Early Career Sarcoma Research Fund

Small grants of up to £75,000 are available, for a maximum of 2 years.

Funding is provided to cover salary, consumables and other running costs such as equipment and travel.

The PI may include a request for their own salary support proportionate to the amount of time spent on the grant provided that they are working on the project, the project would not go ahead if their salary was not covered, and that their salary is not already covered by another source for the same period.

A letter of support will be required from the host institution and a tenured Co-Investigator must be on the application (please refer to the Guidance for Applicants for further details).

Call opens: April 2025

Deadline for submissions: 12pm (midday, BST) Thursday 17th July 2025

Applications received after this deadline will not be accepted. Applications will undergo a light touch triage process by Sarcoma UK’s Research Team to ensure they are in scope for the call.

Applicants informed of outcome: December 2025

Please get in touch with Sarcoma UK’s research team at research@sarcoma.org.uk to request an application pack or with any questions.

Applications must be submitted to research@sarcoma.org.uk by the deadline advertised; late applications will not be accepted.

• The host institution for the project must be a UK-based higher education institution, research institute or within the NHS.
• 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.
• Work on the project may take place at other institutions, which may be outside of the UK, but the host institution is responsible for any sub-contracting and payment of funds to other organisations.
• Sarcoma UK encourages collaborative applications. 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.

• This funding call is open to early and mid-career researchers, defined as researchers with less than 10 years of postdoctoral research experience.
  • Early career researchers are defined as having recently completed a PhD, but have not begun to transition towards research independence.
  • Mid-career researchers are defined as those with extensive postdoctoral research experience and are in the process of transitioning towards research independence.
• This funding call is intended to support those looking to gain experience of leading research grants and ultimately transition towards research independence. Applicants with established independence, such as those who have already secured significant research funds or established their own research group, are not eligible to apply through this call as the PI. However, applicants who have held an Early Career Fellowship may still be eligible.
• The PI is responsible for the intellectual leadership of the research project and must be actively engaged in the overall management of the research. The PI should be able to demonstrate some research experience, contributions and outputs. With appropriate support from a co-investigator, the PI must be able to drive and lead a research project which addresses the proposed research questions.
• The PI’s salary may be requested for funding where it is required for the project to take place. The PI must be based at the host institution for the grant and the host institution will be required to confirm that the PI’s salary is not covered for the same duration or proportion of time by other sources of funding if this is requested.
• Applications from joint PIs are not accepted and one application will be accepted per applicant.

• The lead applicant should identify a lead co-investigator with a tenured contract of employment at the host organisation. The lead co-investigator should be able to demonstrate evidence of a strong research record, and a track record of leading teams. The lead-coinvestigator should provide support and mentorship to the PI in their overall leadership of the project as well as the facilities required.
• Co-investigator(s) are expected to assist the PI in the management and leadership of the work and to contribute to the extent outlined in the application.
• Salary costs for co-investigators may not be requested.

For submissions of proposals across any Sarcoma UK grant rounds, we allow only one resubmission of a previously unsuccessful proposal, unless you have been explicitly invited to resubmit for a second time.

For all resubmissions, we require a full explanation of the revisions (additions, deletions and modifications) made to the proposal from its previous iteration, and responding to any concerns raised by reviewers or the Grant Review Panel. Please include this explanation as a maximum of 2 pages of A4 attached prior to your application form.

Resubmissions will be checked as part of our triaging process; applications which do not meet the above requirements will not be accepted.

Applications which are out of scope include those:

• Where there is no line of sight to impact on the PI’s career development and for people affected by sarcoma
• Where the primary intent of the grant is for purchase of equipment
• Where the primary intent of the grant is to cover extensions to existing projects or to research delayed by difficulties.
• From commercial organisations
• Where the application has been submitted to any of Sarcoma UK’s funding calls on more than one previous occasion unless explicitly invited (see below for further details on resubmission requirements).