DoD Kidney Cancer, Academy of Kidney Cancer Investigators – Early-Career Scholar Award | HT9425 23 KCRP AKCIECSA

Opportunity Information: Apply for HT9425 23 KCRP AKCIECSA

The DoD Kidney Cancer Research Program (KCRP) Academy of Kidney Cancer Investigators - Early-Career Scholar Award (AKCI ECS Award; opportunity number HT9425 23 KCRP AKCIECSA) is a four-year funding mechanism designed to build the next generation of kidney cancer research leaders through a structured, virtual mentoring academy. Rather than functioning like a standard standalone career development grant, this award is built around active participation in the Academy of Kidney Cancer Investigators (AKCI), a national network that pairs each Early-Career Scholar (ECS) with a Designated Mentor at a different institution and connects them with an Academy Dean who helps coordinate progress, communication, and collaboration across the entire cohort. The central idea is that strong science plus consistent mentorship, peer learning, and intentional networking will accelerate the scholar's trajectory toward independence and sustained impact in kidney cancer research.

The person applying as the Principal Investigator is the Early-Career Scholar, and they are expected to run a meaningful kidney cancer research project that can be basic, translational, and/or clinical in nature. At the same time, the scholar must commit to the Academy experience: monthly webinars, in-person workshops (a multi-day workshop every two years and a one-day workshop in alternating years), regular interaction with their mentor and Academy members, and engagement with the kidney cancer advocacy community. The program emphasizes collaboration and communication, treating these as requirements of the award rather than optional add-ons. The ECS and Designated Mentor are also responsible for creating the scholar's career development plan and for carrying out the proposed research, even though the Academy Dean provides overarching guidance and helps connect scholars and mentors to broader research and advocacy communities.

A key feature is that the Designated Mentor does not need to be at the scholar's home institution, which is meant to remove a common barrier for junior faculty who may not have kidney cancer expertise locally. In fact, the program explicitly encourages applications from early-career investigators whose ability to pursue kidney cancer research is constrained by limited resources, limited access to tools or datasets, lack of mentorship capacity at their institution, or limited collaboration opportunities. Applicants are expected to identify these obstacles and explain how the Academy structure and mentor pairing will help overcome them. The mentor must have a strong track record mentoring early-career researchers, and to broaden mentorship capacity across the Academy, each Designated Mentor must also agree to serve as a Secondary Mentor for another ECS in the Academy. Mentors are limited to one Primary mentee (the applicant) and one Secondary mentee. The Academy Dean cannot be listed as the Designated Mentor.

From a scientific standpoint, preliminary data are required to demonstrate feasibility, but the announcement clarifies that these data do not necessarily have to come directly from kidney cancer studies, which can be helpful for investigators transitioning into the field. The proposed work must be relevant to active-duty Service Members, Veterans, military beneficiaries, and/or the broader American public. The DoD also encourages collaborations between military or Veteran institutions and non-military institutions to leverage unique populations, infrastructure, and real-world clinical access in ways that can move the field forward. Applicants are also encouraged to consider recommendations from the congressionally mandated Metastatic Cancer Task Force, especially for ideas that could accelerate clinical and translational progress for advanced or recurrent disease, as long as the work aligns with KCRP priorities and the limits of this mechanism.

Financially, the anticipated budget for direct costs across the full four-year period of performance should not exceed $725,000. The DoD planned an overall allocation of about $2.32 million for this mechanism in FY23, with an expectation of funding roughly two awards, though final funding depends on federal budget availability, the volume of submissions, scientific merit, and programmatic priorities. The funding instrument may be a grant or a cooperative agreement, depending on how much substantial involvement the DoD anticipates during the project; that determination is made during negotiations. Awards under this announcement were expected to be made no later than September 30, 2024, and FY23 funds associated with awards were anticipated to remain available for use until they expire on September 30, 2029.

On compliance and oversight, applicants proposing research involving human subjects, human data, human anatomical substances, or cadavers must plan for a layered approval process. In addition to local IRB or ethics committee review (which is not required at the time of application but is required before DoD review), projects must be reviewed and approved by the USAMRDC Office of Human and Animal Research Oversight, specifically the Office of Human Research Oversight, before the research can begin. The DoD advises allowing up to about three months for this regulatory review once complete documents are submitted. For multi-site, non-exempt human subjects research at U.S. institutions, a single IRB plan is required under 45 CFR 46.114(b), and the application should identify the lead institution that will manage the master protocol and consent and serve as the single point of regulatory contact.

The announcement also draws clear lines around what counts as a clinical trial versus other types of clinical research. A clinical trial, in this context, involves prospective assignment to an intervention to evaluate health-related outcomes, while observational studies, studies using patient samples or data without testing an intervention, diagnostic/biomarker studies, disparity research, technology development, epidemiology, and outcomes or health services research may qualify as clinical research without necessarily being a clinical trial. If the project requires access to DoD or VA populations, databases, or other resources, the application must describe that access up front and include a plan for maintaining it across the project period. For animal work, local IACUC approval is not required at submission, but DoD-funded animal studies must also be reviewed by ACURO in addition to the local IACUC, and applicants are advised to plan for a three-to-four month review timeline. The program stresses rigor and reproducibility expectations for preclinical work, pointing applicants toward best practices like randomization, blinding, sample-size estimation, and adherence to the ARRIVE 2.0 reporting guidelines.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a combined research award and intensive, cohort-based career development program. It funds a kidney cancer project while also requiring meaningful participation in a structured national mentoring and networking academy, with the explicit goal of producing independent junior faculty who can lead productive labs or research teams, compete successfully for future funding, and contribute to a collaborative kidney cancer research ecosystem that serves military and civilian communities alike.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Kidney Cancer, Academy of Kidney Cancer Investigators – Early-Career Scholar Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 05, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 06, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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