Upcoming

Breakthrough Science Initiative Awards Program (Ono Initiative)

Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 2

Limiting Language
Each Nominating Institution may nominate up to two (2) applicants in Chemical Biology Research. 

Program Overview
Annually, the Ono Pharma Foundation considers proposals from PIs for research that could ultimately transform human health. Although additional areas of research may be added in future years, the Ono Pharma Foundation is only considering proposals for scientific research addressing Chemical Biology at this time.

Chemical Biology is defined as research that deals with the interface between chemistry and biology. The criteria for this field are deliberately broad so as not to disqualify potentially innovative and groundbreaking projects.

The goals of the Ono Initiative are to:

  • Identify and develop innovative research proposals and results that could lead to the development of breakthrough treatment solutions for patients.
  • Support academic research and the career development of promising young and established scientists.
  • Build strong relationships within the community in order to lead to transformative research aligned with Ono Initiative's interest.

Eligibility:

  • Applicants must meet the following requirements. LOIs and final Proposals from applicants not meeting the requirements listed below will not be considered.
    1. PIs applying must be working at one of the nominating institutions. Nominating institutions might be replaced or added to in subsequent years. For the list of nominating institutions, please see the FAQ.
    2. The PI must have an MD and/or a PhD degree.
    3. The PI must be a new applicant to the Ono Initiative, or, if they are a returning applicant, must be applying for a project different from the one they previously proposed.
    4. The PI must be a young and/or mid-career scientist (15 years or less of experience since starting an independent academic position).
    5. The PI must not have been, nor currently be, engaged in other sponsored research and/or collaborative research with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and/or grant program with Ono Pharma Foundation.
    6. The PI may not apply for funding to amplify current work. However, PIs may research a new idea based on a prior finding of the PI.
    7. The PI must not be a healthcare professional (defined as individuals currently holding an active state license for which they are (a) qualified to prescribe, administer, use or supply any medicinal or medical products or (b) perform any professional clinical services). A PI with an MD but without an active state medical license is still eligible.
    8. PIs serving on a healthcare formulary or similar committee are not eligible.
Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
2/3/2026 (LOI); 5/15/2026 (Full Proposal)
Solicitation Type

Recordings at Risk - Thirteenth Cycle (Feb 2026 Deadline)

Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
Applicant organizations may submit only one application per cycle.

Program Overview
Recordings at Risk is a national regranting program administered by CLIR to support the preservation of rare and unique audio, audiovisual, and other time-based media of public value through digital reformatting. 

Eligible media may include but are not necessarily limited to, magnetic audio and video tape, grooved discs, wax cylinders, wire recordings, and film (with or without sound).

Recordings at Risk encourages professionals who may be constrained by limited resources and/or technical expertise to take action against the threats of degradation and obsolescence. The program aims to help organizations identify priorities and develop practical strategies for digital reformatting, build relationships with partners, and raise awareness of best practices.

Research Category
Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
2/24/2026

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education – Special Projects (FIPSE – SP)

Institutionally Coordinated 

Areas of National Need: 

  1. Advancing the Understanding and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Postsecondary Education
  2. Promoting Civil Discourse on College and University Campuses
  3. Promoting Accreditation Reform
  4. Supporting Capacity-Building for High-Quality Short-Term Programs

Limiting Language 
An eligible entity may submit only one (1) grant application under an area of national need as the lead applicant. An entity can be included as a partner in multiple applications. The eligible entity may apply to all four (4) areas of national need as the lead applicant but must submit a separate grant application for each area of national need.

Program Overview
In order to support these four crucial needs, this competition includes seven absolute priorities under which applicants can apply: two priorities dedicated to advancing the understanding and use of AI in postsecondary education (Absolute Priorities 1 and 2), one priority dedicated to promoting civil discourse on college and university campuses (Absolute Priority 3), two priorities within promoting accreditation reform (Absolute Priorities 4 and 5), and two priorities for capacity-building for high-quality short-term programs (Absolute Priorities 6 and 7). The Department intends to award $50 million to advance AI in Education, $60 million to promote civil discourse on college and university campuses, $7 million to support accreditation reform, and $50 million for high-quality short-term programs. The Department may adjust these estimates based on interest and quality of applications.

Research Category
Funding Type
External Deadline
12/3/2025
Solicitation Type

Mathers Foundation Grant - Spring 2026 Cycle

Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 2

M. Bhattacharya (Neuroscience)

The mission of The G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation is to advance knowledge in the life sciences by sponsoring scientific research that will benefit mankind. The foundation’s grants program seeks to support basic science, ideally with potential translational applications. Immunology, microbiome, genomics, structural biology, cellular physiology, neuroscience, etc., are some noteworthy examples of current research support.

