Jul 20, 2025, 09:24

Data for Children’s and Young People’s Cancer Pilot Award

The Data for Children’s and Young People’s Cancer (D4CYP) Pilot Award provides up to £250 000 over 24 months to develop and test scalable, generalisable data-driven solutions addressing key challenges in paediatric and young adult oncology research.

Eligibility Criteria:

Applicant profile: Early-career to established independent researchers, industry researchers, clinicians, nurses, health professionals or non-clinical researchers based at UK institutions
Team composition: Multi-disciplinary teams encouraged (e.g., biomedicine, engineering, physics, statistics, mathematics, informatics, computer/data sciences)
Cancer expertise: Prior paediatric oncology experience not required, but projects must demonstrate a clear link to children’s and young people’s cancers and data generation/usage

Scientific Remit:

Projects may address challenges such as:

Data generation & integration: Creating or uniting datasets to uncover biological distinctions between paediatric/young adult cancers and adult tumours, identifying druggable targets
Genomic analyses: Data-driven approaches to assess germline mutation penetrance in younger populations
Early detection & relapse prediction: Machine-learning models to predict high-risk patients and account for lead-time bias
Survivorship & quality of life: Linking long-term outcome and treatment data to guide therapies with reduced late effects

Funding Details:

Duration: Up to 24 months
Quantum: Up to £250 000 total, eligible costs include:
- Pilot data generation, consumables and running expenses
- Data cleaning, annotation, curation, linkage and storage
- Networking and travel for collaboration meetings
- Training courses and short visits to partner labs for skill development

How to Apply:

Optional pre-application discussion: Contact CRUK for informal advice on eligibility and scope
Formal submission: Open a Flexi-Grant application, complete online sections and upload required documents (including data sharing/engagement plan)
Review: External Expert Review Panel evaluates proposals and makes recommendations to CRUK’s Scientific Executive Board
Decision: Funding decisions communicated following Board meeting