
  The next round of funding for 2025 is detailed below.
  • Announcement: January 13, 2025
  • Amount: $40,000 per award
  • Due Dates
    • Application: February 25, 2025
    • Expected Start Date: June 1, 2025
       
• Center for Cancer and Metabolism (CCM) COBRE Pilot Awards 
  This pilot program funds projects focused on cancer or metabolism, and grants awarded through this program should have the potential to generate competitive extramural applications and peer-reviewed publications. The CCM will offer up to four pilot projects this year. 
  • Announcement: December 17, 2024
  • Amount: $50,000 per award
  • Due Dates:
    • Application: February 14, 2025
    • Presentations, by invitation: June 11, 2025
    • Expected Start Date: January 1, 2026
       
• Cancer Center Support Grant Pilot awards
  Full applications are invited from approved letters of intent and are limited to Markey Cancer Center members. One round of funding per year.
  • Announcement: December 11, 2024
  • Amount: $50,000
  • Due Dates:
    • Letters of Intent (LOIs): February 5, 2025
    • Application, by invitation: April 9, 2025
    • Expected Start Date: July 1, 2025
       

• Markey Survivorship Research Initiative Pilot Award
  The Markey Cancer Survivorship Research Initiative (CSRI) pilot opportunity enables researchers to obtain small funding amounts to support competitive extramural grant applications. This pilot initiative is designed to support Markey members in conducting research related to cancer survivorship. Permissible uses of awards made through this program include, but are not limited to, new or expanded data collection and/or analysis, including costs associated with use of a UK core/shared resource; project management; research supplies; and participant compensation to support recruitment or retention efforts that expand a project’s sample size. 

  • Announcement: March 7, 2025
  • Amount: $10,000
  • Key Dates
    • Application: Accepting on a rolling basis until funds have been allocated.
    • Review the full funding announcement.
       

• MCC Community-Engaged  Research Pilot award
  The purpose of this pilot is to encourage mutually beneficial research collaborations between MCC researchers and community stakeholders that respond to cancer-related, community-driven needs/priorities in Kentucky. Project applications should focus on community-engaged research in basic, clinical and/or population science with a cancer-relevant focus (i.e., a focus on one or more of the following: cancer etiology, cancer risk reduction, early detection, treatment, survival, or quality of life for patients with cancer)

  • Announcement: January 13, 2025
  • Amount: $50,000
  • Due Dates
    • Application: April 16, 2025
    • Expected Start Date: July 1, 2025
       
• MCC / Substance Use Priority Research Area (SUPRA)
  The purpose of this collaborative pilot funding award is to provide resources to support innovative and collaborative substance use research from a basic science, pre-clinical, clinical, and/or community research perspective, as it relates to cancer.
  • Announcement: February 2, 2025
  • Amount: $50,000
  • Due Dates
    • Application: March 26, 2025
    • Expected Start Date: July 1, 2025
       
• MCC / UNITE Research Priority Area award
  These projects will be supported jointly by the cancer center and the UNITE Research Priority Area and should focus on projects that will help better understand and prevent cancer, detect cancer early, and/or manage cancer treatment more accurately and effectively among racial/ethnic minority populations.
  • Announcement: Summer 2025
  • Amount: $50,000
  • Due Dates
    • Application: TBA
    • Expected Start Date: TBA