For many years the Foundation has enjoyed special recognition in the research community for supporting “basic” scientific research, realizing that true transformative breakthroughs usually occur after a thorough understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying natural phenomena. More recently, and with the advent of newer investigative methodologies, technology, and tools, the Foundation now embraces innovative translational research proposals.

The grant duration must be three years. The budget should be reasonable based on the aims of the project. Indirect costs may not exceed 10%. Preliminary Budgets are required during the LOI phase. A detailed budget justification is not required until the proposal phase. The Foundation’s grant award is not intended to be utilized for purchasing capital equipment (“bricks-and-mortar”) for the lab and is intended only to support the actual investigation. The Foundation assumes and expects that capital equipment must be provided by the research institution or university.

Application Guidance:

  • Grant budgets cannot exceed $600-750K
  • The Foundation primarily supports basic science, ideally with potential translational applications.
  • Immunology, microbiome, genomics, structural biology, cellular physiology, neuroscience, etc., are some noteworthy examples of current research support.
  • Covid-19-related research projects (aims or sub-aims) will not be considered for support.
  • Medical imaging technology-related projects and/or electrical engineering technology development projects will not be considered for support.
  • Plant Biology Research, Oceanography, Space Exploration. and Global warming-related research will not be considered for support.
  • As technology continues to advance, it is apparent that investigations in the area of basic science and translational research may become more and more reliant on collaborative, interdisciplinary projects. It is important to note that any interdisciplinary project proposals may require additional information regarding the collaborator(s)’ achievements and relevant expertise.
  • Feedback for declined LOI Requests will not be provided; LOIs or Formal Proposals that have been declined should not be resubmitted at a later date for consideration.
  • Renewal applications for the same or related research will not be accorded priority consideration. It is strongly advised that any re-application for grant renewal consider a new direction based on prior research or emphasize some new potential translational aspects and not merely an extension of previously funded research.
  • Requests for funding previously federally supported research and/or applications pending federal approval will not be accorded priority consideration.
  • Requests for support of clinical trials or drug discovery will not be approved. The Foundation will not support projects which we consider pre-clinical drug development.

     
CycleInstitutional Nominations and
Portal Registration
LOI ApplicationInvited Formal Proposals
Spring 2026Jan 30th, 2026
8pm EST
Feb 13th, 2026
8pm EST
Apr 24th, 2026
8pm EST

Please note, while RDS will manage submitting the institutional nomination, it is the responsibility of the selected faculty members to complete the portal registration by the January 30, 2026 at 8pm EST deadline.

Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
1/30/2026 (Deadline for selected faculty to complete portal registrations); 2/12/2026 (LOI); 4/24/2026 (Invited Full Applications)

2026 Mary Kay Ash Foundation (MKAF) Innovative/Translational Cancer Research Grant

Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) is coordinating this limited submission. For more information please contact: UACC-PreAward.

Limiting Language
Each invited institution may submit one application for consideration. Institutions are responsible for conducting an internal selection process to identify their designated applicant. No exceptions will be made.

Program Overview
The Mary Kay Ash Foundation®, a committed funding source for innovative cancer research, invites applications for translational research grants focused on cancers affecting women, including but not limited to breast, cervical, endometrial, ovarian, uterine, and other cancers that predominantly affect women.

Grants will be awarded in the amount of $100,000 total over a two-year period to support projects with strong potential to advance the understanding, prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of cancers affecting women.

Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
2/1/2026
Solicitation Type

2026 V Foundation Adult Translational and All-Star Translational Cancer Research Award

Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 2 // Tickets Available: 2

The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) is coordinating this limited submission. For more information please contact: UACC-PreAward. If you have any question concerning eligibility and details regarding the opportunity, please contact the Grants Team at Grants@v.org.

Limiting Language
The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) can nominate up to two proposals: one Translational nominee and one All-Star Translational nominee (if eligible) for the V Foundation Adult Translational Cancer Research Award 2026.


Purpose of Award:

The UACC is seeking nominations for the Translational Adult Cancer Research Grant which advances basic laboratory discoveries towards clinical use, ultimately improving human health.

This grant is restricted to adult cancer research in the preclinical or translational space, with a focus on bench-to-bedside strategies. Research on ANY adult cancer type is eligible. Applicants may propose cancer research projects that:

  • Move a novel strategy from the laboratory into a human clinical trial, or
  • Use specimens from a clinical trial to test hypotheses, develop biomarkers, or establish mechanisms.

