Rising Tide Foundation Early Career Supportive Care Program

Rising Tide Foundation Early Career Supportive Care Program is sponsored by Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research. Provides initial research funding for early career investigators in supportive care for cancer patients.

Early Career in Supportive Care Program - Rising Tide Foundation Early Career in Supportive Care Program This funding program features five annual calls for proposals from 2025 to 2029. Each year, the program aims to fund up to 2 awards, for a total of up to 10 awards over the five-year period. This initiative aims to foster career advancements in supportive oncology.

Supportive cancer care, defined by Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), is the prevention and management of the adverse effects of cancer and its treatment. This includes palliative oncology and the management of physical and psychological symptoms and side effects.

The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) position paper emphasizes that patients focus not only on overall survival but also on quality of life. Multidisciplinary support is thus required at every stage of cancer care, through the end of life. RTFCCR understands supportive care as non-disease-directed therapies aimed at improving the quality of life and/or quality of care for patients with cancer and their caregivers.

At present, clinical research within this focus area is faced with two challenges: A lack of funding for innovative young researchers in the field. Limited number of high-quality design clinical trials that address disease and treatment burden. Many oncology scientists in the supportive care space lack the experience with funding required for larger grants.

This initiative aims to provide initial research funding, allowing early-career investigators to focus on their research and become competitive for independent investigator awards. This funding program reflects RTFCCR’s commitment to supporting young investigators in supportive care. This Request for Proposals (RFP) is designed to address the needs of patients and the medical community.

It aims to fund evidence-based interventional clinical trials in supportive care, specifically by investigators in their first to third year (at the time of the LOI deadline) of a full-time primary faculty appointment at an academic medical institution. This RFP is open to investigators worldwide. Project proposals should have measurable outcomes during the four-year grant period.

The primary endpoint should be achievable within the funding period; longer follow-up is allowed if externally supported. Secondary outcomes that assess the reach and adoption of supportive care options offered throughout the trial are welcome. All applications must be developed with the active participation of patient partners to ensure that they reflect the needs of cancer patients.

RTFCCR invites proposals on hypothesis-driven interventional clinical trials within supportive care. These trials should aim to improve cancer patients’ quality of life through the prevention and management of the adverse effects of cancer and its treatment. Study outcomes should include well-validated clinical and patient-reported outcomes.

Please specify the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for key endpoints (PROs), power accordingly, and a brief feasibility plan (recruitment, adherence, handling of missing data). Applicants are encouraged to justify primary endpoints in collaboration with patient partners, including their relevance to real-world symptom burden or functional outcomes. Phase I to II clinical trials are encouraged.

Other well-designed studies, such as pragmatic randomized controlled trials (RCTs), cluster RCTs or comparative effectiveness trials, may be considered. Clinical trials focusing on repurposing off-patent compounds are welcome. We also encourage proposals that include geriatric or pediatric populations.

We encourage trials that aim to assess innovative data sources beyond incremental refinements of traditional instruments (e.g., PROMs). Proposals limited to minor adaptations of existing questionnaires without a clear methodological or conceptual advance are discouraged. Please note that only trials focusing on the patient population during active treatment and up to 5 years after completion are eligible for this RFP.

Trials focusing exclusively on long-term survivorship beyond five years post-treatment are outside the scope of this RFP. Moreover, interventions solely focused on dietary or botanical products are not eligible for this RFP. Early career investigators are eligible to apply for this RFP if they fulfill both criteria below: Applicants are in their first to third year as of the LOI deadline.

Applicants beyond year three due to parental leave, caregiving responsibilities, or part-time clinical appointments may be considered on a case-by-case basis and should provide justification in the application. Applicants have a full-time, primary academic appointment with a clinical position worldwide. Applicants need to secure a mentor from their institution who is willing to support them throughout their trial.

Mentors are expected to provide scientific and operational oversight but should not act as project leads or primary drivers of the research. The mentor must provide a letter of support proving a prior working relationship. If the applicant cannot obtain a mentor from their institution, a referral to an external expert may be arranged.

Each award consists of a USD 245,000 four-year research funding grant. The grant can cover the PI’s salary and staff positions. Co-funding is allowed.

Please note that Up to USD 45,000 from the award budget may be allocated to the mentor to cover the time spent on trial oversight. Overhead costs are not allowed within the budget. PI salary and staff positions are allowed within the budget.

RTFCCR will grant up to two awards per year. This funding program will feature five annual calls for proposals from 2025 to 2029. The program aims to fund up to two awards per year, totaling up to ten grants over five years.

The award process consists of two steps, LOI and full application. Only applicants who successfully complete all steps will be eligible for funding.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria: Alignment with the RFP scope and strategic fit with RTFCCR Level of innovation and scientific excellence Patient reach (including addressing potential technical challenges, time to impact, and international adoptability) Experience of applicants and mentors. Proof of established working relationship between the mentor and applicant is encouraged. Step 1.

Letter of Intent (LOI) submission. Applications should be submitted through our online grant management platform SmartSimple . LOIs will be assessed by internal staff and advisory board members to evaluate the strategic fit of each application.

The most promising LOIs will be invited to submit a full application. Step 2. Full application submission.

Within two weeks of the LOI deadline, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application. These applications will be reviewed by a panel of external experts who will assess their scientific merit. Each application will undergo an independent analysis by scientific peer reviewers, patient partners and a biostatistician.

The highest scored applications will be evaluated according to their strategic fit to RTFCCR portfolio. Recommendations made by RTFCCR Advisory Board will then be submitted to the Rising Tide Board of Directors for final funding approval. Only applications submitted through our online grant management platform Smart Simple will be evaluated.

All deadlines listed below are EOD CET. Program edition – 2025/2026: Final funding decision – September 1st, 2026 Program edition – 2026/2027 : Open for submissions from June 19th, 2026. All deadlines listed below are EOD CET.

LOI submission deadline – October 30 th , 2026 Full application deadline – February 28 th , 2027 Final funding decision – August 2027 karolina. werynska@risingtide. ch