Breaking Barriers in Cancer Research Award

Sponsor

V Foundation

Sponsor deadline: Monday, February 9, 2026

Internal deadline: Friday, January 16, 2026

Award Details

*For 2025-26, V Foundation has ended their Women in Science Award and replaced it with a broader Breaking Barriers award. Unique to this grant from V Foundation is the requirement for candidates to describe how their "personal journeys, shaped by their unique experiences and perspectives, bring valuable and often overlooked insights to cancer research."

The Breaking Barriers Award has two grant streams, but UBC is invited to nominate a single (1) candidate for this award. As such, candidates are required to indicate their preferred stream – V Scholar (Early Career) or Translational.

Translational grants are expected to move a novel strategy from the laboratory into a human clinical trial or uses specimens from a clinical trial to develop biomarkers or mechanisms. Typically, the grants end with a biomarker validation study or clinical trial, and the sponsor expects that the work will have human impact within 7 years (3 years post-grant). V Scholar grants are intended to accelerate a promising career and position the candidate to be competitive for R01 and CIHR Project grants toward the end of the grant. 

Eligibility Requirements:

*Research areas not included this scope for any grant type are epidemiology, behavioural science, and health services research.

Award Support: 800k / 4 years (USD). Up to 10% indirect costs. For 2025-26, the early career V Scholar grant has increased its support to match the Translational grant so the support is the same regardless of the grant stream. 

Timeline:

• UBC internal selection deadline: January 16, 2026 (5pm)
• Sponsor nomination deadline: February 9, 2026 (2pm)
• Full application deadline: TBD - expected date is March 9. 

Interested candidates should submit the following items by the internal selection deadline of January 16 to kevin.mccartney@ubc.ca:

Internal Nomination Components:

1. Identify intended program: V Scholar or Translational
2. UBC CV
3. Draft recommendation letter (3 pages max), with confirmation that this has been vetted by your Department Head, addressing:

• Why you should be selected
• Institutional resources that will be available to you
• Overview of the mentoring plan that will be available to you (V Scholar only)
• If the nature of the research is bench to bedside with patient contact, describe how patient advocacy/communication will be or has been incorporated into your training
• If the nature of the research is basic and/or translational science, describe how science communication with diverse audiences will be or has been incorporated into your training

4. Summary of research proposal (1 page max)
5. Narrative describing how the candidate's unique experiences have influenced their career path and research focus (~150 words)
6. For V Scholar Only: A Financial worksheet to ensure eligibility (available on the V website and from ORPA)

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At the full application stage, projects will required a bioinformatics plan. From the sponsor:

Grants with highly favorable scores:
• Propose a project that can fundamentally change our understanding of cancer or change clinical practice
• Address a significant unmet clinical need
• Show innovation by working in novel areas, bringing new approaches, and using state of the art techniques
• Use approaches that are logical, feasible, and can be carried out in the award period
• Propose strong biostatistical analyses and have biostatistical expertise on the team

V Scholar evaluation emphasizes: 
• Leadership potential- future of cancer research
• Research potential- leverage for larger/R01 funding
 

Translational evaluation emphasizes: 
• Potential impact of research to drive to clinical trial within 3 years from end of project 

In addition, Barrier Breaker is looking for:

• Unique personal journey and impact on research perspective