New Ideas – 2026 Request for Applications: FAQs

All applicants and key collaborators must hold a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree and have a faculty position or the equivalent at a college, university, medical school or other research facility. Applications may be submitted by domestic and foreign nonprofit organizations; public and private institutions, such as colleges, universities, hospitals, laboratories, units of state and local government; and eligible agencies of the federal government. There are no citizenship or country requirements. See the Personnel FAQ section for more information on the responsibilities of a SFARI principal investigator.

No, postdoctoral associates may not apply as PIs even if your institution is willing to submit an application on your behalf.

Senior postdoctoral research associates who are interested in pursuing an independent career in autism research are encouraged to apply for SFARI’s Fellows-to-Faculty RFA. The next round of Fellows-to-Faculty is expected to launch in October 2026.

Yes. Applicants to this RFA do not need to have worked on autism previously; investigators who have not previously been funded by SFARI are especially encouraged to apply. We encourage those new to the field to consult with experts in autism research to ensure their projects are relevant to the human condition.

Yes. However, projects that represent extensions/continuations of ongoing work (whether funded by SFARI or other funders) are not appropriate for this mechanism. Unsuccessful applications submitted to previous SFARI RFAs may not be resubmitted to this RFA.

Principal Investigator

The individual(s) judged by the applicant institution to have the appropriate level of authority and responsibility to direct the project or program supported by the grant. All principal investigators (PIs) must hold a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree and have a faculty position or equivalent at a college, university, medical school or other research facility. The PI is responsible and accountable to the applicant institution and SFARI for the proper conduct of the project or activity, including the submission of all required reports. The PI will act as the main point of contact for SFARI and should be noted as personnel in the budget even if not requesting salary. There is no minimum percent effort required for the PI, but it is expected that the PI will join the collaborative community of SFARI Investigators and that the PI will partake in some conferences, workshops and symposia that SFARI organizes.

Co-Investigator

An individual involved with the PI in the scientific development or execution of a project. The co-investigator must hold a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent and be employed by or be affiliated with the applicant/grantee institution or another organization participating in the project under a consortium agreement. A co-investigator is considered key personnel and should be noted as personnel in the budget even if not requesting salary. SFARI does not require a minimum effort from the co-investigator. The designation of a co-investigator, if applicable, does not affect the PI’s roles and responsibilities, nor is it a role implying multiple PIs.

We seek applications from independent investigators who can devote a substantial portion of time to this effort. There is no minimum percent effort required for any personnel, but we expect personnel, in particular PIs and co-investigators, to have efforts that reflect their roles in the project.

When relevant, the applicant organization may designate multiple individuals as PIs who share the authority and responsibility for leading and directing the project, intellectually and logistically. Each PI is responsible and accountable to the applicant organization or, as appropriate, to a collaborating organization, for the proper conduct of the project or program, including the submission of all required reports. The presence of more than one identified PI on an application or award diminishes neither the responsibility nor the accountability of any individual PI.

Note that additional PIs or collaborators cannot be added to an application at the Letter of Intent (LOI) stage. If your project includes collaborators, please indicate this in the LOI Narrative and Budget Justification and include the biosketches for all key personnel. If you are invited to submit a full application, you will be able to add all key personnel in SAM.

The first PI listed, under whose name the application is submitted, will serve as the contact PI for administrative purposes. The contact PI must be affiliated with the institution submitting the application. The contact PI will be responsible for communication between SFARI and the rest of the leadership team.

The role type “Co-PI” will not be used by SFARI.

We do not require letters of support or letters of collaboration from co-investigators. If a letter is prepared, it can be uploaded in the Other section.

Applications must be submitted via the Simons Award Manager (SAM). Please click on the Funding Opportunities icon and navigate to the Autism Research – New Ideas Award call. Click the Create Application button to begin. Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s own account in SAM.

No, SFARI accepts only applications submitted online through SAM.

No, a signature is not required at the LOI stage. At the full application stage, only the signing official may sign and submit the application.

The Submit button is located at the bottom right of the screen. You will be unable to submit if you have not provided all the required information. Use the Check Application Progress button to check for missing requirements. If the problem persists, please contact [email protected].

The Check Application Progress button reviews your application for missing sections. The submission guidelines list the required sections and attachments. You must complete the missing sections listed. If you are still receiving error messages after completing and saving the indicated sections, please contact [email protected].

A confirmation email is sent upon submission of the application. Make sure that spam filters allow emails from [email protected]. Additionally, the application will be in the Submitted tab of the Applications in Progress table after submission.

Before you can make changes to your submitted application, you must first contact SFARI. Please email [email protected].

You should receive notification within 24 hours of submission. Please check your spam filter settings if you have not received notification by then.

Applicants are limited to one application to this RFA per calendar year (this applies to all applicants on a given application, regardless of role).

Unsuccessful applications submitted to previous SFARI RFAs may not be resubmitted to this RFA.

