Learn about our grant cycles and our application and review processes
OCRA runs one grant cycle each year. Here is a brief overview of the process:
First quarter – Requests for Proposals (RFPs) are issued in the first quarter of every year. We use a two-step application and peer review process.
Early spring – Letters of Intent (LOIs) are due in early spring and undergo a rigorous peer review by our Scientific Advisory Committee. After the LOI review, a subset of those applicants are invited to submit full proposals.
Fall – Final grant notifications are made. Please note that this timeline is subject to change.
Confidentiality – The review process—including all meeting deliberations, scores, and written critiques of proposals, as well as other materials provided for the review of proposals—is confidential. A confidentiality and conflict-of-interest statement must be signed by each reviewer. Grants for projects selected through this process are then made to non-profit medical institutions on behalf of individual investigators or project directors.
Please note that we are not able to provide feedback to applicants on their LOIs or Full Proposals. If you have any questions about OCRA’s grant cycle and programs, please read through our FAQs.
| Date | Status | |
|---|---|---|
| Letter of Intent (LOI) Opens | Wednesday, February 28, 2024 | Next |
| Letter of Intent (LOI) Due | Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 5:00PM ET | |
| Letter of Intent Decisions/Full Proposal Opens | Mid-May 2024 | |
| Full Proposal Due | Thursday, June 13, 2024, 5:00PM ET | |
| Funding Notification | End of September 2024 |
All OCRA Grant applications (including LOI and Full Proposals) must be made through SmartSimple, our grant management system.
Extensions and late submissions will not be permitted.
RFP for Health Equity Research Grant
RFP for Collaborative Research Development Grant
RFP for Collaborative Research Development Grant – AI
RFP for Mentored Investigator Grant
RFP for Early Career Investigator Grant
If you would like to be alerted when RFPs are available for future grant cycles, please email grants@ocrahope.org and ask to be put on our mailing list.
Interested in applying for an OCRA grant? Confused by any aspect of the application process? Find answers to your most frequently asked questions.
Reading our current Terms and Conditions will also answer many questions, including any related to direct or indirect costs.
Educational and not-for-profit organizations from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply for OCRA grants. OCRA does not currently fund for-profit entities.
Yes, you can budget up to 10% for indirect costs. For more information on indirect costs, please see our Terms and Conditions.
No, tuition and fees are not an allowable cost on OCRA grants.
Yes, you may budget up to $2,000 per grant year for travel.
No. SmartSimple will not allow you to submit letters of support.
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No. Late submissions and extension requests are not permitted.
Yes. OCRA welcomes international grant applicants.
Yes. Each investigator may only submit one grant application, but there is no limit to how many applications an institution can submit.
No.
You may only be listed as the PI on one grant application per funding mechanism.
Yes, an individual can be listed as the PI on one application and as other personnel on other applications.
You can apply for another grant as long as your current OCRA grant ends before the new one begins (in other words, you cannot have more than one active OCRA grant at a time).
SmartSimple, our grant management system, will send you notification emails. Please be sure to add OCRA@smartsimplemailer.com to your safe sender list so you don’t miss any communications.
Yes. Effective January 1, 2024, for all individuals with salary paid by NIH awards, the direct salary cap is $221,900.
LOIs do not require any institutional contacts to be added or to sign off on the submission.
Full Proposals require both a Signing Official (SO) – who will need to sign off on the Full Proposal Application for it to be officially submitted to OCRA – and a Financial Official (FO). This latter role does not have any action during the application process.
Institutional Roles (these roles need to be two different people with unique email addresses):
Financial Official (1 per grant):
The Financial Official (FO) is an institutional official who is authorized to complete and submit financial reports on behalf of the institution. The FO will have access to the financial reports in SmartSimple, and they will be required to submit the actual expenses and request carry forwards. The FO is the only person authorized to submit the financial reports.
Signing Official (1 per grant):
The Signing Official (SO) is an institutional official who is authorized to digitally sign off on the submission of full proposals, the grant Activation, Renewal(s), Budget Updates, No Cost Extension requests, etc. In addition, the SO is required to complete the payment details for Activations and Renewal(s), certify that all information submitted is accurate, approve the budget for each year, and make the final submission to OCRA.
OCRA highly recommends PIs work with their institution to ensure there is both an FO and SO in SmartSimple well before the full proposal deadline. If you have any questions about institutional roles and requirements, please email grants@ocrahope.org.
Principal Investigator (1 per grant):
The Principal Investigator (PI) is the person to whom the grant is awarded (and their institution). The PI is responsible for the preparation, conduct, and administration of the research grant. The administration of the grant includes but is not limited to submitting the LOI & Full Proposal, grant activations & renewals, narrative progress reports, renewals, and providing up-to-date ethical documentation if needed.
Mentor (1 per grant – must be at the same institution as the PI):
The mentor, a recognized leader in the field of ovarian cancer research, or relevant area, provides training and mentorship to PIs who are early in their career. The mentor guides you in both your research and your professional goals. It is the mentor’s responsibility to ensure that a trainee who receives this grant submits the required materials in OCRA’s grants management system throughout the life of the grant.
Investigator (no limit and can be from any institution):
Investigator or Co-Investigator is someone who is expected to be significantly involved in developing and/or carrying out the project. Investigator(s) must devote a specified measurable effort to the project whether or not salaries or compensation are requested. Investigator or Co-Investigator is also interchangeable with Collaborator/Co-Collaborator.
Key Personnel (no limit and can be from any institution):
Personnel who commit to contribute to the scientific development or execution of the project but are not committing to any specified measurable effort (number of people, number of months, or percent of effort) to the project.
