The deadline for application submission is Friday, March 12, 2021, 5:00 PM Eastern Time.

proposalCENTRAL Login Information

Applications must be submitted via proposalCENTRAL (pC). To start an application in pC, users must first log in to their pC account.

If You Need to Create a New Account in pC

To create a new account, go to proposalCENTRAL and click “Create an account now” under “Need an account?” Fill in the required fields, check the boxes to agree to pC’s terms of service and acceptable use policy, and click “Save.”

If You Have an Existing Account in pC

For all users with a pC account, log in under “Application Login” at proposalCENTRAL and select “Create New Proposal” or click on the “Grant Opportunities” tab. Scroll down to “Simons Foundation” and click “Apply Now” for the “Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative – Targeted – COVID” program to start the proposal and access the templates. After all sections are completed, you will be able to click on the “Submit” button to send.

To submit an application, you must complete the following proposalCENTRAL sections:

1. Title Page: Enter the proposal title in this section.
2. Download Templates and Instructions: All templates necessary to complete your proposal are available for download in this module (or the “Proposal Attachments” module, where attachments are submitted as PDF-only files; see the corresponding “Proposal Attachments” section below for more details).
3. Enable Other Users to Access This Proposal: This section allows you to give other users access to your grant application. You have the option of giving them one of three levels of permission: View, Edit or Administrator.
4. Applicant/PI: The principal investigator (PI) should be listed here. For grants with multiple PIs, the contact PI should be listed here.
5. Organization/Institution: Contact information for the signing official and the financial/fiscal officer from your institution is required; select the correct person or enter new names in this section.
6. Key Personnel: Indicate key personnel, including but not limited to: PIs, co-investigators, consultants and postdoctoral research associates. In rare circumstances, the applicant organization may designate multiple PIs who share the authority and responsibility for leading the project, intellectually and logistically. For more information on the responsibilities of PIs, please refer to the Simons Foundation grant policies and procedures.
7. Abstract: Enter your abstract as text in this section.
8. Budget Period Detail: Enter your budget period detail in this section.
   1. Award start date: Funding will begin on June 1, July 1, August 1, 2021.
   2. Personnel: Please provide the name, role, appointment type, percent effort, institutional base salary, requested salary, fringe rate and requested fringe for all personnel.
      1. Other considerations: Please note that there is no salary cap for PIs or other faculty on a Simons Foundation grant; however, the compensation is prorated according to the individual’s percent effort on the grant. There is no minimum percent effort required for PIs or other personnel on any SFARI award type, but it is expected that the PI will commit sufficient effort to this project to provide a leading intellectual and guiding role on the project. PIs committing less than 15 percent effort to their project should justify their effort level in detail. SFARI funds may be used only for personnel considered employees of the grantee institution who are eligible for benefits. Funds may not be used for stipend or benefit supplementation unless specifically authorized under the terms of the program from which funds are derived. The Simons Foundation reserves the right to modify budgets when an application has been selected for an award (see Simons Foundation policies).
         1. Please do not use the field marked “For Internal Use Only-Estimated Cost for Simons Collections Biospecimens” below the “Indirect Costs” section in the “Budget Period Detail”.
         2. Investigators interested in recruiting human participants, including those from a Simons Collection must complete and submit a Human Participants Study Information Sheet.
   3. Indirect costs (IDCs): Indirect costs to the primary institution are limited to 20 percent of direct costs with the following exceptions: equipment, tuition and any portion of each subcontract in excess of $25,000. The primary institution may take indirect costs on the first $25,000 modified total direct costs of each subcontract. Indirect costs paid to a subcontractor may not exceed 20 percent of the modified total direct costs paid to the subcontractor. While IDCs on most equipment are not allowable, IDCs on small equipment with a unit cost of less than $10,000 are permissible.
   4. Equipment: The Simons Foundation (SF) will own equipment purchased with SF grant funds with a unit cost of $50,000 or more. At the end of the grant funding period or in the case of grant termination for any reason, SF reserves the right to retain ownership or cede ownership to the PI’s institution. Equipment with a unit cost of less than $50,000 shall be the property of the institution.
   5. Biospecimens: If the proposal includes the use of Simons Collection biospecimens (i.e., from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) or Simons Searchlight), the Simons Foundation will review the estimated cost based on the price list on our website. Biospecimen costs will be considered separately from other project costs. Enter the projected figure in the field marked “Simons Collections Biospecimens (No IDC)” in the “Budget Period Detail” section, under “Other Expenses.” A description of use, including the number and type of biospecimens, should be included in the proposal narrative and budget justification (see the “Proposal Attachments” section below). Biospecimen costs must be excluded from the IDC cost calculation.
   6. Budget: For projects recruiting at a single site, the maximum total budget is $250,000, including indirect costs, for up to three years. For projects recruiting at multiple sites, the maximum total budget is $400,000, including indirect costs, for up to three years.
   7. Multiple PIs:
      1. Please note that the applicant PI will be the designated contact PI for the project. The contact PI will be responsible for directing the project and will coordinate all administrative deliverables.
      2. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must upload in the “Proposal Attachments” section:
         1. Signed signature page for each PI (available for download in the “Proposal Attachments” and “Download Templates and Instructions” sections).
         2. Budget template for each non-applicant PI (available for download in the “Proposal Attachments” and “Download Templates and Instructions” sections).
         3. The direct and indirect costs for all non-applicant PIs. Direct costs must be included in the “Budget Period Detail” section in the “Consortium & Contractual Direct” section, and indirect costs should be included in the “Indirect Costs” section. Please add a separate line for direct costs and one for indirect costs for each non-applicant PI.
      3. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution are considered subcontracts. Please refer to the subcontract instructions in the “Subcontracts” section below.
      4. Applications with multiple PIs from the same institution do not need to submit additional materials. Additional non-applicant PIs should be listed as key personnel in both the “Key Personnel” and “Budget Period Detail” sections, and only one signature page is needed.
   8. Subcontracts:
      1. Applications with subcontracts (including PIs who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution) must submit:
         1. Subcontract detailed budget (available for download in the “Proposal Attachments” and “Download Templates and Instructions” sections) for each subcontract.
         2. Subcontract direct and indirect costs. Subcontract direct costs must be included in the “Consortium & Contractual Direct” section, and subcontract indirect costs should be included in the “Indirect Costs” section. Please add a separate line for direct costs and one for indirect costs for each subcontract.
9. Budget Summary: The budget summary will populate from the saved detailed budget.
10. Organization Assurances: Indicate use of human participants or vertebrate animals in this section and status of approval from the Institutional Review Board or Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee. Grants cannot activate without current human participant and/or animal research ethical approval.
11. Proposal Attachments: The following documents are to be uploaded in this section, where they are also available for download:
    1. Specific Aims Page: The Specific Aims Page should not exceed one (1) page and should be a summary of the ongoing project focused on its research aims, progress to date and a description of how SFARI funding would be used to enhance biomarker collection and/or post-natal family tracking.
    2. Proposal Narrative: The Proposal Narrative should not exceed three (3) pages of single-spaced, 11-point text, 0.5-inch margins. The Proposal Narrative should be considered an expanded version of the Specific Aims Page and used to provide specific detail on each of the following:
       1. Relevant scientific background (including an overview of COVID-19 epidemiology in geographic region(s) of cohort recruitment)
       2. Specific aims of the ongoing cohort study
       3. Experimental design of the ongoing cohort study, including biospecimen collection, processing, storage and distribution, as well as any ongoing or future funded analyses
       4. Preliminary results (including recruitment progress, as well as progress in biomarker collection and family tracking)
       5. Description of additional biomarker sampling and family tracking that would be supported by an award from SFARI
       6. Pitfalls and alternative strategies
       7. Timeline and milestones

