Early Detection and Diagnosis Primer Award
Early Detection and Diagnosis Primer Award supports researchers with high-risk pilot studies, collaborations and training to lay the groundwork for wider research advancing cancer detection and diagnosis.
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Funder: Cancer Research UK
Due Dates: September 17, 2026 (Application deadline) | March 11, 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: Up to £100,000 for up to 12 months
Summary: Supports pioneering, high-risk pilot research, collaborations and researcher development advancing cancer early detection and diagnosis.
Key Information: Lead applicants must be based at a UK university, medical school, hospital or research institution.
Description
Cancer Research UK’s Early Detection and Diagnosis Primer Award supports novel research ideas and pilot studies of high scientific risk. It also supports new collaborations, consortia and researcher development that bring skills into the early detection field. Projects should generate data or partnerships that provide a foundation for more extensive research, with a clear path towards clinical or population impact.
Supported areas include markers and tests, detection technologies, high-risk groups, health systems and economics, computational approaches, appropriate preclinical models, and public or clinician behaviour. Training, lab exchanges and knowledge sharing are also supported. A spotlight call encourages novel approaches to reduce known inequalities in cancer detection and diagnosis, or investigate less understood mechanisms driving them.
