Shape the Future of Pediatric Brain Tumor Research

Thank you to those that joined us for the pre-application webinar for our 2026–2027 Request for Proposal funding cycle, with Letters of Intent (LOI) opening the week of August 17th.

The webinar will be available shortly.

This year, the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation is launching a new approach to research funding — and it starts with a shift in what counts as a strong proposal. Data and technology are no longer add-ons; they’re the foundation.

Starting in 2026, every funded project must contribute to a shared research ecosystem: structured, standardized, and built for reuse by the field. Join us for a webinar that will walk you through everything you need before the September 18th LOI deadline.

What you will learn:  

• How the 2026–2027 cycle works, what has changed and why

• The three award mechanisms (Idea, Impact, and Innovation) and which fits your science

• What reviewers score and how criteria are weighted across mechanisms

• The data strategy and technology (AI/ML) integration requirements every proposal must meet

• How dbGaP, CBTN, and the broader pediatric brain tumor data ecosystem can be leveraged for your application

Who should attend: 

Early-career and established investigators in pediatric neuro-oncology and related fields, computational and data scientists working with pediatric cancer data, multi-institutional teams considering a consortium application, and research administrators supporting submissions.

Presenters: Misha Mehta, PhD, Senior Director of Research, Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

David Higgins, PhD, Informatics Program Manager, Center for Data Driven Discovery in Biomedicine