Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award 2025

The Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Foundation announces that it is accepting applications for the 2025 Cancer Research Award. The award consists of financial support amounting to maximally CHF 1'000'000.- over four years for a cancer-related research project. In addition, a personal prize of CHF 50'000.- is awarded to the successful principal investigator. The award and price will be presented to the successful candidate in October 2025 during a public ceremony at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Eligibility criteria: The award of the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Foundation is intended to support an outstanding project by an innovative investigator early in his/her career. The age limit at the time of submission of the proposal is 40 with maternity and public services increasing the age limit according to international standards. Projects in both basic cancer research and clinical research that have a focus on translational work are eligible. The applicant must provide evidence of his professional affiliation and current position as well as of the availability of the infrastructure needed to carry out the proposed project.

Award administration: The award money is provided in four annual installments. The Foundation releases the last three payments conditional upon submission of a yearly progress report. The award money may be used for salaries of project co-investigators or staff, equipment and any other costs related to the project such as overhead costs if applicable. The funds cannot be used to support the salary of the principal investigator. Representatives of the Foundation may visit the research group once during the four-year award period. Under no circumstances can the support be extended beyond four years. The support of the Foundation has to be acknowledged in all publications related to the funded project.

How to apply for the Award

Scientists interested in applying for the Dr. Josef Steiner Award can proceed as follows:

1. Expression of interest: Potential candidates express their interest to submit a proposal by preregistering. These data are evaluated with respect to the eligibility criteria for the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award as defined above.
2. Submission of project outline: Upon positive evaluation of the preregistration, potential candidates receive a direct personal link (within 7 working days) for completing their application and for uploading their project outline. Deadline for submission of the project outline is April 14^th 2024.

Evaluation process

The evaluation of the submitted proposals follows a 2-stage procedure:

1. Submitted project outlines will be pre-evaluated by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Foundation. The applicants of the best four to six submissions will be invited to submit a detailed research project. The successful candidates will be notified about submitting a detailed research project not later than July 1^st, 2024. Deadline for the submission of the detailed research project: September 1^st, 2024.
2. The detailed research projects will be evaluated by the Scientific Advisory Board and external referees. Moreover, the short-listed candidates will be invited for a presentation of their proposal and an interview. The final decision on the successful applicant will be based on the recommendation of the Scientific Advisory Board to the Council of the Foundation. Presentations by the successful candidates and interviews will take place in January 2025 in Bern, Switzerland.

The Prize Winner will be notified by the Foundation not later than January 31st, 2025. The project can be start between March and December 2025.

The Prize will be awarded during an official ceremony at the University of Bern in October 2025.