Our Grant Process - American Cancer Society
Our Grant Process - American Cancer Society supports researchers and institutions through cancer studies, training, and pilot projects to advance cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship.
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Funder: American Cancer Society
Due Dates: December 1, 2026 (Winter applications, including ACS Professor Award) | June 1, 2027 (Summer applications, including IRG) | September 1, 2027 (ACS Professor Award LOI)
Funding Amounts: New IRGs: $480,000 over four years; RSGs: up to $215,000 annually plus 10% indirect costs for four years
Summary: ACS supports cancer research, investigator development, and institutional pilot funding across the cancer continuum.
Key Information: This is an overview of multiple grant mechanisms, each with its own eligibility and application requirements.
Description
The American Cancer Society’s Extramural Discovery Science (EDS) Department funds research to help people prevent, detect, treat, and survive cancer. Its portfolio includes investigator-initiated research grants, mentored training awards, institutional block grants, professor awards, and special requests for applications (RFAs). Supported work spans laboratory, clinical, community, and systems research, with particular emphasis on actionable research addressing health equity.
Institutional Research Grants (IRGs) support institutions in providing pilot funding to early-career independent investigators. These projects generate preliminary results to help researchers compete for national funding, alongside mentoring and career development. Other mechanisms support independent research, high-risk exploratory studies, and translation toward human testing. ACS tracks its portfolio across six research categories: etiology, obesity/healthy eating and active living, screening and diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and health equity.
