Fellows-to-Faculty Award
The Simons Foundation’s Autism and Neuroscience division offers the Fellows-to-Faculty Award program to identify scientists with extraordinary potential to advance to our scientific areas of interest and nurture greater diversity in our scientific community.
The Fellows-to-Faculty Award program supports talented early career scientists and their research vision as they transition into tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions. Fellows receive funding toward the end of their postdoctoral career and a commitment of a $600,000 USD faculty research grant. Fellows engage in a lively, interdisciplinary scientific community and participate in career development activities. These resources enable fellows to confidently negotiate a supportive faculty job offer, build an independent research lab, and assertively pursue their research interests.
The program is intended for senior postdoctoral scholars or equivalent researchers whose backgrounds and experiences are underrepresented in science and whose future research program advances research in the areas of science supported by the Simons Foundation’s Autism and Neuroscience division. Applicants must be ready to apply for faculty positions. Fellows may activate the award funding at institutions located within or outside the United States.
The program aims to support scientists whose backgrounds and experiences are underrepresented in science, such as members of historically underrepresented racial or ethnic groups, individuals whose gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and/or disability status is underrepresented in science, or other individuals with disadvantaged social and/or economic backgrounds. We also recognize that diversity and underrepresentation can vary from setting to setting and across countries.
For the 2025 request for applications (RFA), we seek to support scientists whose scientific vision for their future independent laboratory contributes to the mission of either or both of the following scientific areas:
- Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), consistent with SFARI scientific perspectives
- Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain (SCPAB), consistent with the SCPAB’s mission
Fellows are expected to transition to a tenure-track or equivalent faculty position any time between notification of their selection for the award and the end of the 2026-2027 academic year. To that end, fellows are expected to apply to faculty positions between September 2025–May 2026.
On October 2, 2024, the 2025 request for applications (RFA), including eligibility criteria, will be available on the Funding Opportunities page.
