V Scholar

Sponsor

V Foundation

Sponsor deadline: Monday, June 1, 2026

Internal deadline: Friday, April 24, 2026

Award Details

UBC is invited to nominate one (1) applicant to apply to the V Foundation for Cancer Research V Scholar Grant. This early-career grant opportunity is intended to support adult cancer research in either laboratory-based fundamental research or translational research. Emphasis for this grant mechanism is on supporting exceptional early career investigators to be better positioned to leverage large, sustaining grants

Award Highlights:

The V Scholar grant provides researchers with $800,000 (USD) over 4 years to support either laboratory-based fundamental research or translational research. This amount has been increased for the 2025/26 cohort to match the V Foundation's Translational grant.

Please note that epidemiology, behavioral science, and health services research projects are not eligible for this grant.

Applicant Eligibility:

The eligibility criteria for this competition are detailed. Please review these guidelines. Faculty must have dedicated research space as well as dedicated research time, and be eligible for Principle Investigator status on major research grants (e.g. R01 Grants from NIH or CIHR Project Grant). Though the sponsor indicates that tenure-track is a requirement, clinical faculty who can meet the above criteria are eligible from UBC. Further, the candidate must be within their first 5 years of appointment and not have held R01 or equivalent grants, a single grant worth over 750k, or total aggregate funding of over $1m. (All USD)

Nomination Process:

As an invited institution, UBC is required to hold an internal adjudication of potential nominees and select one candidate to move forward for nomination to the V Foundation. 

UBC internal selection deadline: April 24 (5pm), 2026

Sponsor deadline: June 1, 2026 (2pm)

Full proposal deadline: TBC; expected deadline of July 1.

Interested candidates should submit the following items by the internal selection deadline of April 24 to kevin.mccartney@ubc.ca:

1.         Summary of research proposal (1 page max)
2.         Up to date UBC CV
3.         Draft recommendation letter (3 pages max), with confirmation that this has been reviewed and approved by your Department Head, or any Head able to allocate resources.
4.         A completed V Foundation Financial Worksheet (Link)
5.         Optional: A completed V Scholar Nomination Form (can be requested from kevin.mccartney@ubc.ca, or can be provided at time of application to be completed later)

The 3-page letter should address:

• Why you should be selected
• The institutional resources available to you
• An overview of the mentoring plan that will be available to you
• How science communication to a diverse audience is (or will be) part of your work / mentoring plan (as appropriate)
• How patient advocacy / communication is (or will be) part of your work / mentoring plan (as appropriate)

The 1-page research proposal should provide an appropriate and sufficiently detailed plan for how this grant will better position the researcher to launch their research program with sustaining funds in the future. 

Please send all relevant materials to Kevin McCartney, Award Nomination Development Officer (Health) by April 24. A panel of UBC reviewers will select UBC's nominee to the V Foundation, and a full application will be due in early July if selected.