Office of Research
2016 Bridge to Independence Award
Note: this opportunity for senior postdocs in the Bridge to Independence award RFA is being announced as a courtesy only and is a not a limited submission.
The autism research community has expanded substantially in recent years and SFARI has contributed to this change by attracting outstanding established scientists to the field of autism. In order to sustain this level of scientific excellence in future years, SFARI is extending our support to promising early-career investigators. One of the most salient milestones in a scientific career is the transition from formal mentorship to an independent position. Unfortunately, this transition has become increasingly tenuous in recent years, in part because of the decreasing number of tenure-track faculty positions, compounded by the increasing number of Ph.D. graduates and postgraduate traineeships.1 SFARI created the Bridge to Independence Award program to address this issue and to encourage continued excellence in the autism research field.
Grants awarded through the Bridge to Independence Award program are intended to invest in the next generation of top autism investigators by identifying talented early-career scientists interested in autism research and facilitating their transition to an independent research career. This request for applications (RFA) is aimed at senior postdoctoral fellows who intend to seek tenure-track faculty positions during the 2016–17 academic year. Successful applicants will be notified that they are finalists in the Bridge to Independence Award program and will have one year to submit an approval application, which includes confirmation of a tenure-track professorship at a U.S. academic institution, review of the institution’s research environment and resources, and institutional signoff. After the Simons Foundation accepts the approval application, the finalist will become a grantee and receive a commitment of $150,000 per year over three years, awarded through their faculty appointment institution.
Application Instructions
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Inquiries and Contact Information
Investigators who identify a grant, award or fellowship program that restricts the number of applications that can be submitted from an Institution should immediately contact their Chairperson, Associate Dean for Research (or Dean, if no ADR) and the Office of Research (see below) if they intend to prepare a response. Failure to do so, or to meet the deadlines for submission of pre-proposal, will preclude submission of the application through the Office of Sponsored Programs.
For general inquiries, or to request a listing of a limited submission opportunity that should be but is not already listed, please email us at limitedsubs@uw.edu.