Biology to Prevention Award

Biology to Prevention Award — B

Supports mechanistic prevention research in the United Kingdom with early career fellowships for practical development.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

Cancer Research UK's Biology to Prevention Award supports research projects that harness biological and mechanistic insights to identify new targets and approaches for primary cancer prevention. The scheme is distinct from epidemiological prevention research: funded work must be grounded in biological mechanisms, whether through chemoprevention, molecular pathways, or environmentally and behaviourally grounded interventions with a strong mechanistic rationale. Awards are flexible at approximately £100,000 to £600,000 over up to five years and cover staffing, running costs, and equipment. International and commercial co-investigators are permitted, and CRUK institute-based investigators — unlike under the Discovery Programme Award — are eligible to apply as lead or co-applicant.

The scheme is open to all career stages, and early-career researchers are explicitly encouraged to apply as lead or joint lead, provided they pair with at least one established researcher who serves as a co-applicant providing mentorship. Applicants must hold a post at a UK university, medical school, hospital, or research institute and are normally expected to be fully funded by their host institution for the award duration. Two sibling instruments within the Prevention and Population portfolio are also active for 2026: a Prevention and Population Programme Award (up to £2.5m over five years, deadline 15 July 2026) and a Prevention and Population Project Award (flexible, up to £500,000 over three years, deadline 18 June 2026). The Biology to Prevention deadline for 2026 Cycle B is 18 June 2026.

This is a closed round: applicants must contact pprc@cancer.org.uk before preparing a submission. Applications are submitted via Flexi-Grant. Proposals that clearly connect a specific biological mechanism to a testable prevention hypothesis — and that explain why the science requires prevention-focused rather than therapeutic funding — are best positioned. Teams bridging molecular biology, pharmacology, or environmental epidemiology with a credible path to a preventable intervention are the primary target audience for this scheme.