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Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) grants

ACRF awards capital grants (between $1.5 to $5 million) for technology, equipment and infrastructure for cancer research at Australian medical research institutes, hospitals and universities.

Grant applications are open to research into all types of cancer with a research focus on detection, prevention, and/or treatment.

Since 1984, ACRF has awarded $209.3 million to 93 research grants in 44 Australian cancer research institutes.

ACRF promotes collaboration amongst researchers and clinicians and encourages novel and innovative cancer research projects. All applications are competitively reviewed by the ACRF Medical Research Advisory Committee (MRAC) who recommend the best projects to the ACRF Board of Trustees for funding.

2026 annual research grants

The 2026 ACRF Annual Research Grant Round has now closed.

The successful applicants will be officially announced in November 2026.

Please use the links below as reference documents for eligibility for future applications. 
(new Guidelines and Format documents will be available in February 2027)

 2026 ACRF Annual Grants Guidelines and 2026 Annual Grants Format of Grant Application.

Find out more about ACRF and the grants process

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ACRF grants have led to some ground-breaking discoveries

The development of a HPV cervical cancer vaccine

ACRF gave initial seed funding to Professor Ian Frazer’s research into the cervical cancer (HPV) vaccine. Over 150 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered worldwide to date.

The uncovering of new breast cancer genes

ACRF has awarded three grants, totalling $8.4 million to QIMR Berghofer, which led to a team of researchers at this Institute discovering at least 12 new genes that influence the risk of developing breast cancer.

The development of a blood test detecting early stages of cancer

ACRF provided $5.5 million in funding to WEHI where researchers developed a blood test that can detect the presence of eight common cancers. The test has been shown to reliably detect early stage and curable cancers.