KickCancer

On the initiative of KickCancer, a foundation of public interest established in 2017 whose mission is to cure children with cancer, max. 2 KickCancer Clinical Investigator Grants (KCIG) will be granted in 2026 in the field of paediatric haemato-oncology in Belgium.

• The KCIG intend to allow clinicians to devote half of their working time to carry out research activities in paediatric haemato-oncology and provide a substitute to perform the clinical duties. 

• The grant amounts to a maximum of EUR 70.000/year (on-call duties and overhead excluded) to support the hiring of a substitute for the clinical duties.

• In addition to the EUR 70.000/year, an amount of max. EUR 10.000/year will be available as compensation for other costs (bench fees) associated with the grant.

• The KCIG duration is 2 years, renewable 4 times max. upon the positive evaluation of a biennial progress report. Former grantees are entitled to reapply an unlimited number of times.

The grant must effectively start max. 12 months after the official starting date, set at 1^st October 2026. The effective start of the grant corresponds to the hiring date of the grantee substitute.

• Eligible projects encompass any basic (hypothesis-driven) or translational research project or active participation in international clinical trials groups.
• Eligible applicants must:
  • Hold a recognized academic degree of Medical Doctor at the deadline of the call.
  • Be employed in one of the eligible organizations and commit to at least 80% FTE at the official start of the KCIG.
  • Hold a specialty in haemato-oncology (ending with reference code #698 under the RIZIV/INAMI nomenclature of healthcare services) and/or be (or commit to become) affiliated to the Belgian Society of Paediatric Haematology Oncology (BSPHO) at the official start of the KCIG.
• Eligible organizations encompass any university hospital attached to a university in Belgium, provided that they have a paediatric haemato-oncology department, as defined by the Royal Decree of April 2, 2014.

The KCIG cannot be combined with the FWO senior clinical investigator fellowship.

Applications, written in English, must be submitted via the online application system.

More information, the regulations, application form and guide for applicants are available on https://www.kcig.be/.

KickCancer is a foundation of public interest, established in 2017, whose mission is to cure every child with cancer.

The foundation pursues this mission by:

• Supporting scientific, clinical and fundamental research on childhood cancers, at the Belgian and international levels;
• More generally, promoting and developing all activities in the field of curing childhood cancers and medical follow-up of treatments, before and after curing.

At the European level, KickCancer co-founded FIGHT KIDS CANCER, a collaborative funding programme with four other NGOs. Thanks to a robust, independent selection process run with the European Science Foundation (ESF), the programme supports high-quality international research, essential for tackling rare paediatric cancers.

In Belgium, KickCancer works in close collaboration with the BSPHO, supporting the functioning of the collaboration and providing funding for clinical trials that the medical community wishes to implement in Belgium.

A new step is now being taken to further support the paediatric haemato-oncology (PHO) community in Belgium: a funding initiative launched in collaboration with the FNRS and the FWO.