The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) has released its 2025 Request for Proposals, which includes three Special Opportunity Notices for UK researchers. There is a total fund of $11.5 million for the 2025/26 MRA grant programme, which is open to researchers based at academic or other non-profit research institutions anywhere in the world.

The Young Investigator Award, Pilot Award and Team Science Award all include a Special Opportunity Notice for UK-based Awards, which specifically targets PIs and research teams conducting melanoma research at institutions in the UK.

The MRA research programme focuses on research in three main fields – Prevention, Detection and Diagnosis, and Treatment – that addresses gaps in translational science, turning scientific discoveries into tools and/or treatments for high-risk individuals and patients with melanoma. Successful proposals have the potential of applying important basic and preclinical discoveries to the near-term development of clinical trials and studies impacting melanoma detection, prevention, diagnosis, and/or treatment.

The Young Investigator Awards are a maximum of $85,000 per year, for up to three years, to support early career faculty conducting innovative and original preclinical, translational, and/or early clinical research projects. Applicants must be within the first five years of their first independent, full time academic faculty appointment at Assistant Professor level (or equivalent).

Applicants must first submit an applicant eligibility checklist, which is followed by a full proposal for selected applicants.

The applicant eligibility checklist submission deadline for the Young Investigator Award is 30 September 2025.

The Pilot Awards are up to $50,000 per year, for two years, to support senior investigators proposing potentially transformative ideas that do not have extensive preliminary data, but articulate a clear hypothesis and translational goals. The objective of the grant is to provide resources for ‘high-risk, high-reward’ projects that require support to establish proof-of-concept, which may then leverage additional funding through more traditional avenues. Applicants must be full time faculty at or above Assistant Professor level (or equivalent), with a minimum of five years’ experience since their first academic faculty appointment.

The application deadline for the Pilot Awards is 6 November 2025.

The Team Science Awards are a maximum of $300,000 per year for, three years, to support multidisciplinary teams working on transformational melanoma research advances with the potential for rapid clinical translation. Teams must include two or more established PIs and may be based at the same institution or different institutions, nationally or internationally.

Applicants must first submit a Letter of Intent, which is followed by a full proposal for selected applicants.

The Letter of Intent deadline for the Team Science Awards is 25 September 2025.

The Special Opportunity Notices for the 2025 Request for Proposals, also include Advancing Translational Research for Acral Melanoma, Advancing Translational Research for Uveal Melanoma and Israel-based Awards.