Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre Invites Proposals for 2026 Award

OXFORD, UK and CLEVELAND, Ohio US - The Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre (OHC), a partnership between the University of Oxford, UK and Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals, Cleveland, Ohio, is seeking highly innovative projects for its 2026 Rare Disease Scholar Award, which accelerates promising therapeutics discoveries from academic labs into clinical practice. In addition to financing, the award includes bespoke drug and business development support from an expert team of pharma-experienced industry leaders.

The OHC's 2026 Rare Disease Scholar Award seeks novel approaches to treat rare diseases using any therapeutic modality, with a focus on neurological disorders, rare cancers, and developmental and metabolic disorders. Applications of particular interest will demonstrate:

• Therapeutic programs with clear potential for rapid and safe clinical translation and advancement toward patients
• Later-stage pre-clinical applications built on well-validated or clinically-tested technologies
• Rare disease as a mechanism to validate new delivery or platform therapeutic technologies
• Rare-to-common therapeutics programs with utility in both rare and large patient populations

Researchers in the US, UK, and Canada are eligible to apply for this award. Successful applicants will receive:

• Guaranteed grant award of USD$100,000 for US- and Canada-based awardees and £100,000 for UK-based awardees
• One year of therapeutics development support and project management with potential to renew for a second year based on milestones met
• Access to core facilities and infrastructure including oligonucleotide synthesis and screening, small molecule and protein platforms, cell and gene therapy facilities
• Opportunity to compete for acceleration funds up to USD$300,000 / £250,000
• Opportunity to qualify for investment funds up to USD$1,000,000 according to project requirements
• Invitation to present at a Harrington Discovery Institute or Oxford-Harrington Centre Symposium

Intellectual property rights are retained by the award recipient or their institution. Up to 10 award recipients will be selected by the OHC Scientific Advisory Council and announced in October 2026.

The deadline to submit a full applicationis March 9, 2026, 11:59 PM ET.

To learn more and apply: OxfordHarrington.org/Award