New Ideas Award (SFARI) — rolling RFA for early-stage exploratory autism/NDD research

About this program

The Simons Foundation’s Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) provides grant programs to support bold, imaginative, and rigorous research on autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders through standing RFAs—most notably the rolling New Ideas Award for exploratory projects, Pilot Awards for high‑risk/high‑reward studies, Fellows‑to‑Faculty Awards (three‑year $600,000 grants) to support transitions to tenure‑track, and the SURFiN undergraduate fellowship—plus periodic ad‑hoc targeted RFAs. Awards fund work across disciplines, methodologies, and model systems provided proposals make a compelling case for relevance to SFARI’s mission. Investigators not previously funded by SFARI are especially encouraged to apply to New Ideas and Pilot programs; specific eligibility, budget, duration, and submission requirements vary by RFA (e.g., Fellows‑to‑Faculty targets early‑career researchers moving into faculty positions, SURFiN supports paid undergraduate research near Simons‑supported labs).