Soft Tissue Sarcoma Diagnosis Fund

This funding round aims to fund scientific and clinical research projects which ultimately aim to drive positive change in how soft tissue sarcomas are detected and diagnosed. Proposals must have a clear and considered line of sight towards improving the diagnosis for sarcoma.

Applicants must also clearly outline how this funding will pave the way towards securing larger-scale funding, setting out a plan to take this forward.

Projects eligible for this funding stream must be relevant to soft tissue sarcomas.

Based on the outcome of scoping calls and the joint meeting, applications that address the following questions are encouraged:

• How could sarcoma be diagnosed more quickly or more accurately using biomarkers?
• How could people at an increased risk of having sarcoma be identified, stratified and/or monitored?
• How could health systems be optimised to improve sarcoma diagnosis?
• How could data, technology and artificial intelligence be utilised to improve the diagnosis of sarcoma?

However, the areas listed here are not exhaustive. We are able to consider a broad range of applications which aim to ultimately deliver early, faster and more accurate diagnosis for sarcoma, and these may cover a number of research areas from a range of scientific disciplines. All proposals must have a clear and considered line of sight towards early diagnosis for sarcoma patients and this will be considered as part of the assessment process.

Out of scope

Areas of research that will be considered out of scope for this funding call include:

• Research focussing on detecting late-stage disease/metastasis in someone who has already been diagnosed with sarcoma and monitoring response to treatment, relapse or recurrence of sarcoma. This funding call is to improve the primary/initial diagnosis of sarcoma. Your proposal may however be suitable for other funding schemes offered by either charity.
• Proposals which focus on population-level screening. However,
  proposals which focus on screening possible high-risk groups are in scope for funding.
• Proposals with no clear line of sight to patient benefit or impact or clinical implementation. Applicants will be asked to justify this in their proposal.
• Policy-focussed initiatives or behavioural interventions to improve sarcoma diagnosis without a clear hypothesis.

If you have further questions as to whether your application is in scope for this funding call, please contact research@sarcoma.org.uk or research@bcrt.org.uk.

In recognition that the Improving Sarcoma Diagnosis Funding Call run in collaboration with
the Bone Cancer Research Trust is only open for applications of relevance to bone
sarcomas, Sarcoma UK is making additional funds available to support proposals focussed
on soft tissue sarcomas. The total budget available for this Soft Tissue Sarcoma Diagnosis
Fund is £50,000.

• Projects must be relevant to at least one subtype of soft tissue sarcomas to be
  in scope.
• Project proposals must be innovative pilot projects to support small pieces of follow-on research to complete a project up to a maximum value of £50,000.
• Projects funded via this funding stream will be awarded and managed by Sarcoma UK.

If you would like to apply for a grant larger than £50,000, please refer to the documentation for the wider Improving Sarcoma Diagnosis Funding Call as your application may be eligible for this stream.

Call opens: February 2024

Deadline for submissions: Applications must be submitted to research@sarcoma.org.ukby 12pm midday (BST) Thursday 20^th June 2024. Applications received after this deadline will not be accepted.

Applications will undergo a light touch triage process by both charities’ Research Teams and Grant Review Panel Chair to ensure they are in scope for the call.

Applicant response to peer and lay review: October 2024

Applicants informed of outcome: December 2024

Applications should be sent to research@sarcoma.org.uk by no later than midday (BST) on Thursday 20th June 2024. Application forms can be downloaded below.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the call guidance document prior to applying.

Soft Tissue Sarcoma Diagnosis Fund – Application Form

Soft Tissue Sarcoma Diagnosis Fund – Guidance for Applicants

• The host institution for the project must be a UK-based higher education institution, research institute or within the NHS.
• The principal investigator of the work must have a contract of employment within the host institution for the duration of the grant prior to application.
• The principal investigator must hold a permanent, salaried post at the host institution.
• The host institution will be responsible for the entirety of the award, including all administration, liaison with third parties and ensuring compliance with conditions of award by other institutions where appropriate.

Multi-institutional and collaborative applications are strongly encouraged; collaborators may be based outside the UK. The contribution of co-applicants and collaborators to relevant work packages must be clearly outlined in the application.

• The principal investigator (PI) should be able to demonstrate evidence of a strong research record, with experience to drive and lead a research project which addresses your proposed research questions. Demonstrable evidence could include publications, successful grant applications and an ability to lead teams.
• Applications from researchers outside the immediate field of sarcoma are welcome but are strongly encouraged to involve the expertise of investigators with a background or expertise in sarcoma biology and/or sarcoma clinical management.
• The PI is responsible for the intellectual leadership of the research project and must be actively engaged in the overall management of the research.
• Where the PI is on a fixed-term contract, their contract must extend at least one year beyond the lifetime of the project, or the host institution must demonstrate that it intends to award a permanent position at the end of the fixed term. In addition, a co-applicant with a permanent post at the host institution should be listed on the application.
• Please note that salary costs for tenured Principal Investigators or Co-Investigators may not be requested. Salary costs for non-tenured Co-Investigators are accepted.