The research must apply in a direct way to human beings within 3 years of the grant’s completion. If biomarker research is undertaken, a validation set or independent clinical trial is essential. Proposals must include a plan for biomarker validation, if applicable. The endpoint of the project should be the planning or initiation of a new clinical trial or conducting an investigator-initiated trial with laboratory correlates that test hypotheses. Research areas not included in this scope are epidemiology, behavioral science, and health services research.

Applicant Eligibility

Nominee must meet all of the following criteria by the nomination due date:

  • Be nominated by their Cancer Center Director or similar high ranking research official.
  • Be employed at a non-profit research institution (e.g., 501c3, Section 170).
  • Be a US Citizen or have a legal permit (temporary or permanent) to work in the US.
  • Hold a full-time faculty appointment at the Assistant Professor or Assistant Professor-equivalent level or above. Non-promotable, adjunct, affiliated, temporary, part-time or acting faculty positions are not eligible for Principal Investigator nomination.
  • Additional criteria for All Star eligibility:
    • Must have previously been awarded a V Foundation research grant as the lead PI and must meet at least ONE of the following criteria by the nomination deadline:
      1. Have a completed V Foundation research grant or
      2. Be in the final year of an active V Foundation grant (received final payment and on track to finish by grant end date).
      • Must have been the lead PI on the V Foundation research grant from start to finish.
      • Must have all financial and progress reports up to date.
      • Must not have a current V Foundation All-Star grant.
      • Must not have only received V Foundation non-research/Mission grant(s).

Funding Information:

A four-year, $800,000 grant, paid in $200,000 annual installments. Indirect costs up to 10% of direct costs allowed. For All Star: the total grant award is $1,000,000 over a five-year period, with annual payments of $200,000.

The V Foundation follows NIH salary cap guidelines. Institutions may supplement a grant recipient’s salary with institutional funds, if desired.

Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
12/5/2025 (Nomination); 1/9/2026 (Application)
Sponsor
Solicitation Type

Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award 2026

Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 3

The University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC) is coordinating this limited submission. For more information please contact: UACC-PreAward.

Limiting Language
Each applicant must be nominated by their institution. Applications will only be accepted from institutions that have been invited to submit them by the Foundation (See list). Three (3) nominations per institution, including its affiliated schools, will be accepted. 

Purpose of Award

  • The Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award supports independent young physician-scientists conducting disease-oriented research that demonstrates a high level of innovation and creativity. The goal is to support the best young physician-scientists doing work aimed at improving the practice of cancer medicine.

    The Clinical Investigator Award responds to three recognized realities:

    • Though there has never been a more pressing need or more promising time for clinical cancer research, fewer young physicians enter this area of investigation every year.
    • The number of institutions committed to training young physicians in the scientific discipline and methodologies of clinical investigation is critically low.
    • The burden of medical school debt (averaging over $100,000) discourages many physicians from pursuing clinical investigation.

    The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s award offers solutions to these realities. The awardee will receive financial support for three years, as well as assistance with certain research costs such as the purchase of equipment. The Foundation will also retire up to $100,000 of any medical school debt still owed by the awardee.

    The Clinical Investigator Award program is specifically intended to provide outstanding young physicians with the resources and training structure essential to becoming successful clinical investigators. The goal is to increase the number of physicians capable of moving seamlessly between the laboratory and the patient’s bedside in search of breakthrough treatments.

Eligibility

  • The applicant must hold an independent Assistant Professor position or equivalent at a U.S. institution and is expected to demonstrate significant support from the home institution through a comprehensive start-up package, ample laboratory space, and protected research time, for example.
  • The applicant must have received an MD, DO, or MD/PhD degree(s) from an accredited institution, completed their subspecialty training and be U.S. Board eligible.
  • The applicant must hold a valid, active U.S. medical license at the time of application.
  • The applicant must apply within the first four (4) years of their Assistant Professor or equivalent full-time faculty appointment (Cut-off date: July 1, 2022). Instructor, Adjunct and/or acting positions are not eligible.
  • Candidates holding or awarded R01s (or R01-equivalent grants such as the DP2 and DP5) at the time of application are not eligible to apply.
  • The applicant must commit to spending 80% of their time conducting research. [In rare unique circumstances, the CIA Committee may consider an applicant with a very modest reduction of 80% protected time if their Department Chair can provide a compelling reason explaining why a waiver of the 80% requirement should be granted, what percentage of effort will be guaranteed, and what safeguards will be put in place to make sure the individual’s research will not be compromised by their clinical/administrative activities.]
  • The applicant is required to apply in conjunction with a Mentor who is established in the field of clinical translational cancer research, cancer prevention and/or epidemiology and can provide the critical guidance needed during the period of the award. No more than two Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators will be funded to work with the same Mentor at any given time (including Co-Mentors).
  • Candidates may apply up to two times during this eligibility period.
  • Only one application will be accepted from a Mentor per review session (including Co-Mentors).
Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
1/20/2025

