Fellows-to-Faculty Award
Fellows-to-Faculty Award supports early-career scientists with autism and neuroscience basic research funding, mentoring and peer support to establish independent laboratories and advance high-risk science.
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Funder: Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative
Due Dates: October 13, 2026 (Opens) | October 21, 2026 (Webinar) | January 13, 2027, noon Eastern (Application) | February 17, 2027 (Status updates) | May 14, 2027 (SCPAB interview) | May 26, 2027 (SCENE interview) | June 14–16, 2027 (SFARI interviews) | Early–mid July 2027 (Decisions) | September 1, 2027 (Award starts)
Funding Amounts: $600,000 USD over three years for faculty research, plus optional $110,000 annually for up to two postdoctoral years
Summary: Supports early-career scientists transitioning from mentored training into independent faculty laboratories in autism and neuroscience basic research.
Key Information: Applicants must not accept a formal tenure-track faculty offer or equivalent before award notification.
Description
The Simons Foundation’s Autism & Neuroscience division runs this program to help early-career scientists establish independent laboratories and transition into tenure-track or equivalent research faculty positions. Its central component is a three-year faculty research grant, complemented by optional postdoctoral funding, mentoring, peer support and participation in an interdisciplinary community of investigators.
The program supports high-risk, high-reward basic science with transformative potential aligned with SFARI, the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain (SCPAB), or the Simons Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience (SCENE). Research may involve human populations or other experimental systems and models, with a focus on underlying mechanisms of biology, disease or behavior. Scientists bringing clinical training, theory or computational approaches are encouraged, including those newly applying their expertise to these areas.
