ACS Institutional Research Grants (IRG)

A block grant to an institution rather than to an individual investigator: the institution runs its own internal competition and awards pilot projects to newly independent junior faculty so they can generate preliminary findings for national funding. For a social work researcher this is an internal pilot-funding route rather than a direct application.

Indicative award

$400k–$480k (total award)New IRGs are $120,000 per year for four years ($480,000 total); renewal IRGs are $100,000 per year for four years ($400,000 total), and institutions must supplement a renewal with at least $80,000 over the grant period. Amounts are to the institution, not to an individual pilot recipient.

Timing

Varies by programmeNo specific published date recorded. This funder publishes a cycle rather than a date, and this database does not invent one.No deadline is published on the program page; the page directs applicants to ProposalCentral for current dates. ACS standard grant cycles are June 1 and December 1.

Who can apply

Early-career faculty, Mid-career & senior

Eligibility

The applicant is the institution, not the individual researcher. U.S. institutions must demonstrate established cancer research infrastructure and an experienced pool of researchers. The named principal investigator (the IRG director) must hold Associate or Full Professor rank with a track record of cancer research funding and publications, mentoring experience, and significant administrative or leadership experience. Junior faculty reach the money as pilot-project recipients selected by the institution's IRG review committee — they apply internally, not to ACS.

SSWR clusters

Topics

cancer · pilot funding · junior faculty · institutional block grant · preliminary data

Apply at

https://www.cancer.org/research/we-fund-cancer-research/apply-research-grant/grant-types/institutional-research-grants.html

This entry

Curated by the working group. Written 2026-08-07. The funder link has not yet been machine-checked.

Amounts and dates on this page are indicative and are maintained by people rather than scraped. Funders change ceilings, windows and eligibility without notice; confirm all details at the source above before applying.

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ACS Institutional Research Grants (IRG)

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