       Figures, figure legends and references should follow the narrative text and will NOT count towards the page limit. References should be in Journal of Neuroscience format, including full author list, title and a link to the PubMed publication. Figures are limited to 5, each fitting on a single page. Please attach them at the end of the three-page narrative in the same PDF file.

    3. Human Participants Study Information Sheet:Required only for investigators proposing to conduct human participant research/clinical studies.
    4. Biographical sketch of key personnel.
    5. Budget justification.
    6. Budget templates:
       1. Multiple PIs: Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must submit a signed budget template for each PI institution.
       2. Subcontract: Applications with subcontracts must submit a budget template.
    7. Research environment and resources.
    8. Renewable reagents and data-sharing plan.
    9. Current and pending support: Please upload current and pending support both for PIs and for key personnel.
    10. 501(c)(3) determination or equivalency letter (foreign institutions only): Please upload, if available, a copy of your U.S. IRS 501(c)(3) determination or equivalency letter as part of the application. (See Simons Foundation policies.)
    11. Signed signature page: Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must submit a signed signature page from each PI institution.
12. PI data sheet: Your professional profile will populate this section of the application. If revisions are required, please select “Edit Professional Profile” and go to the “Personal Data for Applications” section.
13. Validate: You must click the “Validate” button to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed on the screen. Please supply any missing information before proceeding to the next step.
14. Signature page(s): The signed signature page is available for download in this section and must be signed by the signing official, then re-uploaded in the Proposal Attachments section. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must submit a signed signature page for each PI institution.
15. Submit: You will be unable to submit if you have not provided all the required information. Any missing information will be listed on the screen. If your submission is successful, you will receive a confirmation message on the screen and a confirmation email.

Please note that narratives exceeding the three (3)-page limit will not be reviewed. Figures, figure legends and references (formatted in the Journal of Neuroscience style) are not included in the page limit.

Contacts

Administrative inquiries:
[email protected]
646-654-0066

Scientific inquiries and requests:
[email protected]
646-654-0066

proposalCENTRAL:
[email protected]
800-875-2562