AACR Announces the Global Scholar-in-Training Awards
Building upon the success of the African Cancer Researchers Travel Awards, the American Association for Cancer Research is pleased to announce the expansion of this award program and to invite eligible applicants from all low-, lower-middle, and middle-income economy countries (LMIC).
The new Global Scholar-in-Training Awards (GSITA) will support the attendance of meritorious early-career cancer scientists from across the globe to the AACR Annual Meeting taking place in Atlanta, Georgia from March 29 – April 3, 2019. These travel awards are intended to enhance the education, training, and professional network of early-career investigators located in LMIC who are engaged in basic, clinical, translational, or epidemiological cancer research. The AACR is committed to increasing funding opportunities each year so that more scientists working to fight cancer worldwide can benefit from the unequaled experience of attending the Annual Meeting.
For cancer investigators in LMIC, the cost of travel, registration, and accommodations can be a strong barrier to accessing the scientific and networking benefits of the AACR Annual Meeting. To address this need, recipients of the GSITA receive complimentary meeting registration, housing, and up to US$2,000 for travel support. Additionally, the AACR coordinates a special networking event for awardees that takes place following the conclusion of the Annual Meeting. During this half-day event, awardees have the opportunity to network with U.S. researchers, attend a professional development seminar, and tour a laboratory and/or hospital at a leading academic institution.
Past award recipients have highly valued the exposure to innovative cancer research, the chance to present their research, and the networking opportunities that attendance at the AACR Annual Meeting provided. Dr. Mubarak Liman, a 2017 award recipient and colorectal cancer researcher from Nigeria, was thrilled to be introduced to “a whole new world of cancer research” and to meet many scientists whose work he had previously cited. Dr. Loiy Ahmed Hassan, a 2018 awardee from Sudan, says, “I learned so many things about cutting-edge technologies in cancer research, and I met up with brilliant scientists in my area of specialization.”
Established in 2016 as the African Cancer Researchers Travel Awards, this award program has already provided travel grants to a total of 15 cancer scientists representing seven different African countries. Given the enthusiastic response to this initiative, and the AACR’s desire to support the career development of young investigators across the globe, the program has been expanded and the number of available awards increased. The Global Scholar-in-Training Awards will be offered to researchers in East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Central Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
The GSITA program is open to early career researchers (within 10 years of doctoral-level degree conferral) who are citizens or permanent residents of a country designated by the World Bank as low-income or middle-income economies (upper or lower). A listing of LMIC can be found at The World Bank website. Researchers who are citizens or permanent residents of a LMIC but are currently employed or pursuing training in high-income countries are not eligible. Interested applicants may submit their application between September 7 and November 15, 2018. Awardees will be notified in early January 2019. For more information about this exciting new opportunity, please visit: www.aacr.org/GSITA.
