Simons Foundation 2022 SFARI Pilot Award Now Open

Funding for conceptually novel, exploratory, high-risk and potentially high-impact projects unlikely to be supported by other sources.

The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) aims to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by funding innovative, rigorous and relevant research.

The total budget of the 2022 Pilot Award is $300,000 or less, including 20% indirect costs, over a period of up to two years. Grants are intended to provide early support for exploratory ideas, particularly those with novel hypotheses for autism.

Appropriate projects for this mechanism include those considered higher risk with less assurance of ultimate impact, but with the potential for transformative results. In particular, applications that propose research to link genetic or other ASD risk factors to molecular, cellular, circuit or behavioural mechanisms and set the stage for development of novel interventions are encouraged.

Investigators new to the field of autism are encouraged to apply. Investigators may submit multiple applications on different topics, but it is highly unlikely that two awards will be made to the same PI within one RFA cycle.

There are no citizenship or country requirements for applicants. Applications may be submitted by non-profit organisations; public and private institutions, such as colleges, universities, hospitals, laboratories, and units of state and local government.

Applications must be submitted by 17 March 2022.

(This report was the subject of a RESEARCHconnect Newsflash.)