FFAR 2026 New Innovator in Food and Agriculture Research Award

Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Deadline note: This selection process is running with an anticipated deadline. We will inform all applicants of relevant updates in the guidelines, submission deadlines, and eligibility as soon as more information becomes available.

Limiting Language
Institutions may submit one nominee to the New Innovator Award program.

Eligibility 

  • From the 2025 cycle, subject to change in new RFA release: The nominated faculty member must have been hired on or after August 1, 2021, for a tenure-track or equivalent position and may work in any discipline or any department within the institution.
  • Preference will be given to individuals near the onset of their independent research career and who are within eight (8) years of receiving a Ph.D. or equivalent degree.
  • This research concept must directly benefit U.S. agricultural interests.
  • Individuals with significant research experience prior to obtaining their faculty position will not be considered for this award. For the purpose of this funding opportunity, significant research experience is defined as a nominee that has been awarded a substantial research grant (three to five years of support) or has received project funding totaling over $1M within the time of their tenure position or has been awarded similar career development awards with similar budgetary scope.

Research must align with one of the following priority areas:

  • Cultivating thriving production systems
  • Sustaining vibrant agroecosystems
  • Bolstering healthy food systems
  • Strengthening the scientific workforce 
Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
2/19/2026 (Anticipated)

Mellon Foundation - Higher Learning 2026 Open Call for Concepts

Internal Competition Undergoing Peer Review // Limit: 3 // Tickets Available: 0

Limiting Language:
Each institution may submit no more than three applications to Mellon for consideration. 

Eligibility
The Principal Investigator (PI), or applicant, must be a faculty member and/or dean in a program or department in the humanities or humanistic social sciences at the applicant institution. The PI may also be the institution’s provost/chief academic officer. Applications that do not include a CV for the PI will be disqualified from consideration. 

Overview
Full sponsor guidelines are linked here.

In the interest of maintaining a grantmaking portfolio that supports inquiry into issues of vital social, cultural, and historical import, the Higher Learning program at the Mellon Foundation invites eligible institutions of higher education to submit ideas for research and/or curricular projects focused on either of the two areas listed below. Projects should engage teams of scholars and/or students, and have visible, enduring impact at the institution. The two topical areas for the call are:

• Unruly Intelligences
• Normalization and Its Discontents

The Mellon Higher Learning team will review all eligible submissions and invite a small number of the most promising concepts to be developed into full proposals for potential grant funding. In consideration of the anticipated volume of concept submissions, we are unable to provide feedback on preliminary concepts.

Research Category
Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
12/1/2025 (registration forms due); 2/17/2026 (full application)
Solicitation Type

Angel Charities For Children Impact Grant 2026

No Applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1

Limiting Language
The University of Arizona may submit one LOI.

Overview
Angel Charity for Children, Inc. is accepting Impact Grant requests in 2026 for $100,000 to $900,000.

Applicants must serve children aged 18 and under in Pima County.

The agency must be a tax-exempt organization as determined by the IRS, having held this status for a
minimum of three years.

We fund Impact Grants that directly benefit children in Pima County for:
a) Purchase of Real Estate and Possible Construction
b) Construction on Currently Owned Real Estate Property
c) Retirement of Mortgage
d) Purchase Equipment/Personal Property/Asset
e) Program Expenses
f) Combination of Above

An agency may not apply this year if it was chosen as a beneficiary last year. Private “operating”
foundations are eligible to apply, but private foundations are not.

Grant requests must benefit a majority (51% or more) of children within Pima County to be considered. A variety of children’s needs are considered for funding regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual preference or national origin. 

For a list of past beneficiaries, including types of requests and amounts funded, please refer to the Angel Charity website www.AngelCharity.org, click “What We Do”, then “History of Giving".

Research Category
Funding Type
Internal Deadline
External Deadline
11/10/2026 (LOI), 1/8/2026 (Full Application)
Solicitation Type