Research Delegate (1 per grant – must be from the same institution):
The Research Delegate (RD) is designated by the Principal Investigator to assist with all required tasks assigned to the PI. The RD has access to tasks in SmartSimple for specific grants, in which the PI has designated them RD. The RD may enter information into SmartSimple and save it, but the RD cannot submit information. Only the PI is authorized to submit materials to either the SO or OCRA.
No. One investigator will need to be selected to oversee the project, but there is no limit on how many other investigators can be listed.
Yes.
The number of new Collaborative Research Development Grants we will grant depends on our total grant budget for the year, and how our Scientific Advisory Committee decides to distribute the research funds.
Yes. We require all applicants to limit references to just one page. Feel free to use a smaller font and play with the margins, but please keep the page legible.
Microsoft AI for Health, a philanthropic program at Microsoft, offers access to advanced Microsoft Azure cloud computing and collaboration with data science experts for nonprofits, academia, and researchers. AI for Health is part of Microsoft’s larger AI for Good initiative. Our partnership with this initiative will help OCRA harness the power of data science and AI to accelerate ovarian cancer research.
OCRA will be providing Collaborative Research Development Grant (CRDG) recipients with monetary support, up to $900,000 over a period of 3 years. For those CRDG-AI recipients that have AI components to their project, Microsoft will provide in-kind support in the form of Azure computing credits, and in-kind data science support. This in-kind support from Microsoft will be in addition to the financial support from OCRA.
Of course! While we are very excited about this new collaboration, we anticipate fewer applicants will pursue AI-related projects. If you have applied for a CRDG grant in the past, we hope you will apply again for the CRDG grant.
Yes. The CRDG-AI grant does require a partnership with Microsoft. If your grant does not have an AI component or you do not wish to partner with Microsoft AI for Health, you should apply for the CRDG and not the CRDG-AI.
No.
Microsoft will provide a selected grantee in-kind support in the form of Azure computing credits and in-kind data science support. The nature and exact level of support provided will depend on the requirements of the project. If your project is selected, you will work directly with the staff at Microsoft AI for Health to determine the specifics of the support. You will also contract directly with Microsoft for that support.
All funding decisions will be made by OCRA’s Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). Those grant applications requesting support from Microsoft will also be reviewed by the Microsoft AI for Health team, which will provide feedback to the OCRA SAC, but the OCRA SAC will make the funding recommendations.
No. No additional information is needed at the LOI stage. Sections in the full application are required for applicants who wish to request support from Microsoft. Please ensure that you fill out these sections, which will ask you to describe the nature of support you are seeking, in their entirety.
No.
Unfortunately, Associate Professors are not eligible.
Yes. In the past, some of our Mentored Investigator Grantees have gone on to be granted Early Career Investigator Grantees.
Yes, you are eligible. You are not required to be an oncologist or a gynecologic oncologist to apply, though you must conduct ovarian cancer research.
For MDs/DOs or MD/DO-PhD applicants with clinical responsibilities, at least 50% of your time must be dedicated to ovarian cancer research. For applicants without clinical responsibilities, at least 75% of the time must be dedicated to ovarian cancer research.
You can write this in a letter accompanying your application. Similarly, your institution should include this information in one of its letters of recommendation.
There is no hard and fast limit, but we suggest you ask your recommenders to try to keep the letter to two pages.
You may budget for personnel, supplies, travel, other direct costs, and 10% indirect costs. No other costs are permitted on Early Career Investigator Grants.
The number of new Early Career Investigator Grants we will grant depends on our total grant budget for the year, and how our Scientific Advisory Committee decides to distribute the research funds.
They should be uploaded into SmartSimple along with the rest of your application materials.
Cover letters and personal statements are not required and will not be accepted by SmartSimple.
Miscellaneous supplemental materials will not be accepted by SmartSimple. Only required documents are permitted.
No.
No, you may only be awarded the Early Career Investigator Grant once.
Yes, we encourage you to reapply.
No, each mentor can only support one applicant per year.
No.
You may budget for personnel, supplies, travel, and 10% indirect costs. No other costs are permitted on Mentored Investigator Grants.
No, subcontracts are not permitted on Mentored Investigator Grants.
The number of new Mentored Investigator grants we will grant depends on our total grant budget for the year, and how our Scientific Advisory Committee decides to distribute the research funds.
They should be uploaded into SmartSimple along with the rest of your application materials.
The total amount of this grant is $100,000. It’s up to you whether you would like to budget that for one year or two years. Regardless, the total cost of the grant cannot exceed $100,000.
No, you may only be awarded the Mentored Investigator Grant once.
Yes, we encourage you to reapply.
No, your project must have a health equity focus in addition to an ovarian cancer or other related gynecologic cancers focus.
You may budget for personnel, supplies, travel, other direct costs, and indirect costs of up to 10% of your direct costs. No other costs, including subcontracts, are permitted on Health Equity Research Grants.
No, as long as the Principal Investigator has their PhD or MD at the time of LOI submission, you are eligible to apply.
If your grant was sponsored by GSK or any other industry partner, yes. You will submit your progress report as normal to OCRA, and OCRA will share it with the sponsored partner. The 2025 Health Equity Research Grant currently does not have a sponsor. Should that change, applicants will be notified.
A research team, led by Dr. Ugo Cavallaro and supported by OCRA’s 2019 Collaborative Research Development Grant, made progress toward improving immunotherapies for ovarian cancer. Dr. Frances R. Balkwill, a … Continued
OCRA’s Schreiber Research Grants Program, named after Ann and Sol Schreiber, founders of Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, supports postdoctoral fellows, early career independent investigators, and teams of experienced investigators.
Learn about the OCRA grantees creating a brighter future for everyone touched by ovarian and related gynecologic cancers.
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