The EACR-Mark Foundation-Pezcoller Foundation Rising Star Award is open to EACR members with an unfunded Score ‘A’ cancer-related project from the 2025 ERC Starting Grant calls. Established in 2023, this prestigious award aims to support pioneering projects that can have a transformative impact on the cancer research field.
Application deadline: Thursday 09 October 2025 at 23:59 CEST
The awardee will receive funding of up to €100,000 to begin their project. Institutional overheads of 10% will be added to this amount. The award is intended to bridge the period before re-submission to the ERC. The awardee will be invited to accept their award, and to give a talk, at the EACR Congress in Budapest, Hungary, 08-11 June 2026, and also to give a lecture at the Pezcoller Foundation in Trento, Italy, at a date to be agreed.
Applicants must be current EACR members. If you want to apply for this award but are not yet an EACR member, you can sign up to become a member now.
Applicants must have an unfunded Score ‘A’ cancer-related project from the 2025 ERC Starting Grant calls. The ERC defines Score 'A' as "Fully meets the ERC excellence criterion and is recommended for funding if sufficient funds are available".
APPLICATIONS FOR 2026 AWARD NOW CLOSED
Application deadline: Thursday 09 October 2025 at 23:59 CEST
Download the Terms and Conditions
The European Association for Cancer Research, a registered charity, is a global community for those working and studying in cancer research.
The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research is a philanthropic organisation committed to accelerating cancer research and translating discoveries into improved patient care.
The Pezcoller Foundation promotes and supports scientific research in oncology and recognises outstanding contributions to the field.
2025 Marta Kovatcheva (AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Italy): click here to learn more
2024 Stamatis Papathanasiou (IMB, Mainz, Germany): click here to learn more
2023 Isidro Cortés-Ciriano (EMBL-EBI, UK): click here to learn more