ACED Funding Awards

ACED Skills Exchange and Development Travel Awards

These awards enable ACED researchers and PhD students to visit another ACED Member Centre(s) for knowledge exchange to learn or impart a key skill or technique, and to sow the seeds of future collaborations. Funding up to £25,000 GBP or total equivalent ($30,000 USD / €30,000 EUR) is available to cover a visit of up to 3 months to include travel, accommodation, applicable university and visa fees and necessary research expenses. This includes a maximum request from any one Member Centre of up to £10,000 or equivalent. Salary costs are not covered by this award. 

Applications will be accepted from Alliance researchers regardless of career stage including PhD students. Applications for PhD students must be made on their behalf by their principal PhD Supervisor / Advisor.

Applicants must be a researcher at an ACED Member Centre. It is the applicant’s responsibility to approach a potential Alliance Member Centre to identify and secure suitable learning and development opportunities.

Applicants are advised to read the guidelines below in the first instance. Applications will be considered in any research area(s) with a focus on early detection of primary cancer.

Applications must be submitted via FlexiGrant®. Please contact ACED@cancer.org.uk to request an application form.

Applications must be approved and submitted by the deadline of Friday 19th December.

Early Career Pathway Awards

These awards support outstanding postdoctoral researchers who are building independent careers in cancer early detection research. The awards fund innovative, collaborative projects while providing mentorship, multidisciplinary training, and opportunities to generate preliminary data for future fellowship applications. Alongside delivering high-quality research, the programme places a strong emphasis on career development, helping recipients establish themselves as independent researchers in the field.  

Funding up to £210,000 GBP can be used to fund the Applicant’s salary (commensurate with current career stage at the host ACED Member Centre) research costs, training and travel expenses (along with appropriate justifications) for 24 months.  

Deadline for Expression of Interest is Friday 14th August 2026.  
Following submission of this Expression of Interest form, interested candidates will be sent details to access the full application form to be submitted using Flexigrant.  
Deadline for submission of full applications is Thursday 8th October 2026.  

For more information, please refer to the Applicant guideline below.

ACED UCL Centre Conference Travel Fund

Limited funding is available to support UCL research staff and students to attend scientific conferences to present their research, for example, but not limited to the Early Detection of Cancer Conference.

Funding for conference registration fees, travel and accommodation is available.

Applications will only be considered to present research on the early detection of primary cancer. Applicants are also advised to also seek additional support, where possible, to supplement the resources available through this fund.

Requests for support to attend the annual ACED Early Detection Summer School are also eligible from this fund.

Applying for the fund

• Applications to the fund are now closed and will reopen in 2026.
• For each funding scheme, please read the relevant guidelines in the first instance. Applications should align with the ACED strategy on early detection research for primary cancer.
• All Pilot and Project Award applications must involve collaboration between at least two different ACED Centres
• All applicants must be UCL ACED members. Please contact Dan Kelberman (d.kelberman@ucl.ac.uk) if you or a member of your research team wish to be added to the members list.

ACED Funding Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement of funding source

All communication materials about the funded project including, but not limited to media releases, newsletters, publications, websites, brochures, social media, video and radio should include an acknowledgement that funding for the project is provided by ACED.

Presentations or publications

 If giving a presentation or submitting a publication, please include the following acknowledgement:

This work was supported by the International Alliance for Cancer Early Detection, an alliance between Cancer Research UK [C ref. /A ref.], Canary Center at Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, University College London and the University of Manchester.

(UK researchers will find the [C ref./A ref.] on their Grant Award letter).

ACED Name and Logo Usage

The Alliance should be referred to on first reference as the Alliance for Cancer Early Detection. After first reference, the Alliance should be referred to as either “the Alliance” or “ACED”. ACED and its member centre logos may not be used without permission. Appropriate logos will be made available upon request via Dan Kelberman (d.kelberman@ucl.ac.uk).