Reissuance of the Research Specialist Award (R50)

Letter of Intent due:  December 4, 2020
Application due:  January 4, 2021, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization

The National Cancer Institute is pleased to announce the reissuance of the Research Specialist Award (R50), a workforce development initiative. These funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) are targeted to non-tenure track laboratory, core, and data scientists whose salary is currently supported by NCI-funded principal investigators’ grants. Learn more about these opportunities.

Research specialists are vital for progress and discovery in cancer research and play an integral role in improving research efficiency and ensuring a stable workforce. The NCI R50 Award encourages the development of stable research career opportunities for exceptional scientists who want to pursue research within the context of an existing NCI-funded cancer research program, rather than serving as independent investigators. 

Applicants must have an advanced degree (e.g., Masters, PhD, DVM, DDS, MD) in an area of biomedical science or biomedical engineering and have demonstrated cancer research accomplishments in their primary discipline. In addition, the Research Specialist must have been receiving salary at the level of 6 person-months effort or more on the Unit Director's NCI-funded research grants (where the Unit Director is the PD/PI) during Federal Fiscal Year 2020.