Safer Therapies
Accelerating discoveries to improve survival rates and quality of life.
Accelerating discoveries to improve survival rates and quality of life.
Childhood cancer is different from adult cancer, but most treatments used for young cancer patients were developed for adults, resulting in severe side-effects and long-term health issues in young, growing bodies.
The Safer Therapies Impact Program funds research to develop therapies and care models that reduce cancer treatment-related toxicities, aiming to improve long-term quality of life for young cancer patients, without compromising on their survival rates.
Our Safer Therapies Impact Program seeks to transform the safety and efficacy of paediatric cancer therapies by addressing toxicity at every stage of treatment, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, stem cell transplant and emerging therapies.
We will priortise projects that:
- Investigate new drug delivery systems, protective agents and minimally invasive treatments
- Apply a personalised treatment approach to predicting treatment-related toxicities, based on biological, health-related, environmental, lifestyle and psychological factors
Projects that also harness our Innovation Accelerators are encouraged to apply, fostering a collaborative ecosystem that maximises impact.
Children’s Cancer CoLab is guided by scientific rigour across all our Impact Programs, and our comprehensive evaluation framework sets clear objectives to measure the impact of our funding. The potential impact resulting from our Safer Therapies Impact Program is:
Decreased long-term treatment-related morbidity without compromising survival rates.
Funding available: up to $1 million
Applications for the 2025-2026 round of funding for the Safer Therapies Impact Program open on 8 September 2025 and close on 17 October 2025.
This round is focused on two key themes:
1. Novel treatment of toxicities: Research focused on the basic and translational development of new therapies to reduce the impact of treatment-related toxicities in paediatric oncology.
2. Improved models of care: Research focused on testing clinical interventions to reduce the impact of treatment-related toxicities in paediatric oncology.
Projects addressing either of these priorities in paediatric oncology are encouraged to apply. One application per theme will be funded.
Our program funding is allocated through a competitive process underpinned by robust expert review. We adopt scientific rigour to evaluate each proposal’s potential for impact and alignment with identified childhood cancer research and care priorities.