No. Projects that represent extensions/continuations of ongoing work (whether funded by SFARI or other funders) are not appropriate for this mechanism.

Please refer to the Submission Guidelines. At the LOI stage, the following materials are required:

• LOI Narrative
• Personnel Biosketches
• Budget Justification
• Data and/or Renewable Reagents Sharing Plan (if applicable)
• Abstract

The LOI Narrative should be focused on the specific aims of the project, including a rationale for the hypothesis, description of preliminary data if available, description of the experimental approach, impact on autism research, relevance to SFARI’s mission, and fit for the New Ideas RFA.

The LOI Narrative should not exceed two (2) pages of single-spaced, 11-point text and 0.5” margins.

Please refer to the Submission Guidelines. If invited to submit a full application, the following materials are required:

• Proposal Narrative
• Specific Aims Document
• Resources & Research Environment Document
• Complete Detailed Budget
• Publications & Other Support
• Institutional Assurances (if applicable)

The Specific Aims page should be a summary of the proposed project focused on the research aims of the project, including a concise rationale for the hypothesis, description of preliminary data and experimental approach, and impact on autism research.

The Specific Aims page should not exceed one (1) page of single-spaced, 11-point text and 0.5-inch margins.

The Proposal Narrative should not exceed four (4) pages single-spaced, 11-point text and 0.5-inch margins. Figures, figure legends and references should follow the narrative text and will not count towards the page limit. Up to ten (10) figures can be included. References should be in Journal of Neuroscience format, including full author list, title and a link to PubMed or preprint archive.

The Proposal Narrative should be considered an expanded version of the Specific Aims page and used to provide more detail on the following:

• Relevant scientific background and relevance to autism and SFARI’s mission
• Preliminary results when applicable (preliminary data are not required; however, sufficient information to demonstrate feasibility should be included)
• Specific aims
• Experimental design
• Pitfalls and alternative strategies
• Future directions (including how different outcomes will inform next steps)
• Timeline and milestones

SFARI considers the following information crucial for the evaluation of a project and encourages including the following details (where relevant):

• Control groups to be used in all experiments, including what comparisons are to be made and how results will be interpreted.
• iPS lines and controls to be used and their availability. For reference, please see SFARI’s information sheet on Experimental Design Considerations for IPSC models (available in SAM)
• Animal model strain/lines and their availability
• Patient cohorts used (including source of participants, sample size and availability of genetic and other data)
• Datasets or biospecimen collections to be used (including SFARI resources) and their availability
• A brief statement of statistical power and data analysis plan. For reference, please see SFARI’s information sheet on Methodological and Statistical Considerations (available in SAM)

References, figures and figure legends are not included in the page limits for the Proposal Narrative, although we have a limit of ten (10) figures, each fitting on a single page. Please attach them at the end of the narrative in the same PDF file. SFARI’s preference is for figures to follow the narrative rather than be embedded in the text. References should be in Journal of Neuroscience format, including full author list, title and a link to PubMed or preprint archive.

In-press papers can be included, as well as any papers that you consider essential for the work of the review committee. Include no more than three (3) papers. Any other material should be included, if possible, in the narrative.

You can save personnel details in the Project Personnel section on the Contacts and Personnel tab of the application.

Please review the instructional video, “Generating a multi-site or collaboration application” on our website.

Applications with a subcontract (including PIs who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution) should review the instructional video, “Add a subcontract budget to an application,” on our website.

Yes. The total limit for a New Ideas Award is $300,000 per year for up to two (2) years. These totals include indirect costs, at 20 percent. Allowable indirect costs to the primary institution for subcontracts are not included in the total budget threshold (see grant policies). Please note that indirect costs cannot be taken on equipment with a unit cost of more than $10,000 or on tuition or SSC and Simons Searchlight biospecimens.

You can access and request information about the SSC, Simons Searchlight, SPARK, AIC and Autism BrainNet on SFARI Base. If you do not have a SFARI Base account, you must create one. If you have problems with the login or have questions regarding the collections, please email [email protected].

Please see the SPARK webpage for more information about the SPARK cohort and available data. You can access and request information about the data collected from SPARK via SFARI Base. If you do not have a SFARI Base account, you must create one. If you have problems with the login or have questions regarding the collections, please email [email protected].

No, but phenotypic and genetic data are currently available to approved researchers via SFARI Base.

Researchers may submit an application on SFARI Base. The SPARK Participant Access Committee considers applications on a quarterly basis, but applications may be submitted at any time. Please refer to the SPARK Recruitment Process Document for more details and email [email protected] with any questions.

No, SSC, Simons Searchlight and AIC biospecimen costs are not included in the budget limit. Prices can be found on the price list on our website.

Researchers may submit an application through SFARI Base. Information on Autism BrainNet tissue and data are available in the Autism BrainNet tissue catalogue.

Please note that in the event of budgetary or other considerations the Simons Foundation reserves the right to refer an application to the Simons Foundation International, Ltd. (SFI) for consideration and funding, in which case SFI’s grant policies would apply.