Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) Pilot and Research Awards
Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative

Additional comments: Pilot Award The goal of the Pilot Award is to provide early support for exploratory ideas, particularly those with novel hypotheses. Pilot projects are higher risk, with less assurance of ultimate impact, but with the potential for transformative results. When assessing conceptual novelty, we make decisions that consider the context of the field of autism research. For example, applying well-grounded, basic neuroscience to the study of autism by employing autism genetic variants, model systems or human participants would be considered novel, as would the testing of hypotheses from other fields of science that are relevant to, but as yet unexplored in, autism. This funding mechanism may be particularly relevant for investigators who are new to the field. The maximum budget of a Pilot Award is $300,000, including 20 percent indirect costs, over a period of up to two (2) years. We encourage investigators to take advantage of the flexibility in budget and duration, tailoring the scope of the award as appropriate for their specific aims. For projects that propose two years of research, progress will be critically evaluated at the end of year one before support for the remaining year will be approved. Research Award The goal of the Research Award is to provide support for high-priority topics in autism, with a lower requirement for conceptual novelty. High-priority topics include long-standing questions or hypotheses in autism research, such as: Biological convergence: Given the ever-growing list of genetic etiologies, is there convergence at the biological level? If so, is it at the molecular, cellular, circuit or behavioral level? Which of these are most amenable for intervention? Developmentally sensitive periods: What are the critical developmental time points in autism? Do they differ by biological mechanism or genetic etiology? How do we separate cause from consequence and home in on the best windows for intervention? Mechanistic links from gene to biology to behavior: What are the critical mechanistic threads that should be followed? How do we separate pathophysiology from epiphenomena? This is clearly not an exhaustive list, but hopefully these examples of critical questions in the field help to illustrate the kinds of questions that we feel must be addressed in order to make significant headway in the development of effective therapeutics. The maximum budget of a Research Award is $1,300,000, including 20 percent indirect costs, over a period of up to four (4) years. We encourage investigators to take advantage of the flexibility in budget and duration to tailor the scope of the award as appropriate for the specific aims. As with all SFARI funding, proposals are judged to some degree on whether the budgets are reasonable given the potential risks and rewards of the research — larger budgets raise the bar for funding and are subject to heightened scrutiny — including whether there is funding from other sources. Moreover, an investigator’s scientific track record of accomplishment will be especially relevant to our decisions on Research Awards. For projects that propose four years of research, progress will be critically evaluated at the end of year two before support for the remaining two years will be approved.

How to apply? For further eligibility requirements and the application process, please visit: Official Funding website

This entry has been last updated: 2020-05-25 15:45:08