Amplifying Impact 2024

Amplifying Impact 2024

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To mark World Cancer Day, the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is celebrating its various initiatives, opportunities, and programs that have amplified its impact on the Canadian cancer research landscape in 2024.

In 2024:

• 18 funding opportunities supported by ICR
• 18 unique partnerships
• 7 CIHR Institutes partnered with ICR
• 350+ community members engaged through ICR events

Institute Highlights

Launched Research Priority Plan 2024-2029

On February 5, 2024, ICR launched its Research Priority Plan 2024-2029 "Amplifying Impact: Leveraging Cancer Research to Enhance the Health of Canadians", featuring three new research priority areas in cancer prevention, cancer survivorship, and cancer data strategy and advanced analytics.

Building and Strengthening Partnerships

ICR supported the launch of:

• 9 CIHR funding opportunities
• 5 national partner-led funding opportunities
• 4 international partner-led funding opportunities

In collaboration with new and existing partners, ICR was able to support and establish new opportunities across the cancer research ecosystem, build capacity, and celebrate research excellence.

Refocusing on Cancer Prevention Research

Executing on its first research priority area "Refocus on Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Risk Reduction", ICR, in collaboration with national and international partners, launched Team Grants: Bringing Biology to Cancer Prevention ― a funding opportunity that aims to advance cancer prevention research, a relatively underfunded area in Canada.

A New Historical Collaboration

In September 2024, ICR, in partnership with Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and other Canadian partners— the Canadian Cancer Society, CRS, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) and the Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI)—co-hosted the Canada-UK Bringing Biology to Cancer Prevention Workshop–Cancer Genesis: The Role of Inflammation and Obesity in London, UK. This workshop marked a new, historical collaboration between Canadian cancer research funders and the CRUK.

Building Capacity in Cancer Research

• 9 Planning and Dissemination Grants funded
• 20 Travel Awards funded

ICR supported several initiatives that aimed to promote capacity building in the Canadian cancer research landscape in 2024.

New Trainee Travel Awards in Partnership with AACR

ICR, in collaboration with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), launched the inaugural AACR-CIHR Scholar-in-Training Awards (SITAs). The AACR-CIHR SITAs support PhD students and postdoctoral and post-health degree fellows to present their research at the AACR Annual Meeting 2025, the world's largest cancer research conference.

Fostering Meaningful Engagement of Persons with Lived and Living Experience in Cancer Research

Continuing its longstanding commitment to building capacity for persons with lived and/or living experience in cancer research, ICR co-sponsored three new Patient Advocates to attend the AACR Scientist-Survivor Program® and Annual Meeting in 2024. Advocates found their experience in the program transformational, educational and rewarding.

"I hope that our presence at conferences like AACR inspires researchers to keep up their hard work. Without amazing scientists, many of us – most of us – would not be here. If I could say just one thing to a cancer researcher, it would be this: 'Because of you, we live.'"

Showcasing Canadian Cancer Research on the Global Stage

In 2024, ICR was represented at international fora, engaging in discussions about global cancer research priorities and critical research infrastructure.

Supporting Early Career Researchers

In November 2024, ICR hosted its annual Early Career Researcher (ECR) Workshop in Toronto. Forty-nine ECRs from across Canada attended the well-received workshop, which was hosted in collaboration with funding partners OICR and TFRI. The workshop provided ECRs with an opportunity to network and acquire skills to navigate the unique challenges associated with beginning an independent research appointment.

Reporting period: January 1 - December 31, 2024; Funding opportunities launched during the reporting period were included.

Date modified:

2025-02-04